Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of recent trends in funding from the public purse for Hampshire fire service on the number of fire fatalities in that county.

In 2019/20, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority will receive £65.2 million in core spending power. This is an increase of 2.4% compared with 2018/19. In addition, at March 2018, the authority held £30.3 million in reserves, equivalent to 47% of their core spending power, which is above the average for single purpose fire and rescue authorities.

There were seven fire-related fatalities recorded in Hampshire in the year ending June 2018. Fire-related fatalities fluctuate year to year due to the relatively small numbers involved and, over the last decade, fire-related fatalities in Hampshire have ranged between 2 and 12 a year.