Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) trends in the number of firefighters and (b) levels of funding for fire and rescue services on public safety.

On 3 February, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published the 2025/26 Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS) which sets out funding allocations for all local authorities, including Fire and Rescue Authorities.

These allocations, which include the National Insurance Contribution Grant, will see standalone fire and rescue authorities receiving an increase in core spending power of £69.1 million in 2025/26. This is an increase of 3.6 per cent in cash terms compared to 2024/25.

In addition to settlement funding, the Government has provided Fire and Rescue Authorities with several grants intended for specific purposes, such as the Fire Pensions Grant and Protection Uplift Grant

Decisions on how their resources are best deployed to meet their core functions are a matter for each Fire and Rescue Authority.

FRSs employed 30,769 full-time equivalent (FTE) firefighters on 31 March 2024. This is virtually unchanged compared with the previous year (30,723).