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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the concerns expressed by the National Fire Chief's Council (NFCC's) regarding the safety of the public and of firefighters; and what assessment they have made of the NFCC's analysis, published on 4 June, showing a 20 per cent increase in the number of incidents attended by the fire and rescue service over the last decade.

I am replying as a minister in the department that now holds policy responsibility for fire and rescue. It is the government’s priority to ensure the safety of both the public and of our firefighters. We are grateful to the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) for highlighting the 20 per cent increase in the number of incidents attended by the fire and rescue service over the last decade, which we recognise was drawn from the quarterly statistics published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-and-rescue-incident-statistics-year-ending-december-2024).

We recognise that the data covers callouts relating to fire, non-fire and false alarms. We intend to discuss this in further detail with the NFCC.