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11.19 am
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Timothy Kirkhope): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Wyre Forest (Mr. Coombs) on securing this debate on the fire service in Worcestershire. May I also welcome to the debate today my hon. Friend the Member for South Worcestershire (Mr. Spicer), who I know is most interested in these matters?
The Government have a high regard for the fire service, a regard that is shared by the general public. In its report on the fire service earlier this year, entitled "In the line of fire", the Audit Commission stated that the fire service can be proud of its record in responding to incidents, that it has high levels of skill and professionalism, is staffed by able managers and courageous front-line staff, and is held in great esteem by both the general public and individuals who have needed its assistance.
I whole-heartedly endorse the commission's comments and, indeed, have a personal reason for being pleased to be here today: my late father was a member of the well-known National Fire Service at the beginning of the war. The photographs in our family album show him with rather more primitive equipment than is at present deployed by the fire services of this country, but nevertheless those photographs give my family a great amount of pride.
One of my earliest memories is of being taken to Newcastle's Pilgrim street fire station by my father and being allowed to descend the pole--not the greasy pole of politics--and to see the firemen polishing the bells on
their fire engines. I do not know whether they still do that in my hon. Friend's constituency, but it is a matter of great pride to me that I have those early recollections.
My hon. Friend referred to Government funding of the fire service, and to SSAs. There are two underlying issues in relation to fire service funding: whether the total public expenditure provision for local government is sufficient; and, given that total, how we distribute it in terms of SSAs among the local authorities.
The total provision has to be broadly consistent with our restraint on public expenditure as a whole. I am sure that my hon. Friend is aware of that need. The Government concluded that, for 1995-96, local authorities as a whole should have an increase of 0.8 per cent. when compared on a like-for-like basis with 1994-95.
That is not as much as many would have liked, but in our view the settlement for 1995-96 was realistic in the current economic climate, in the context of low inflation and the requirement that pay increases in the public sector should be met from increased efficiency. It reflected a balanced and reasoned judgment on the understandable desire for more local authority expenditure and on what the country can afford.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, as my hon. Friend has mentioned, will be making an announcement tomorrow on the provisional local government finance settlement for 1996-97. My hon. Friend referred to the distribution formula for the fire service element of SSAs. We have indeed been looking, with the Department of the Environment and local authority associations, at the formula for 1996-97, taking account of matters such as pensions, fire safety and other factors that the associations wish to raise.
Mr. Michael Spicer:
Does fire safety include the concept of fire risk, which is at the root of the budgeting arrangements in which the fire services have to engage?
Mr. Kirkhope:
My hon. Friend has raised that matter with me once before, and I undertook then to look at it. I am still doing so, and understand that it is a possible area to be considered.
It is important to remember that a shire county is not limited in its spending on its fire brigade by the fire service share of its SSA. What matters is the overall SSA for the county council. It is for the county council to decide its priorities for spending across all its services, bearing in mind its statutory and other responsibilities.
Before I refer specifically to the fire service in north Worcestershire, it would be helpful if I explained the framework within which decisions about fire cover are taken. It is important to remember that the fire service is a local authority service--it has been since the Fire Services Act 1947 transferred firefighting functions from the wartime National Fire Service, to which I have already referred.
Statutory responsibility for providing an effective and efficient fire service to meet all normal requirements rests with the local fire authority. It is for the fire authority-- Hereford and Worcester county council, in this case--to decide how much of its overall budget to spend on its fire service to comply with its statutory responsibilities.
As to the Government's role, my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary has various duties under the Act. He monitors performance through Her Majesty's
inspectorate of fire services, and is responsible for promoting high and consistent standards in such matters as training, equipment, promotion and recruitment. As my hon. Friend the Member for Wyre Forest said, under section 19 of the Act, my right hon. and learned Friend is also required to be notified of the fire authority's establishment--the number of its fire stations, fire appliances and firefighting posts--as at 1 January each year. Of particular relevance to the debate is the fact that the fire authority may not reduce its establishment, although it can increase it, without my right hon. and learned Friend's consent.
My right hon. and learned Friend has a specific and limited role in considering applications under section 19. He grants approval where the following conditions are satisfied. First, the proposals must have been sufficiently widely publicised, in sufficient detail and with adequate time, to enable any interested party to make representations; my hon. Friend referred to the question of consultation and representations. Secondly, the representations must have been considered by the fire authority; thirdly, after taking advice from Her Majesty's inspectorate of fire services, my right hon. and learned Friend must be satisfied that the nationally recommended standards of fire cover will be maintained.
I must emphasise that it is not the role of my right hon. and learned Friend to decide whether the proposals that a fire authority makes represent the best arrangements for fire cover. Her Majesty's inspectorate of fire services is available to advise the authority on that matter. Ultimately, however, responsibility rests with the fire authority, which is accountable in law for the service that its provides.
The 1947 Act does not define the test of an effective and efficient fire service, which a fire authority must provide to meet normal requirements for fire cover. But it is long-standing practice to interpret that by reference to the nationally recommended minimum standards of fire cover. The standards are not just nationally recommended; they are nationally agreed in the Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council, which was established by the 1947 Act and on which the relevant fire service organisations are represented. They were also reviewed by the Joint Committee on Standards of Fire Cover in 1985 for the Central Fire Brigades Advisory Councils for England and Wales and for Scotland. The standards enable all concerned to know where they stand as regards the minimum level of service that they should be delivering.
The Audit Commission's report called for greater local flexibility in the application of the fire cover standards. It did not say precisely how the standards should be changed, and recognised that no change should be considered without careful research. The issue is being considered by the Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council, but it is a complex matter, on which much work will be needed.
Following the 1985 review of standards, all fire authorities in Great Britain reviewed their risk categorisation and the resources necessary to comply with the nationally recommended minimum standards. I am aware that an extensive review of fire cover was completed by the Hereford and Worcester brigade, and the results were circulated recently for public comment. I understand that the recommendations of the review could, if implemented, have significant implications for fire
cover in my hon. Friend's constituency and elsewhere, and that they include proposals to close the fire station at Bewdley and to remove a pumping appliance that is staffed by full-time firefighters, and a hydraulic platform from Kidderminster.
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