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11.59 am
Mr. James Hill (Southampton, Test): I wish to take only two minutes of the time of the House. Although the debate has given a general impression of the fire service, it has centred almost entirely on the London scene and I was quite surprised to learn that there was a deposit account for the London fire service of £27 million. That may have made the authority change its mind when it considered closing down four stations, but in Hampshire it is a totally different story.
The fire service in Hampshire is very efficient and modern in its approach. All the observations that my hon. Friend the Member for Cirencester and Tewkesbury(Mr. Clifton-Brown) made about the training college in his area are duplicated in Hampshire.
There can be no doubt that cost is the issue. People in all grades of society are worried about cost and maximum efficiency. The way to get the message over is to ask the fire service to do the tasks and, if it cannot, exceptions can be made. The plan of Baroness Blatch and her colleague is to meet groups of Members of Parliament. All the Hampshire Members of Parliament have been given the opportunity to meet Baroness Blatch, and instead of all the argy-bargy and semi-political chitchat that some hon. Members have raised in the debate, we can have a balanced debate about the pros and cons. I am sure that, after meeting the Ministers, the Hampshire Members will put forward a formula that could carry the day.
Mr. Lawrence Cunliffe (Leigh):
I shall speak as rapidly as possible because I wish to deal exclusively with the Greater Manchester fire service, its resources and its role.
In 1986, the Audit Commission reported that the fire services generally were "notably well managed", great value for money and, in efficiency and effectiveness, were second to none in the United Kingdom and the world. That is a glowing tribute to our fire services. The problem is the inability of the fire services to fulfil the statutory functions that are placed on them, because of the cuts imposed on them and their ever-increasing work load.The work load is rising at the same time as a static amount of money is available to the fire services to cope with the explosion in the number of incidents.
The incidence of fires in Manchester has constantly increased at a rate that is not commensurate with the amount of money available to increase the facilities to cope. In 1985, 48,000 incidents were recorded in Manchester, and in the past decade there has been a 70 per cent. increase, to 81,000 in 1995. Operational resources remained virtually unchanged in the same period. In 1994, the fire service in Manchester had just 68 appliances available to deal with that work load, and every single fire tender available had to deal with between 3,500 and 4,000 incidents.
When the fire service is forced--I use the word "forced" advisedly--by economic and financial constraints to impose a series of measures that impede or weaken the efficiency of the force, it gives rise to concerns that we all share, nationally and regionally. In my area, there has been much alarm about that problem. Budget reductions over the past two years have been about £1 million. This year--as was announced only yesterday--the chief fire officer of the Greater Manchester brigade said that there would be a£1.9 million deficit. That sum can be taken out of available balances, but the Audit Commission made it clear that it believed that no further injection of funds from the balances could be reconciled. That means that no more reserves will be available until 1998.
We have seen reductions in recruitment. Recruitment courses have had to be revised because of the cuts.The reduction in the use of the Fire Service college has been mentioned today, and I congratulate the hon. Member for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (Mr. Clifton-Brown) on the way in which he put the case for the college. I disagree with him on privatisation, but the college is first class and that is recognised by all the brigades throughout the United Kingdom.
We have seen a decrease in repairs and in the efficiency of vital fire appliances. Further funding deficiencies, for obvious reasons, will accelerate the problem and make it harder for the fire services to fulfil their role. The prime example is the use of the fire college and the impact on core and non-core training of brigades. Future training is necessary--indeed, imperative--to give a first-class service.
In spite of the reduction in funding, the fire services are now expected to finance more and more high-tech equipment, which is more sophisticated and more costly than previous equipment. The new equipment must be used to its maximum efficiency to get value for money for the fire services, which do such a necessary job.
There is also increasing pressure to devote more resources to fire safety education. We need to do more work in fire prevention and to educate the general public. I tabled an early-day motion recently, which was signed by some 60 Members of Parliament, about the tragic death of a 15-year-old girl, Melanie Ellison, who suffered horrendous burns when the modern padded shirt that she was wearing--like the shirts and anoraks worn by many young people and, indeed, adults--ignited through a single spark from a cooker.
Some hon. Members will remember the campaign on foam in furniture. Such shirts should be labelled to show whether they are non-flammable or inflammable, according to the type of material used to fill them. Such tragedies could be avoided if warning labels were used.I have pointed that out to the Home Office, to the Minister for Competition and Consumer Affairs and to the industry. They have a clear responsibility to ensure that imported goods, many from third-world countries, should be subject to safety standards when imports are licensed. Labelling for such garments is imperative.
Last year, we had an unusual summer followed by a harsh winter, and the demands on fire brigades have been heavy. In the first three weeks of August, many specialist uniformed staff manned vans and cars to deal with the grass fires, and off-duty personnel were recalled for duty. Some departments have not yet recovered from the backlog of administration work that was caused. For such unusual circumstances, compensation ought to be paid.
Bonfire night and the end of December, when there was severe weather, saw more increases in activity. On 30 and 31 December brigade control handled 763 and 728 calls respectively--twice as many as the norm. A great deal of additional overtime and wear and tear to vehicles was incurred in 1995 owing to the additional number of incidents, but no additional funding has been provided to help the service cope with these unpredictable circumstances.
Mr. George Howarth (Knowsley, North):
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Woolwich (Mr. Austin-Walker) on winning the ballot, and on raising this important subject. I also congratulate him on his thoughtful and effective speech.
My hon. Friend the Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mrs. Dunwoody), in her customary way, made some sound, commonsense points not just about Cheshire but about the fire service's wider problems. My hon. Friend the Member for Leigh (Mr. Cunliffe) has just given us a detailed account of the difficulties confronting the Greater Manchester fire authority. I know that he takes a great interest in that topic.
I begin with two statements which I suspect will attract consensus. The first is that firefighting is a dangerous occupation. The recent deaths of a couple of firefighters have served only to underline that point. Every hon. Member will want to be associated with sending to the families of those who lost their lives our deep appreciation of the risks they took and the price they paid on behalf of the general public.
Mr. Llew Smith (Blaenau Gwent):
My hon. Friend may be aware that two part-time firefighters in my constituency died a few weeks ago attempting to save the life of a child. Their deaths were mourned, and their courage was saluted by all. But the local community is very angry, because the common-law wife of one of them, who was in a caring and loving relationship with him for 17 years and who has a child of 10, has been informed that she will not receive a pension, because she is not married.
I contacted Baroness Blatch to express my concern and anger. She responded by saying that, although the matter was under review, even if the outcome of the review was positive, it would not be retrospective. May I have a commitment that a future Labour Government will not just review the situation but will ensure that this woman receives the pension she deserves, so that justice is done?
Mr. Howarth:
My hon. Friend and I have discussed that. I should first want the review to reach its proper conclusions, and then to examine them. Generally speaking, we now recognise all sorts of relationships. Divorce law, in the context of pensions, recognises differing relationships outside marriage, and I am almost certain that the review will reach a similar conclusion.
As for my hon. Friend's specific constituency case,I know that there is a great deal of anger in his community. The public admire this country's firefighters, and it would be a nice gesture if the Minister promised to raise the matter with Baroness Blatch and gave a commitment that any regulations that may apply would be waived and the pension granted in this case. That would not necessarily be a precedent--each case is different--and I hope that the Minister will be sympathetic.
My second general point centres on the fact that the fire services offer an emergency service. People in difficulties call out the fire service, and rightly expect help to arrive almost immediately. That may not always be possible, but people certainly expect a fire crew and an engine or two to be in attendance within a short time. Our charge against the Government is that they have refused to face up to the growing crisis in the fire services.
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