Examination of Witnesses (Questions 915
- 919)
WEDNESDAY 17 APRIL 2002
MR GRON
ROBERTS OBE AND
MR PETER
BRADLEY
Chairman
915. Welcome, Mr Roberts and Mr Bradley. I almost
have to make an apology, you probably never thought when you took
on your job you would be appearing before the Defence Committee.
I will not go into detail as to why it is the Defence Committee
and not Health or Social Security or any of the others. I was
told there are 85 American Congressional committees or sub-committees
investigating 11 September, I am afraid we do not quite rival
that, as far as I know there is just one and this is it. That
is why you are here. Thank you for your memorandum. We will plod
on. You decide who is the most appropriate to answer. Can you
give us some examples of where the Ambulance Service has not been
involved as closely as you would have liked with emergency planning
in the NHS?
(Mr Roberts) I think pre 11 September,
particularly at cross Government level, the Cabinet Committee
tended to neglect ambulance compared with the fire and police.
We have been trying hard since then to make up for that deficit.
Basically at the very top level, if you like, at the cross Government
level, I think the voices of the Ambulance Service have not been
heard as well as they might have been. A good example of that
would have been in the consultation which took place on the emergency
planning where they did consult the Chief and Assistant Chief
Fire Officers, the police and local authorities, we were not consulted.
916. At the national level?
(Mr Roberts) At the national level, yes.
917. Is that so?
(Mr Roberts) Yes.
918. Did you protest?
(Mr Roberts) We protested when we found out that they
had been consulting, yes.
919. If it is any consolation the MoD did not
appear to have been consulted either so you are in good company.
(Mr Roberts) We are in excellent company. Rather than
complaining about it, we tried to be positive and tried to talk,
particularly to the Cabinet Office, about how we might be better
engaged in future.
Chairman: You will have a good opportunity this
afternoon to redress the embarrassment.
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