Fire 2004: regionalisation, recruitment and resilience

These three topics dominated the government's contribution to conference at this year's Fire Conference and Exhibition, while a focus on the future was evident in the several consultations launched and anticipated which included procurement, recruitment, rescue role of the Service and the fire safety RRO

Fire Minister Phil Hope MP opened this year's Fire Conference by listing the various initiatives and projects that have come to fruition during the past year. Having recited the litany of successes such as the Fire and Rescue Services Bill and the cessation of the industrial dispute, Mr Hope reiterated the ODPM's commitment to the Service, highlighting the government's targets of reducing accidental fire deaths in the home by 20 per cent and the number of deliberate fires by 10 per cent.

He acknowledged that many in the audience "think those targets could be even more ambitious" and challenged delegates: "If you can do even better, then I encourage you to do so."

BUILDING REGULATIONS RRO

Referring to the review of the Building Regulations in terms of fire safety, Mr Hope promised that "we will carefully consider the role that sprinklers could play" although with the caveat that "we need a balanced package of measures to address fire risk." He announced that consultation will begin in early 2005.

Drawing delegates' attention to the current consultation on the draft National Workforce Development Strategy (NWDS), Mr Hope recalled the recent launch of new centrally produced recruitment literature which can be used "to recruit staff on to the retained duty system". However, he continued "the purpose of the new recruit merit literature is much wider than this," being designed to reach sections of the community who traditionally do not apply to join the Service. He announced the launch at the Fire Show of the ODPM's new web based advertising and recruitment toolkit.

Commenting on the new NWDS, Mr Hope noted that: "it will clearly establish the roles of regional management boards in delivering training." He later went further: "Successful RMBs will unsure that functions such as procurement, training and human resources, will he delivered more efficiently and effectively." The adoption of RMBs, which was originally 'sold' as a function of national resilience under new dimensions, seems to have transformed into a focus on financial savings.

OPPOSITION TO REGIONALISATION

Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Industry Stephen O'Brien attacked the government's regional agenda, advocating retention of community focus and engagement. He described the regional push from government as 'needless undermining of the experts [fire officers]."

Highlighting that RMBs are not accountable to the electorate, but to the ODPM alone, Mr O'Brien characterised regionalisation as "centralisation by stealth", noting that, "most of the powers that are taken over by the region are currently local powers."

Switching to regional control rooms, Mr O'Brien contended that he received several complaints in his constituency office about police control rooms not knowing where incidents or addresses are, but that he had never had any such complaint about the Fire Service. Thus he argued against regional control rooms. However, his view was not shared by New Zealand Fire Service National Commander Mike Hall, who contended that there are "no real barriers to effective multi service control centres". Mr Hall also asserted that the 'local knowledge' to which Mr O'Brien and others refer to, is held at fire stations, not in the control centre, noting that there are more than 100 'Queen Streets' in New Zealand.

Mr O'Brien's picture of regionalisation was further darkened by the speculation that the political footing for regional government, the regional development agency, would not be set up for years and as such Fire RMBs will remain democratically unaccountable for a long time.

PROCUREMENT

On the subject of procurement--another function of the regional structure--Mr Hope announced the launch of the ODPM's draft national procurement strategy for consultation. (see pg 28 for more detail on the procurement debate)

Mr Hall outlined the way that the New Zealand Fire Service is structured--it is a national service, with a regional chief and management board below. All industrial relations are conducted at a regional level, while each individual fire station has a computer suite flora which all risk data and mapping can be accessed. The service essentially empowers stations to plan their workload from the integrated data that is available to them.

RESILIENCE

In closing conference Nick Raynsford MP presented the regional restructure in terms of resilience: "The role of the regions, of regional planning and the regional command tier are essential building blocks in assuring resilience. The regional dimension may cause some anxiety in the Fire and Rescue Service but events on September 11 made it clear that central and local arrangements would not be adequate to co ordinate over a wide spectrum of activity."

He continued by pointing to the fuel crisis and foot and mouth as examples of "poor coordination and poor communication between central government and local responders. These events demonstrated the need for a strategic overview at the regional level and the capability to scale-up response when necessary."

Continuing the theme of resilience that was central to his presentation, Mr Raynsford announced government's intention "to hold a public consultation later this year on the pro posed new statutory duties on fire and rescue authorities. The consultation will cover four main areas: Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents; search and rescue events; major flooding incidents; and major non-road transport incidents."

Having pledged that: "Government is committed to working with tire Fire and Rescue Service ... there is no question of us putting the Fire and Rescue Service on the back burner." Mr Raynsford acknowledged that while the Service was able to absorb the crewing costs associated with New Dimension he recognised that "this will not be possible for the larger, expensive phase two". To this end, he announced that government will provide up tot 16m [pounds sterling] a year to help meet the cost of crewing phase two, and that they would be working with CFOA to sort out the precise details.

Conference at a glance

Global warming is happening and will accelerate, leading to greater precipitation, increased flooding and more extreme weather--the South East of England will experience the changes earlier than the rest of the UK

The Disability Rights Commission warned of the impending full impact of the Disability Discrimination Act, noting that the DRC 'has teeth' and will be looking for test cases. Delegates were urged to learn what 'a reasonable adjustment' is, and to make it.

A facilitated debate, led by South Wales, focussed on firefighters on the retained duty system. Delegates noted the 20 per cent shortfall in retained numbers, and examined how to recruit more retained firefighters against the competing options of the Territorial Army, St John's Ambulance and others. Giving more thought and strategic attention to the retained was also discussed, potentially by including a retained officer on brigade management boards.

16m [pounds sterling] additional funding was announced by Nick Raynsford MP, to assist in meeting the additional costs of crewing phase two of the new dimensions programme, which is focussed on enhancing urban search and rescue capability in the UK.

A procurement workshop was held to debate the release of the draft national procurement strategy and led to a heated discussion on the consultation process (see pg 7 and pgs 28-29)

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