Job cuts warning over planned Fire Service Bill

The Fire and Rescue Service Bill, expected to be discussed in Parliament in the New Year, was aimed at improving the delivery of services so they could respond to the "changing demands" of the modern world.

The Bill, drawn up in the wake of the bitter firefighters pay dispute, shifts the focus of fire and rescue from intervention to prevention.

A new duty to promote community fire safety and concentrate on protecting lives was included in the legislation. Statutory duties for firefighters were drawn up, recognising the range of work they perform from fighting blazes, attending road traffic accidents and dealing with terrorist incidents.

The Fire and Rescue Service Bill will allow officials to move stations nearer motorways and reduce services at night and in commercial centres. Fears are already emerging that autonomous local fire services will impose conditions concerning their response to fire alarms, along similar lines to the 'confirmed response' requirements for security systems. This could lead to different service levels across the country.

The Government claimed that the powers of fire authorities would be "strengthened and streamlined'' and a business and community safety forum will be set up - meeting for the first time today - to involve community and business groups.

'Window dressing'

However, the Fire Brigades Union sounded a warning of cuts and job losses and said it would fight any such plans.

"These are cuts dressed up as modernisation. The clear intention of the Government is to cut the fire service,'' said a union spokesman.

The union criticised the Bill for not including targets to reduce the number of deaths caused by fires.

"A lot of this is window dressing because there will be no extra money for the service."

The Local Government Association welcomed the Bill, but said that one of the most important potentially life-saving changes - the installation of sprinklers in schools and domestic premises - had been "ignored."

A statement said: "The LGA will continue to push for Government to make the installation of sprinklers a statutory requirement.

"Current research clearly indicates that fitting sprinklers virtually eliminates fire deaths and injuries. In schools alone in the UK, the annual cost of fire damage was estimated at £84 million in 2001."