§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which fire authorities retain day staffing. [101895]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe fire authorities in England and Wales which have day-crewed fire stations are:
- Avon
- Bedfordshire and Luton
- Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes
- Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
- Cheshire
- Cornwall
- Derbyshire
- Devon
- Dorset
- East Sussex
- Essex
- Gloucestershire
- Greater Manchester
- Hampshire
- Hereford and Worcester
- Hertfordshire
- Isles of Scilly
- Kent and the Medway Towns
- Lancashire
- Lincolnshire
- Norfolk
- North Yorkshire
- Northamptonshire
- Northumberland
- Oxfordshire
- Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire
- Suffolk
- Warwickshire
- West Sussex
- West Yorkshire
- Wiltshire
- Mid and West Wales
- North Wales
- South Wales.
§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many section 19 applications arising from the Fire Services Act 1947 have been submitted from each fire authority since 1994; how many have been refused; and what was the basis for each refusal. [101894]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe number of section 19 applications submitted since 1 January 1994 (excluding some which were later withdrawn by the fire authority) 3W was 259. One application was refused and one refused in part. Eight applications are still outstanding. These details with a breakdown of the applications by authority are:
Fire authorities Total Avon 1 Bedfordshire and Luton 1 Berkshire 4 Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes 1 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 2 Cheshire 10 Cleveland 3 Cornwall 3 Cumbria1 6 Derbyshire 5 Devon 5 Dorset 7 Durham and Darlington1 4 East Sussex 3 Essex 3 Gloucestershire 2 Greater Manchester 4 Hampshire 9 Hereford and Worcester 3 Hertfordshire 3 Humberside 3 Isle of Wight 1 Isles of Scilly 0 Kent and the Medway Towns 6 Lancashire1 10 Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland1 1 Lincolnshire 2 London2 15 Merseyside 6 Norfolk 3 Northamptonshire 0 Northumberland 4 North Yorkshire 5 Nottinghamshire and the City of Nottingham 9 Oxfordshire1 5 Shropshire and the Wrekin 7 Somerset 4 South Yorkshire 7 Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire 6 Suffolk 6 Surrey 6 Tyne and Wear 8 Warwickshire 10 West Midlands1 11 West Sussex3 4 West Yorkshire1 11 Wiltshire and Swindon 9 Mid and West Wales4 3 North Wales5 8 South Wales6 10 1 One application still under consideration; two in the case of West Yorkshire. 2 One application mostly approved, but a proposal to remove one appliance and 24 posts refused on the grounds that the Home Secretary was not satisfied that the Authority had given adequate consideration to representations that had been made about arrangements for dealing with special fire risks. 3 Application to remove nine posts refused on the grounds that there were insufficient retained firefighters at the fire station in question for the Home Secretary to be satisfied that the Authority would be able to maintain the national standards of fire cover. 4 Pre 1 April 1996 Powys, West Glamorgan. Dyfed. 5 Pre 1 April 1996 Clwyd, Gwynned. 6 Pre 1 April 1996 Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan, Gwent.