§ Gillian MerronTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) women and (b) men are in each Fire and Rescue Service, broken down by (i) rank and (ii) retained and other status. [128337]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienAll fire brigades in England and Wales are required to provide annually to Her Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate statistical information about170W personnel employed, analysed by gender and ethnic origin. The tables—which provide a breakdown by gender for uniformed and non-uniformed personnel and by rank (for the whole-time and retained services), based on statistical returns from the fire services for England and Wales at 31 March 1999—have been placed in the Library.