§ Viscount Merseyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why there is central funding for peacetime emergencies for county councils, but no similar funding for joint fire and civil defence authorities.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (Lord Hesketh)While Section 138 of the Local Government Act 1972 permits local authorities to incur expenditure on civil emergencies, and the Civil Protection in Peacetime Act 1986 allows them to use their civil defence resources in a peacetime emergency, there is no specific financial provision by central government for this purpose. On the abolition of the Greater London Council and Metropolitan County Councils, Parliament decided that there was no need to bring Fire and Civil Defence Authorities (FCDAs) within the scope of Section 138. However, it is open to a local authority in London or the metropolitan areas to use is powers under that section to fund peacetime emergency work undertaken by an FCDA on the local authority's behalf.