§ Sir John WheelerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of the total costs of fire brigades will be met from all central sources of funding, direct and indirect, in the current financial year; and what percentage will be paid locally.
§ Mr. John PattenSupport for the expenditure of fire authorities in England and Wales is provided by central Government through revenue support grant, redistributed
184W business rates and community charge grant. This support is not hypothecated to particular services, and decisions on what portion should go to meet fire expenditure are at the discretion of the local authority concerned. For England and Wales as a whole, central Government meet about 85 per cent. of the budgeted revenue expenditure of local authorities.
Establishment Strength Vacancies 1. Wholetime operational ranks: 1 January 19811 Chief Fire Officer 1 1 — Assistant Chief Officer 4 3 1 Senior Divisional Officer — — — Divisional Officer I 8 7 1 Divisional Officer II — — — Divisional Officer III 19 18 1 Assistant Divisional Officer 27 27 — Station Officer 130 113 17 Sub Officer 102 91 11 Leading Firefighter 136 120 16 Firefighter 714 689 25 Total 1,141 1,069 72 2. Wholetime operational ranks: 1 January 19911 Chief Fire Officer 1 1 — Assistant Chief Officer 4 4 — Senior Divisional Officer 4 3 1 Divisional Officer I 2 1 1 Divisional Officer II 6 5 1 Divisional Officer III 11 11 — Assistant Divisional Officer 28 26 2 Station Officer 131 108 23 Sub Officer 102 100 2 Leading Firefighter 136 125 11 Firefighter 659 683 224 Total 1,084 1,067 317 3. Retained operational ranks: 1 January 1981 Station Officer 8 8 — Sub Officer 18 16 2 Leading Firefighter 27 23 4 Firefighter 198 114 84 Total 251 161 90
§ Mr. Martin RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current establishment by rank for the South Yorkshire fire service; what is the number of vacancies in each rank; and what were the comparable figures for 10 years ago.
§ Mr. John PattenThe most recent centrally available figures relate to the establishment of the South Yorkshire county fire service on 1 January 1991. The establishments on this date and on 1 January 1981 are shown, by rank in the table, in comparison with figures showing the strength and the number of vacancies on each of those dates.