§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many incidents in which the fire service was called to road traffic accidents occurred in the Tyne and Wear fire authority area in the last three complete years; and how such incidents are taken account of in standard spending assessment calculation. [16094]
§ Mr. SackvilleI have been asked to reply.
The following information about road traffic accidents in the area of the Tyne and Wear fire authority has been taken from annual returns provided by the fire authority (a financial year basis was adopted in 1993):
- 1992: 545
- 1993 (first quarter): 94
- 1993–94: 414
- 1994–95: 453.
Road traffic accidents are covered in the fire calls indicator which is one of the factors in the fire standard spending assessment distributional formula. For 1996–97, this takes account of the average over the two years 1993 and 1994 of the number of fires, fire false alarm calls and special service calls attended by local authority fire brigades. For this purpose, the special service calls included are road traffic accidents, rail and air accidents, leaks and spills. The number of special service calls for 1994 relates to the financial year 1994–95.