§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make an assessment of the range of equipment and clothing held by his Department to determine whether it enables it to(a) provide cover for services withdrawn by the fire brigades and (b) conduct firefighting operations for which it is responsible. [87859]
§ Mr. IngramThe Armed Forces have been supplied with suitable and adequate equipment and clothing to provide the agreed level of fire cover in the event of industrial action being taken by local fire brigades. When not in use the responsibility for such equipment rests with the Office of my right hon Friend the Deputy Prime Minister.
The Defence Fire Services are also supplied with and maintain all the necessary equipment and clothing to conduct those operations for which they are primarily responsible.
718W
§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what his present estimates are for(a) the full costs and (b) the additional costs incurred by his Department in planning for and providing military personnel and equipment to cover for services withdrawn by the fire brigades; and what elements his Department has taken into account in calculating its costs incurred in providing such services; [87856]
(2) what the arrangements are for his Department to recover from the authorities responsible for the provision of such services its costs in providing services withdrawn by the fire brigades; and when he expects his Department to receive the repayments due to it from other authorities in respect of its costs in providing services withdrawn by the fire brigades. [87857]
§ Mr. IngramIt is too early to make even the broadest of estimates of how much the military assistance will cost at this stage, because the costs incurred during the actual strike periods have yet to be fully captured through the Ministry of Defence's central cost reporting system, and because we have no relevant historical examples to predict from. This prevents the Department from making any accurate costs estimates beyond those associated with the initial purchase of the urgent operational equipment necessary to equip the services.
In that regard, in the run up to the strike we incurred costs of around £8 million on purchasing major items of equipment such as protective clothing, breathing apparatus and hydraulic cutting equipment.
Under the rules that apply to operations of this sort, the Ministry of Defence will recover from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) the additional costs that are incurred in providing military assistance, ensuring that the operation is cost neutral so far as the defence budget is concerned.
We expect to receive repayment for the additional costs incurred thus far by the defence budget on this operation once they have been reported, scrutinised and notified to the ODPM.