Fire Services (Hansard, 6 November 2002)

§ Mr. Pickles
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many fire appliances dedicated for training purposes there are in England and Wales, broken down by(a) fire brigade area and (b) local authority. [79675]

§ Mr. Leslie
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not hold information centrally on the number of fire appliances dedicated for training purposes; however, this information is published by The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) who provide a statistical information service. The information can be found broken down by fire authority, but not fire brigade, at page 10 of their publication entitled Fire Service Statistics 2001 (SIS reference 01.02). A copy is available in the Libraries of the House.

§ Harry Cohen
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many fire stations there are in North East London; how many fire engines are located in them; how many Green Goddesses would be expected to cover the area in the event of these fire engines not being deemed to be available due to a national strike of firefighters; and if he will make a statement. [78463]

§ Mr. Raynsford
The London Fire Brigade has forty-one fire engines at twenty-six fire stations in the London Boroughs of Havering, Hackney, Waltham Forest, Newham, Barking & Dagenham, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets.
Emergency cover in Greater London is currently planned to consist of a number of elements including 90 Green Goddess crews, 20 breathing apparatus teams (BARTs), a rescue team equipped with specialist equipment (a REST) and the police. Of these, sixteen Green Goddesses and four BARTs would be located in the above boroughs, with a further seven Green Goddesses and two BARTs located just outside those boundaries.
The provision of MoD emergency fire cover has been planned in consultation with the Chief Fire Officer to minimise call-out times and maximise the availability of a range of firefighting capabilities.
The command and operational structure for emergency fire cover has been designed to enable maximum flexibility and use of available resources, whether from within a county or from assets deployed nearby in neighbouring counties. The deployment of firefighters will be based on the assessment of how best to respond to an emergency in the quickest time possible. The deployment will be kept under review.