§ Mr. Edward DaveyTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the cost to the Government has been of(a) maintained and (b) storage of Bedford self-propelled pumps since the Auxiliary Fire Service was disbanded; and if he will make a statement. [81699]
§ Mr. LeslieThe vehicles are held at Marchington and the costs of the site are shown in the following table:
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Costs of Marchington since 1991 Year Rent Storage costs Maintained costs Income1 Total Included 1991–922 326,693 in rent 502,441 — 829,134 1992–93 1,476,890 301,045 708,200 — 2,486,135 1993–94 1,183,128 237,870 832,944 — 2,253,942 1994–95 1,459,751 204,928 685,438 — 2,350,117 1995–96 1,191,498 195,845 635,924 — 2,023,267 1996–97 1,308,115 188,128 558,411 — 2,054,654 1997–98 1,388,300 144,076 512,549 — 2,044,925 1998–99 1,410,773 156,788 562,350 — 2,129,911 1999–2000 1,460,324 131,272 692,557 — 2,284,153 2000–01 1,490,469 178,784 881,139 — 2,550,392 2001–02 1,339,244 243,765 1,144,343 -800,000 1,927,352 1In July 2001 management of the EFS stockpile reverted to Departmental management and income is now shown separately. 2 Part Year
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many(a) full-time and (b) retained firemen are on the strength of each fire brigade. [82013]
§ Mr. LeslieThe strength of firefighters in each fire authority area in England and Wales at 31 March 2002 is shown in the table:
Strength of wholetimeland retained2 fire authority staff in England and Wales at 31 March 2002 3 Wholetime Retained Avon 651 159 Bedfordshire and Luton 324 118 Buckinghamshire 304 143 Cambridgeshire 274 304 Cheshire 626 146 Cleveland 610 66 Cornwall 183 407 County Durham and Darlington 412 151 Cumbria 274 372 Derbyshire 482 226 Devon 538 651 Dorset 298 289 East Sussex 423 197 Essex 948 382 Gloucestershire 226 261 Greater Manchester 2,148 26 Hampshire 770 567 Hereford and Worcester 352 289 Hertfordshire 570 208 Humberside 720 270 Isle of Wight 59 148 Isles of Scilly 10 33 Kent 951 467 Lancashire 1,002 268 Leicestershire 476 139 Lincolnshire 192 420 London 5,913 0 Merseyside 1,317 0 Mid and West Wales 499 662 Norfolk 307 430 North Wales 289 473 North Yorkshire 363 321 Northamptonshire 292 231 Northumberland 208 162 Nottinghamshire 576 205 Oxfordshire 239 232 Royal Berkshire 413 136 Shropshire 206 252 Somerset 181 345 South Wales 957 363 South Yorkshire 923 34 Staffordshire 471 308 Suffolk 252 348 Surrey 686 103 Tyne and Wear 1,009 18 Warwickshire 282 144 West Midlands 2,028 7 West Sussex 393 259 West Yorkshire 1,660 160 Wiltshire 221 280 1 In full-time equivalents 2 In 24 hour units of cover 3 Provisional Note:
Figures have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what information he collects on the relative manpower to risk ratios of different fire brigades; and what guidelines he offers to brigades on determining manpower levels. [82014]
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§ Mr. LeslieHM Fire Service Inspectorate collects information for each fire authority on staffing levels and on hectarage of each category of fire risk. However, it is not possible to make a direct correlation between the two as fire cover is provided on a strategic basis.
Guidance which fire authorities use when considering staffing levels is contained in the "Report of the Joint Committee on Standards of Fire Cover", circulated under cover of Fire Service Circular 4/1985, a copy of which is in the Libraries of the House. This report recommends national standards for attendance times, the number of fire appliances and crewing levels. Fire
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Incidents attended by brigade area, 2000 1 Total incidents Fires All fires Primary fires2 Secondary fires Chimney fires False alarms Special Services3 United Kingdom 1,134,388 476,347 219,535 241,357 15,455 460,466 197,575 England and Wales 981,573 399,437 192,239 197,253 9,945 396,913 185,223 England 920,968 368,537 179,842 179,753 8,942 377,950 174,481 England—non-Met 494,149 196,655 101,497 86,934 8,224 204,765 92,729 Avon 18,410 7,330 4,372 2,837 121 8,070 3,010 Bedfordshire 8,180 3,617 2,070 1,485 62 3,239 1,324 Berkshire 13,742 4,755 2,589 2,054 112 6,796 2,191 Buckinghamshire 10,466 4,616 2,605 1,888 123 4,325 1,525 Cambridgeshire 12,707 4,156 2,374 1,678 104 6,412 2,139 Cheshire 14,521 6,975 3,020 3,778 177 5,374 2,172 Cleveland 16,023 8,256 3,199 5,028 29 5,759 2,008 Cornwall 6,332 2,656 1,405 848 403 2,197 1,479 Cumbria 7,778 3,524 1,724 1,538 262 3,349 905 Derbyshire 14,221 5,038 2,573 2,244 221 6,488 2,695 Devon 17,278 6,089 3,291 2,314 484 7,102 4,087 Dorset 10,219 3,723 1,838 1,646 239 4,547 1,949 Durham 11,434 5,978 2,411 3,317 250 3,916 1,540 East Sussex 14,290 4,845 3,013 1,603 229 5,720 3,725 Essex 25,481 9,405 4,776 4,474 155 10,015 6,061 Gloucestershire 7,300 2,853 1,664 929 260 2,654 1,793 Hampshire 22,920 9,116 4,175 4,602 339 9,266 4,538 Hereford and Worcs 9,174 3,725 1,951 1,514 260 3,469 1,980 Hertfordshire 13,581 5,296 3,081 2,127 88 6,234 2,051 Humberside 16,895 8,369 3,360 4,819 190 5,658 2,868 Isle of Wight 1,966 589 372 172 45 753 624 Kent 25,817 10,239 5,581 4,326 332 10,519 5,059 Lancashire 26,648 12,251 5,633 6,451 167 10,728 3,669 Leicestershire 13,806 5,386 2,900 2,346 140 5,771 2,649 Lincolnshire 7,252 3,134 1,824 1,105 205 2,334 1,784 Norfolk 9,403 3,889 2,267 1,312 310 4,043 1,471 North Yorkshire 10,784 3,575 2,082 1,153 340 4,131 3,078 Northamptonshire 10,047 4,681 2,586 1,943 152 3,833 1,533 Northumberland 5,174 2,655 1,109 1,339 207 1,876 643 Nottinghamshire 17,589 8,067 4,272 3,620 175 6,714 2,808 Oxfordshire 10,264 3,247 2,015 999 233 5,585 1,432 Shropshire 6,815 2,960 1,498 1,209 253 2,294 1,561 Somerset 7,754 2,740 1,614 745 381 3,306 1,708 Staffordshire 14,438 6,745 3,268 3,233 244 5,378 2,315 Suffolk 7,994 2,813 1,630 979 204 3,590 1,591 Surrey 15,569 4,099 2,348 1,623 128 8,282 3,188 Warwickshire 7,943 3,046 1,498 1,443 105 3,566 1,331 West Sussex 15,214 3,689 2,033 1,428 228 7,260 4,265 Wiltshire 8,688 2,516 1,470 780 266 4,203 1,969 Isles of Scilly 32 12 6 5 1 9 11 England(Met 426,819 171,882 78,345 92,819 718 173,185 81,752 Greater Manchester 59,675 29,201 14,953 14,189 59 24,217 6,257 Merseyside 37,808 21,278 8,406 12,810 62 12,625 3,905 South Yorkshire 24,293 12,135 5,116 6,844 175 9,168 2,990 Tyne and Wear 26,660 14,858 5,996 8,821 41 9,469 2,333 West Midlands 59,807 25,397 12,462 12,855 80 24,766 9,644 West Yorkshire 42,128 20,791 9,668 10,908 215 17,368 3,969 Greater London 176,448 48,222 21,744 26,392 86 75,572 52,654 Wales 60,605 30,900 12,397 17,500 1,003 18,963 10,742 North Wales 13,706 5,535 2,429 2,642 464 5,153 3,018 Mid and West Wales 16,991 8,623 3,931 4,309 383 4,917 3,451 authorities use a formula to determine what staffing levels they require to meet these standards, taking account of local circumstances. HM Inspectorate examines these levels as part of its regular inspection of brigades.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many emergency call-outs were received by each fire brigade in the last year for which information is available. [82015]
§ Mr. LeslieThe number of emergency call-outs attended by UK local authority fire brigades for the last year for which data are available is recorded in the table.
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Incidents attended by brigade area, 20001 Total incidents Fires All fires Primary fires2 Secondary fires Chimney fires False alarms Special Services3 South Wales 29,908 16,742 6,037 10,549 156 8,893 4,273 Northern Ireland 34,488 21,156 7,093 11,672 2,391 11,774 1,558 Scotland4 118,327 55,754 20,203 32,432 3,119 51,779 10,794 Strathclyde 60,265 29,641 10,235 18,920 486 25,881 4,743 Highland and Islands 4,980 2,319 644 657 1,018 2,127 534 Grampian 8,169 3,737 1,669 1,537 531 3,283 1,149 Tayside 9,169 4,522 1,645 2,644 233 3,828 819 Lothian and Borders 21,413 9,154 3,638 5,183 333 10,193 2,066 Fife 6,923 3,095 1,119 1,829 147 3,177 651 Central 5,204 2,294 834 1,374 86 2,552 358 Dumfries and Galloway 2,204 992 419 288 285 738 474 1 2000 fire incident figures are provisional 2 Including additional "late" call and heat and smoke damage incidents 3 Special service incidents relate to financial year 2000–01 4 Scottish special service data supplied by the Scottish Executive
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of(a) the population and (b) the land area of each fire brigade are covered by (i) retained and (ii) full-time firemen. [82016]
§ Mr. LeslieStatutory responsibility for the provision of fire services rests locally with the fire authority. Information on the land area or population served by individual fire stations is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Fire stations may be staffed by whole-time, retained firefighters or combination of the two. Fire cover is provided on a strategic basis because it is recognised that the appliances at any individual fire station are not the only resources available to that locality.