§ Mr. LuffTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the continuing impact of possible industrial action by firefighters on the(a) Royal Navy, (b) Army and (c) Royal Air Force. [109180]
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§ Mr. IngramThe provision of emergency fire cover continues to be carefully balanced with other demands on the services, allowing the maintenance of maximum flexibility for contingency tasking and operational deployments, as well as protection of public safety during firelighters' strikes.
Nevertheless, the longer service personnel are held ready to provide emergency firefighting cover the greater the penalty to other activities is likely to be. The impact was felt from the outset of firefighter training last year, by all three services across a wide spectrum of their normal activity, although it is not practicable to distinguish between the three services. Wherever possible, adjustments have been made to operating procedures and manning levels to ensure that the impact is kept to a minimum.