§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) how many firefighters have been trained in decontamination techniques to help the general public; how many protective suits are available in each fire authority area; and what expenditure has been incurred; [89904]
(2) whether the funds made available in February 2002 for mass decontamination service have been drawn upon. [89903]
§ Mr. RaynsfordIndividual records of fire fighter training are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. In December 2001 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister issued guidance on the provision of interim mass decontamination facilities using existing equipment. All fire authorities have trained their personnel who need to use this equipment and approximately 120 of the service's senior commanders have received multi agency training, which will continue. Currently the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister estimates that there are 3,900 protective suits available throughout the UK Fire Service.
Under the new dimension mass decontamination programme announced last year the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will, by the end of 2002–03, have spent over £8 million on new equipment as well as the costs of training and the regional implementation teams. A further £27.7 million expenditure on equipment costs is already committed in 2003–04. The full programme will provide an extra 4,000 protective suits.