Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 (UK)

Product Information

The Bill provides for training for fire and rescue authority employees (and others) to be delivered centrally, regionally or locally. This Section re-enacts and enhances provision allowing the Secretary of State to set up and maintain central or local (including regional) training centres. The Fire Service College at Moreton in Marsh is the central training institution for the Fire and Rescue Service. However, the College is not able to provide all the development and training for the service and some training (for example, training that needs to be carried out regularly) may be best delivered at a regional or local level. PART 4 EMPLOYMENT Negotiating bodies Section 31 Negotiating bodies

Part 5 – Water supply (Sections 37 to 42): imposes duties on fire and rescue authorities and water undertakers to ensure an adequate supply of water for fire-fighting activities. Part 6 – Supplementary (Sections 43 to 53 and Schedules 1 and 2): concerns the powers of fire and rescue authority employees to undertake rescue work and investigations, as well as a number of consequential provisions and repeals, including the abolition of the Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council. Should any negotiating body be set up under these powers, subsections (4) and (5) would prevent the body being undermined by negotiations being held in another forum. Subsections (5), (6), (7), (8), however, would allow the statutory body to make arrangements for some conditions of service to be negotiated locally either in their entirety or within nationally agreed parameters. Section 32 Guidance Section 31 provides the Secretary of State with reserve powers to establish negotiating machinery for the Fire and Rescue Service. The powers allow the Secretary of State to determine the number, composition and chair of the negotiating bodies following consultation. Subsection (2) requires that a statutory body includes employers, unions and an independent chairman. It came into effect on 1 October 2004. It only applies to Great Britain and most provisions apply only in England and Wales. Replacing the previous Fire Services Act 1947 in England and Wales, it clarifies the duties and powers of fire authorities to:-Section 26 re-enacts in an amended form section 33 of the Fire Services Act 1947. The Secretary of State will be able to hold a public inquiry into the performance of a fire and rescue authority or its handling of a particular incident. Section 27 Inspectors Power to respond to other eventualities; and other services. replaces section 3(1)(e) of the Fire Services Act 1947, and will provide fire and rescue authorities with discretion to equip and respond to events beyond its core functions provided for elsewhere in the Bill. A fire and rescue authority will be free to act where it believes there is a risk to life or the environment. This would allow, for example, specialist activities such as rope rescue. A fire and rescue authority will be able to exercise the power in support of another fire and rescue authority – for example, under a reinforcement scheme (see Sections 13 and 14). Section 12 Other services The Secretary of State will report to Parliament on the extent to which fire and rescue authorities are acting in accordance with the Framework and any action he has taken to ensure they do so. He will not report on individual fire and rescue authorities. Supervision Section 25 Information

This clause re-enacts section 32 of the Fire Services Act 1947 and provides that no member of a police force (i.e. a police constable) may be employed as a fire-fighter. If an off-duty police officer were employed by a fire and rescue authority, for example as a retained (part-time) fire-fighter, difficulties might arise at the scene of a fire or other emergency due to confusion over which employer had the primary claim on the officer’s services. PART 5 WATER SUPPLY Section 37 Duty to secure water supply etc This provision provides authorised employees of a fire and rescue authority with the powers to deal with fires, road traffic accidents and other emergencies. It replaces section 30(1) of the Fire Services Act 1947 which was limited to dealing with extinguishing, or preventing the spread of, fires, and recognises the wider range of duties of fire-fighters, including the work which fire and rescue authorities do in responding to road traffic accidents. Powers of entry Section 44 Powers of entry This Section re-enacts existing powers in section 26 of the Fire Services Act 1947. It will enable more than one pension scheme to operate at any one time. Section 34 Information in connection with pensions etc The Act is not expected to have a significant impact on either public expenditure or manpower. Through the process of regional organisation and the introduction of Integrated Risk Management Plans (IRMPs), it is expected that fire and rescue authorities will be given the flexibility to place greater emphasis on prevention and accrue expenditure savings as a result. IRMPs in particular should allow authorities to meet more effectively the particular service demands in their area. Whilst there may be a possibility that some fire and rescue services (typically smaller, rural authorities) could incur some short-term cost increases as a result of adopting the provisions in the Act (such as an enhanced role in promoting fire safety), such costs should be offset in the longer term by the efficiency savings that the Act will bring about.FRAs also need to collect information to assess risk in their areas as well as protect the health and safety of their workers. The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 also gives the Government responsibility for producing the Fire and Rescue National Framework which outlines the Government's high level priorities and objectives for FRAs in England. The National Framework's priorities for FRAs are to: Initially there were no problems as the secondary functions called for little resources. By 1970 the secondary functions were demanding more resources, especially fire safety. With the introduction of the Fire Precautions Act the staff in fire safety departments grew considerably. Fire safety officers were required to ensure that all premises met the required fire safety standards. This was achieved by conducting surveys of the premises, re-inspections and finally issuing a fire certificate, this proved to be expensive, because of the human resources needed. This Section re-enacts the power in the Fire Services Act 1947 that determines the arrangements for appointing inspectors of the Fire and Rescue Service. Equipment etc Section 28

Part 2 – Functions of fire and rescue authorities (Sections 6 to 20): sets out the duties and powers of fire and rescue authorities. work in partnership with their communities and a wide range of partners locally and nationally to deliver their service Fire fighting re-enacts the existing statutory duty for a fire and rescue authority to plan and provide arrangements for fighting fires and protecting life and property from fires within its area. A fire and rescue authority is required to secure sufficient equipment etc. and training to discharge its duty in normal circumstances. A fire and rescue authority must also put in place effective arrangements for receiving and responding to calls for help and for obtaining information to exercise its functions; the latter might include, for example, information about the nature and characteristics of buildings within the authority’s area or availability of and access to water supplies. Section 8 Road traffic accidents Part 7 – General (Sections 54 to 62): makes general provision in relation to pre-commencement consultation, interpretation, statutory instruments, territorial extent etc. There are four key responsibilities for FRAs that they must ensure that they make provision for including:The Bill extends to England and Wales only with the exception of the provisions regarding pensions in Part 4 (as pension policy is a reserved matter) and various consequential provisions which also extend to Scotland. Wherever appropriate, it gives the National Assembly for Wales the powers of the Secretary of State in its application to Wales. Section 61 Short title

Provides for the means by which a notice under clause 44 may be legally served. It is similar to service provisions under fire safety and health and safety law and will allow legal service by electronic means where the recipient agrees to this. It corresponds to provisions in the Communications Act 2003. False alarms Section 47 False alarms of fire Abolishes the Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council, which was established under section 29 of the Fire Services Act 1947 to provide general advice to the Secretary of State on matters relating to the operation of that Act. The Council also served as statutory consultee prior to the exercise by the Secretary of State of certain of his regulation-making powers under the 1947 Act (for example with regard to pensions). Where such regulation-making powers are re-enacted elsewhere in the Bill, the Secretary of State will be under a duty to consult with such persons as he considers are appropriate. Section 50 Repeal of Fire Services Act 1947 Section 51 Amendments Section 52 RepealThe Bill does not extend to Northern Ireland. PART 1 FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITIES 1 Fire and rescue authorities Access to the water supply is by connection to a fire hydrant. Hydrants may be fitted by a water undertaker at the request of a fire and rescue authority. Clause 41(1) requires a water undertaker to mark the location of every fire hydrant with a notice or distinguishing mark and under subsection (2) the costs of doing this can be charged to the fire and rescue authority in whose area the hydrant is situated. This re-enacts provisions in section 14(3) of the Fire Services Act 1947.