As we are all very aware, for many years now fire brigades across the UK have had to make stringent cuts in services to meet the financial pressures placed on them by Government. As part of this cost cutting pprocess we have had outsourcing, AssetCo, Babcock and soon Capita as far as London is concerned. Uwfs place a strain on budgets as many calls, in their thousands are false alarms so there is a saving in terms of attendance. Of course the lower the call ratios the less the need, under IRMP, for fire appliances and with multi millions of savings for London and other Met Brigades in the next 2 fiscal year it is a bit of lets watch this space. Other Brigade,s as noted on the FBUs website, are in turmoil over budgetary arrangements, the strange thing being that it is the CFOs driving the cost cutting whilst they increase their pay. Are they now becoming the bankers of the fire service?
An interesting aside is could fire safety be hived off to an outside provider, would it need a change in legislation to accommodate the "enforcer" tag or could inspections take place under FRS 2004 with educate and inform and deficiencies notices and enforcement/prohibition and prosecution under the Order by a small group in any one brigade. There. of course, is no inspection protocols in the Order only in the National Framework document and the 2012 version is now out and reinforces that process.
