Author Topic: Trading Company for the London Fire Brigade  (Read 7285 times)

Offline jokar

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Trading Company for the London Fire Brigade
« on: April 21, 2015, 08:21:42 AM »
Following a decision taken by the Authority on 26 June 2014 (FEP 2254), to establish a LFEPA trading company, we registered a company called London Fire Brigade Enterprises LTD.

The board for the company consists of six directors. 

Five of these are current employees of the Authority. These are:

The Director of Operations
The Heads of Procurement and Operational Resilience
A Borough Commander
The Community Safety Development Manager.
The sixth director is Steve Hamm - retired Assistant Commissioner - who is taking the role of a non-employee director.

LFBe

In addition, there is a shareholder representative to undertake the functions of managing the company.

The company will provide consultancy services, training and other services associated with our expertise in fire.

Offline Golden

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Re: Trading Company for the London Fire Brigade
« Reply #1 on: April 21, 2015, 08:39:49 AM »
I saw this a few days ago and wondered what it was all about - another consultant and enforcer working hand in hand just when I was thinking that things may change with the discussions regarding the similar situation with AIs working with their own fire engineers. I suppose it was only a matter of time but they will never be truly competitive given the back office costs of the LFB that will heavily subsidise the operation. I thought they may have learnt their lesson with the Lakanal training though.

Offline Messy

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Re: Trading Company for the London Fire Brigade
« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2015, 10:34:24 AM »
So far, I haven't seen any mention of any fire safety consultancy which is good news, as this would be an area fraught with poacher & game keeper type problems

But I am not sure about this brand new company perhaps run by people with limited commercial experience and I wonder who will pick up the pieces if it all goes terribly wrong? What is the risk to the public purse?

As a taxpayer, I want to know:
In these days of austerity, how come the LFB have 'spare' staff that can be seconded to work for the new company?
Who will cover the secondees roles, and if temporary promotion is required by those covering, will the 'company' pay for that along with increased NI and pension contributions, or will the taxpayer? (who will already be paying for their training, medicals & uniform)
What interest rate is being paid on the 40k loan from the LFB to the company?
And what is stopping Govt from cutting grants to the same value of the profits made by the company - thereby making the whole exercise nil value?

On a more positive note, I will looking for a fire training provider in the London area in the next 12 months, so will certainly be contacting LFB PLC. Is this the sort of work they may be provide? If so by who and where as I thought Babcocks had swallowed up all of the LFBs training dept (both staff & buildings)? If LFB Enterprises could offer hot fire training in London, I would be first in the queue!

Offline VFS

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Re: Trading Company for the London Fire Brigade
« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2015, 12:26:16 PM »
Fair play

We deliver a lot of fire safety training courses in London, including live fire. It would be interesting how much London Fire Brigade Enterprises LTD would charge to carry out these courses. Very competitive industry at the moment.

Offline nearlythere

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Re: Trading Company for the London Fire Brigade
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2015, 06:52:35 PM »
Fair play

We deliver a lot of fire safety training courses in London, including live fire. It would be interesting how much London Fire Brigade Enterprises LTD would charge to carry out these courses. Very competitive industry at the moment.
Is that with a gas rigVFS?
We're not Brazil we're Northern Ireland.

Offline Dunbar

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Re: Trading Company for the London Fire Brigade
« Reply #5 on: April 23, 2015, 02:29:29 PM »
If they are trading might I suggest they should be following industry 'best practice' and where possible have what they are delivering third party approved.

However they could just trade on the badge, the reputation, the uniform, the great central London venues etc etc

Not a bad way to gain a competitive edge!


Offline VFS

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Re: Trading Company for the London Fire Brigade
« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2015, 04:20:08 PM »
Yes

NT

Offline nearlythere

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Re: Trading Company for the London Fire Brigade
« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2015, 04:23:27 PM »
I used to do live fire training the good old fashioned way with kerosene and barrels until the insurance companies pulled cover on this type of training. Thought there was cover available out there somewhere.
We're not Brazil we're Northern Ireland.

Offline AnthonyB

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Re: Trading Company for the London Fire Brigade
« Reply #8 on: April 23, 2015, 11:53:57 PM »
There is cover, the Fire Service Preservation Group policy allows the use of live fire for fire fighting displays, although it's probably quite expensive
Anthony Buck
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