Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Laura Pidcock and Nick Hurd

Monday 21st January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Laura Pidcock (North West Durham) (Lab)]

9. What assessment he has made of the correlation between changes in the number of firefighters and fire service response times.

[The Minister for Policing and the Fire Service (Mr Nick Hurd)]

Response times to fire have increased gradually over the last 20 years. At the same time, as the hon. Lady knows, the number of fires and deaths from fire has, thankfully, fallen. There is no clear link between response times and firefighter numbers.

[Laura Pidcock]

I thank the Minister for his response, but last month a report by Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary and fire and rescue services found that fragmentation was resulting in a postcode lottery of 999 response times and standards, which simply is not fair on the public or on firefighters. What steps is the Minister taking to introduce a consistent national framework of standards across fire and rescue services, to provide a proper benchmark against which inspections can take place?

[Mr Hurd]

The independent inspection of the effectiveness of our fire service found that 10 of the 14 fire services inspected were rated good for effectiveness, including their response to emergencies. We are driving up standards and finding out what “good” looks like through independent inspection, the creation of the standards board and robust local accountability, including the chance for local police and crime commissioners to take over governance. That framework will drive up standards across the fire service, which is what everyone wants.