Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment has she made of trends in the level of firefighters on the ability of the Fire Service to conduct its duties.

The Fire Inspectorate, HMICFRS, has just completed the first inspection of all fire and rescue services for over a decade, including assessing how effective each is at responding to fires and other emergencies and how well they look after their employees.

Fire and rescue authorities have the resources they need to undertake their important work and it is the responsibility of fire and rescue services to ensure that they organise their resources effectively to deliver their core functions.