Archived decisions

WHITE PAPER "OUR FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE"

1. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has published a White Paper on the future of the fire service entitled "Our Fire and Rescue Service". It sets out the Government's vision for the public sector fire and rescue service and is probably the most significant document to affect the fire service since 1948.

2. The White Paper has 6 main themes:

· Fire Prevention


· Human Resource Modernisation


· Reform of Pay Negotiations


· Regionalisation


· Institutional Reform


· Improved Scrutiny and Inspection

3. The Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority has already addressed a number of the issues raised within the White Paper and invited the Head of the ODPM's Service Improvement Team to make a presentation to a future meeting on their work and the proposed timescales for implementation of the reforms recommended. Also, a joint Members'/Officers' Working Group is currently meeting as required to deal with this new initiative, prior to appropriate reports being presented to future meetings of the Authority.

4. The Authority has welcomed the White Paper "Our Fire and Rescue Service" as a positive means of modernising the fire and rescue service, embracing as it does many of the changes previously advocated by officers and members from Hampshire. It will increase the workload on Members and officers and, taken together with all other initiatives impacting on the Service, it is likely to lead to a significant increase in the overall cost of running the Service.