Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 (UK)

Product Information

The Act is not expected to have a significant impact on either public expenditure or manpower. Through the process of regional organisation and the introduction of Integrated Risk Management Plans (IRMPs), it is expected that fire and rescue authorities will be given the flexibility to place greater emphasis on prevention and accrue expenditure savings as a result. IRMPs in particular should allow authorities to meet more effectively the particular service demands in their area. Whilst there may be a possibility that some fire and rescue services (typically smaller, rural authorities) could incur some short-term cost increases as a result of adopting the provisions in the Act (such as an enhanced role in promoting fire safety), such costs should be offset in the longer term by the efficiency savings that the Act will bring about. This section will give combined fire and rescue authorities the powers which are already available to county fire authorities, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and metropolitan county fire and civil defence authorities under section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972. PART 2 FUNCTIONS OF FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITIES Core functions Section 6 Fire safety Directions as to reinforcement schemes gives the Secretary of State the power to direct the fire and rescue authorities involved to make, vary or revoke such a scheme. Before giving a direction, the Secretary of State will give all authorities concerned the opportunity to make representations to him and he may hold a public inquiry. Section 15 Arrangements with other employers of fire-fighters Provides for the means by which a notice under clause 44 may be legally served. It is similar to service provisions under fire safety and health and safety law and will allow legal service by electronic means where the recipient agrees to this. It corresponds to provisions in the Communications Act 2003. False alarms Section 47 False alarms of fire

Fire fighting re-enacts the existing statutory duty for a fire and rescue authority to plan and provide arrangements for fighting fires and protecting life and property from fires within its area. A fire and rescue authority is required to secure sufficient equipment etc. and training to discharge its duty in normal circumstances. A fire and rescue authority must also put in place effective arrangements for receiving and responding to calls for help and for obtaining information to exercise its functions; the latter might include, for example, information about the nature and characteristics of buildings within the authority’s area or availability of and access to water supplies. Section 8 Road traffic accidents Section 31 provides the Secretary of State with reserve powers to establish negotiating machinery for the Fire and Rescue Service. The powers allow the Secretary of State to determine the number, composition and chair of the negotiating bodies following consultation. Subsection (2) requires that a statutory body includes employers, unions and an independent chairman.FRAs also need to collect information to assess risk in their areas as well as protect the health and safety of their workers. The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 also gives the Government responsibility for producing the Fire and Rescue National Framework which outlines the Government's high level priorities and objectives for FRAs in England. The National Framework's priorities for FRAs are to:

The Bill provides for training for fire and rescue authority employees (and others) to be delivered centrally, regionally or locally. This Section re-enacts and enhances provision allowing the Secretary of State to set up and maintain central or local (including regional) training centres. The Fire Service College at Moreton in Marsh is the central training institution for the Fire and Rescue Service. However, the College is not able to provide all the development and training for the service and some training (for example, training that needs to be carried out regularly) may be best delivered at a regional or local level. PART 4 EMPLOYMENT Negotiating bodies Section 31 Negotiating bodies This clause re-enacts section 16(1) to (3) of the Fire Services Act 1947 and requires any person who proposes to carry out any works for the purpose of supplying water to any part of the area of a fire and rescue authority to give at least six weeks’ written notice to the authority under subsection (1). A person proposing to carry out any works affecting a fire hydrant is required to give at least seven days’ notice in writing. Part 2 – Functions of fire and rescue authorities (Sections 6 to 20): sets out the duties and powers of fire and rescue authorities. This provision provides authorised employees of a fire and rescue authority with the powers to deal with fires, road traffic accidents and other emergencies. It replaces section 30(1) of the Fire Services Act 1947 which was limited to dealing with extinguishing, or preventing the spread of, fires, and recognises the wider range of duties of fire-fighters, including the work which fire and rescue authorities do in responding to road traffic accidents. Powers of entry Section 44 Powers of entry Subsection (6) makes it an offence to damage or obstruct a fire hydrant. Under subsection (7) a person guilty of an offence under subsection (5) and (6) is liable on summary conviction to a level 2 fine. Subsections (5), (6) and (7) re-state section 14(5) of the 1947 Act.

Opening Options

Because of the extra resources needed for the secondary functions, shortfalls appeared in budgets with increasing problems. To resolve the problem with budgets the fire service started to lobby the government for a new fire services act which would include provisions for all the secondary functions. The result is the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 and it is now law. The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 Chapter 21 Prior to the second world war the fire service was run by local government and the responsibility delegated in most cases to the police. During the second world war the fire service was nationalised (NFS) and it was agreed on cessation of hostilities that the fire brigades would be returned to local authorities. In 1947 the Fire Services Act became law, making the fire service a department in its own right and provided a legal framework how fire service should be setup and administrated. The core function was to extinguishing fires and very little was included about the other functions of the fire service. The fire safety role was defined in subsection 1(1)(f) which states the fire service should provide fire prevention advice on request and with regards to the special services roll, it stated that fire brigade equipment could be used for other than firefighting purposes. Section 1 defines what is meant in the Bill by “fire and rescue authority”, which can differ in constitution from area to area. The establishment and membership of metropolitan county fire and civil defence authorities is dealt with in section 26 of the Local Government Act 1985 (c. 51). The London Fire and Civil Defence Authority became the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority under the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (c. 29) – see section 328 Section 2 Power to create combined fire and rescue authorities Section 3 Creation of combined fire and rescue authorities: supplementary Section 4 Combined authorities under the Fire Services Act 1947 identify and assess the full range of foreseeable fire and rescue related risks their areas face, make provision for prevention and protection activities and respond to incidents appropriately Part 6 – Supplementary (Sections 43 to 53 and Schedules 1 and 2): concerns the powers of fire and rescue authority employees to undertake rescue work and investigations, as well as a number of consequential provisions and repeals, including the abolition of the Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council.

Clause 45 sets out the powers and the obligations of an employee of a fire and rescue authority who has entered a place under clause 44 to gain information or investigate the cause and progression of a fire. The powers and obligations are similar to those applicable to investigations under health and safety legislation. Section 46 Powers of entry: notices This Section applies a power equivalent to section 230 of the Local Government Act 1972 to all fire and rescue authorities and not just those to which section 230 applies. The power could, for example, be used for collecting incident by incident information on primary fires (those involving property, rescues, casualties or fatalities), the number and location of fires and the number of fire-related casualties and fatalities. Section 26 Inquiries This clause re-enacts provisions in the Fire Services Act 1947 which enable the Secretary of State to prescribe the circumstances in which a fire and rescue authority or a Scottish fire authority may provide information to a person who has opted or transferred out of any pension scheme for fire-fighters. It also re-enacts the existing provisions about charging for administrative expenses. Section 35 Preservation of existing pension scheme Section 32 would allow the Secretary of State to issue guidance to negotiating bodies. Any negotiating body, whether established voluntarily or under Section 31, would be required to have regard to the guidance. Pensions etc Section 33 Pensions etc An Act to make provision about fire and rescue authorities and their functions; to make provision about employment by, and powers of employees of, fire and rescue authorities; to make provision about education and training and pension schemes; to make provision about the supply of water; to make provision about false alarms of fire; to provide for the funding of advisory bodies; and for connected purposes.Should any negotiating body be set up under these powers, subsections (4) and (5) would prevent the body being undermined by negotiations being held in another forum. Subsections (5), (6), (7), (8), however, would allow the statutory body to make arrangements for some conditions of service to be negotiated locally either in their entirety or within nationally agreed parameters. Section 32 Guidance Other services provides a fire and rescue authority with the power to agree to the use of its equipment or personnel for any purpose it believes appropriate and wherever it so chooses. For example, a fire and rescue authority may agree to help pump out a pond as a service to its community. Assistance in discharge of functions Section 13 Reinforcement schemes The Secretary of State will report to Parliament on the extent to which fire and rescue authorities are acting in accordance with the Framework and any action he has taken to ensure they do so. He will not report on individual fire and rescue authorities. Supervision Section 25 Information This clause re-enacts section 32 of the Fire Services Act 1947 and provides that no member of a police force (i.e. a police constable) may be employed as a fire-fighter. If an off-duty police officer were employed by a fire and rescue authority, for example as a retained (part-time) fire-fighter, difficulties might arise at the scene of a fire or other emergency due to confusion over which employer had the primary claim on the officer’s services. PART 5 WATER SUPPLY Section 37 Duty to secure water supply etc