Fire & Rescue
Services Act UK 2004 Comes into Force
Initial Email Enquiry –
News Release 2004/0231:
01 October 2004
Promoting community fire safety was placed at the heart of the role of fire
and rescue services today (1st October) as the Fire and Rescue Services Act
2004 came into force.
Placing a greater emphasis on fire prevention - that will help save more
lives and reduce injuries from fire - is among the new powers that will allow
the fire and rescue service to help create safer communities, particularly
for the most vulnerable people in society.
The Act also formally recognises for the first time the wider roles the service
has taken on over the last 50 years. These go beyond firefighting duties and
include rescues from road traffic accidents, responding to serious environmental
disasters such as flooding and the new terrorist threat.
Fire and Rescue Service Minister said "the Act is a substantial step
forward in the drive towards modernising the fire and rescue service. Carrying
out crucial community fire safety work has now been placed on a statutory
footing for the first time. This will help save more lives and reduce injuries
from fire - and this is Government's foremost priority. Additionally this
legislation recognises the other core duties that the service carries out,
beyond firefighting, such as rescues from road accidents and responding to
the new terrorist threat."
The Act will also provide the service with strategic direction and engagement
vision - one of the main recommendations identified by the Independent Review
of the Fire Service. This will be achieved through the Fire and Rescue National
Framework, published in July, and subsequent versions, being placed on a statutory
footing.
The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 replaces the Fire Services Act 1947
and will drive forward the Government's modernisation agenda to create a modern
and efficient Fire and Rescue Service designed to meet the challenges of the
21st Century
A more detailed summary of the provisions of the Act is set out below
PROVISIONS INCLUDED IN THE FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICES ACT
- Safer communities – a new duty on all fire and rescue authorities to promote
fire safety underpins a shift toward a more prevention-based approach, thereby
helping to save more lives by reducing fires occurring in the first place.
- Modern legislative framework - replaces out-dated legislation with a new
framework that recognises the Fire and Rescue Service’s role in responding
to a range of incidents, e.g. road traffic accidents, alongside its traditional
fire fighting duty. The Act also allows for the recognition of the Service's
wider role in other emergencies, for example serious flooding and measures
to plan for and respond to the new terrorist threat.
- National Framework – the Act provides for the Fire and Rescue National
Framework, the latest version of which was published on 16 July, to have
statutory effect. It places a duty on the Secretary of State to keep the
Framework up to date and report against it at least once every two years.
The Framework sets out the Government’s requirements for the Fire and Rescue
Service and the support it will provide. The Act provides a power to ensure
that fire and rescue authorities have regard to the strategic priorities,
objectives and guidance set out in the Framework.
- The regional approach – the Act updates previous powers to combine fire
and rescue authorities. It maintains re-structuring as an option, where
Fire and Rescue Authorities fail to work together through voluntary regional
management arrangements, to deliver functions crucial to resilience and
a more efficient and effective service.
- Civil resilience – the Act underpins the Fire and Rescue Service’s contribution
to national resilience, through new powers to direct fire and rescue authorities
during particular, specific emergencies to ensure a co-ordinated and strategic
response and resources are focussed where they are needed most.
- Reinforcement schemes – the Act updates existing powers to allow fire
and rescue authorities to enter into reinforcement schemes with other authorities
to provide mutual assistance in the discharge of their core duties.
- Partnership – fire and rescue authorities’ powers to delegate functions
are extended to cover their newly recognised powers and duties, to enable
partnership working with others - for example in the promotion of fire safety.
The Act ensures that whereby an authority can only delegate its duty for
fighting fires to another authority or others who employ firefighters.
- Equipment power – the Act provides powers for the Secretary of State to
procure equipment and services that promote the economy, efficiency and
effectiveness of fire and rescue authorities. It also provides powers for
the Secretary of State to direct authorities, if necessary, on the use of
their equipment, in order to ensure uniformity of approach across the Service
– crucial to national resilience – or in the interest of public safety.
- Charging – the Act maintains the existing ability for fire and rescue
authorities to charge for particular services. It maintains the previous
exclusion of charging for fire fighting (unless at sea) and also prohibits
fire and rescue authorities from charging for the provision of emergency
medical assistance.
- Negotiating bodies – the Act includes reserve powers to set up new bodies
to negotiate pay and conditions of Service. Effective negotiating machinery
is critical to modernisation. A review of the current NJC arrangements is
ongoing but the powers in the Act could be used to establish new statutory
bodies if the review does not result in satisfactory new arrangements. The
Act also allows Ministers to issue guidance to negotiating bodies, whether
or not they are statutory.
- Engaging stakeholders – the Act abolishes the Central Fire Brigades Advisory
Council (CFBAC) which had become too cumbersome and complex and incapable
of delivering swift, meaningful change. More effective and flexible stakeholder
advisory and consultative forums, for example the Practitioners Forum, Business
and Community Safety Forum and Fire and Rescue Service Sounding Board are
already in place and helping producers and users of the Service and those
with wider expertise, to inform the process of modernisation.
- Pensions – the Act will bring forward the existing pension provisions
while providing new powers to create new, multiple pension schemes.
- Devolution – the Act devolves the remaining responsibilities for fire
and rescue authorities in Wales to the National Assembly for Wales, taking
forward the commitment to do so set out in the ‘Our Fire and Rescue Service’
White Paper. The Act will commence in Wales later this year. Responsibility
for the Fire and Rescue Service in Scotland and Northern Ireland is already
a devolved matter. The Scottish Executive introduced a Bill to change the
legal framework for the Fire and Rescue Service in Scotland on 28 June 2004.
End of
email correspondence on Topic to date
Author’s
identities are concealed for privacy and security reasons. Further information
on the information contained in this topic can be directed to the JOIFF secretariat.