Radical plans for fire service
A White Paper will be published today aiming to modernise Britain’s fire service, which has been ravaged by the long-drawn out dispute over pay and conditions.
The “radical” ideas aim to cut down on the frequency of fires and resultant deaths.
The Government will aim to increase the number of fire tenders deployed to alarms and to speed up reaction times to life-at-risk incidents.
But the Government is unlikely to stand by suggestions that firms should be fined if alarms go off accidentally, as some hard-strapped businesses may cut corners as a result.
The White Paper comes in the wake of Bain’s review into the state of the fire service.
Ministers are expected to drop plans to introduce a no-strike clause in firefighters’ contracts, despite the bitter industrial action witnessed in the last nine months.
