Monday 15 December 2008 11:21
Communities and Local Government (London)

Every Fire Service to get share of £78million to upgrade buildings

Each FRS to get over £1million

The Government has allocated an extra £78million to the Fire and Rescue Authorities in England to assist them in improving their estate.
This is the first time new money for capital investment has been given to all Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) in England. This includes the freedom to undertake small refurbishments, more major building works or other capital projects.

Each FRS will receive a minimum of £1million spread over the two financial years 2009/10 and 2010/11, with a top up based on population numbers. The services are free to decide how they spend the funds.

* eight FRAs will receive over £2million: Essex, Kent, Devon & Somerset, Greater Manchester, Hampshire, West Midlands and West Yorkshire with London receiving over £5.86million

* thirty-seven FRAs will receive between £1.08million and £1.9million
* the Isles of Scilly with a population of just over 2,000 people is allocated £100,000

Announcing the capital grant Fire Minister Sadiq Khan said:
"This investment for the fire services' estate gives them all the opportunity to upgrade their buildings. This is additional money to every single Fire and Rescue Authority in the country. Each area will be able to decide for itself whether this extra money is used to tackle the more serious repairs, replacements or upgrades, or provide additional facilities such as those for female firefighters, or those for the community in helping spread the fire safety message across all age groups. For some it may help them to meet their Integrated Risk Management and Asset Management Plans by contributing to new and better focused fire stations.

"This additional money builds on the £500million allocated through the PFI programme over the last 10 years and signals Government's continuing commitment to the Fire and Rescue Service."

The Government believes that improving the estate has a direct impact on progress in the creation of a service that meets the needs of today's world including:
* fire stations in the right locations to best meet the needs of the communities they serve
* improved facilities to ensure equality among firefighters and staff and encourage the recruitment of a diverse workforce
* improved community facilities enable more effective fire prevention within the community and further partnership working with other agencies

Notes to editors
1. Table showing capital grant allocations to the Fire and Rescue Services for the years 2009/10 and 2010/11.

CAPITAL GRANT ALLOCATIONS:      2009/10 £   2010/11 £     TOTAL £
FIRE & RESCUE AUTHORITY
Avon Fire Authority               735,022     940,282   1,675,304
Bedfordshire Fire Authority       633,240     749,607   1,382,848
Berkshire Fire Authority          684,036     844,766   1,528,803
Buckinghamshire Fire              660,635     800,927   1,461,562
Cambridgeshire Fire Authority     669,823     818,140   1,487,963
Cheshire Fire Authority           725,542     922,521   1,648,063
Cleveland Fire Authority          625,913     735,881   1,361,794
Cornwall                          618,252     721,529   1,339,782
Cumbria                           611,916     709,659   1,321,574
Derbyshire Fire Authority         723,399     918,507   1,641,906
Devon & Somerset Fire             870,102   1,193,336   2,063,438
Dorset Fire Authority             658,142     796,257   1,454,399
Durham Fire Authority             635,353     753,565   1,388,918
East Sussex Fire Authority        670,902     820,161   1,491,062
Essex Fire Authority              876,686   1,205,669   2,082,354
London Fire                     2,194,548   3,674,503   5,869,051
Gloucestershire                   630,520     744,512   1,375,033
Greater Manchester Fire         1,076,063   1,579,175   2,655,238
Hampshire Fire Authority          881,419   1,214,536   2,095,955
Hereford and Worcester Fire       664,836     808,797   1,473,632
Hertfordshire                     738,783     947,327   1,686,109
Humberside Fire Authority         704,127     882,403   1,586,530
Isle of Wight Council             531,248     558,539   1,089,787
Isles of Scilly                    50,000      50,000     100,000
Kent Fire Authority               868,712   1,190,731   2,059,443
Lancashire Fire Authority         827,002   1,112,594   1,939,596
Leicestershire Fire Authority     717,237     906,963   1,624,200
Lincolnshire                      654,783     789,965   1,444,749
Merseyside Fire                   805,328   1,071,989   1,877,317
Norfolk                           687,772     851,765   1,539,538
North Yorkshire Fire Authority    676,696     831,015   1,507,710
Northamptonshire                  650,928     782,742   1,433,670
Northumberland                    569,896     630,940   1,200,836
Nottinghamshire Fire Authority    738,079     946,008   1,684,087
Oxfordshire                       642,559     767,064   1,409,622
Shropshire Fire Authority         601,771     690,654   1,292,425
South Yorkshire Fire              791,629   1,046,328   1,837,957
Staffordshire Fire Authority      739,657     948,964   1,688,621
Suffolk                           658,357     796,660   1,455,017
Surrey                            744,797     958,594   1,703,391
Tyne and Wear Fire                745,323     959,579   1,704,902
Warwickshire                      617,799     720,680   1,338,478
West Midlands Fire              1,086,490   1,598,709   2,685,199
West Sussex                       673,864     825,710   1,499,574
West Yorkshire Fire               987,506   1,413,276   2,400,782
Wiltshire Fire Authority          643,309     768,470   1,411,779
    

2. The Government is also providing capital support through the PFI Programme. Since the FRS PFI Programme started in 1997 over £500million has been invested or allocated for the Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) under the PFI. This has provided 40 new buildings for the FRS, including fire stations, HQ buildings, training and technical service centres as well as providing 540 vehicles and 20,000 items of operational equipment for the London Fire Brigade. A further five schemes are in procurement or pre-procurement which will deliver a further 47 new buildings.

The two most recent allocations announced are:

* PFI provisional allocation of £130m shared among Cleveland, Country Durham and Darlington, Northumberland, Staffordshire and Surrey FRS was announced 12 November 2008 http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/fire/1055843

* £66.4m PFI for new fire stations for Cumbria, Lancashire and Merseyside was announced 2 July 2008 http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/fire/869318

3. The Government is also investing over £1billion in resilience for the FRS, including the national Fire Control network, Firelink digital radio communications, and the New Dimension specialist equipment for high volume pumping, search and rescue in collapsed structures, detection and identification if unknown potential hazardous substances, mass decontamination units, transport and communication vehicles.

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