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This document sets out some frequently asked questions regarding
the consultation on the draftFifth London Safety Plan (LSP5) which
sets out future plans for the London Fire Services including
cuts to 12 fire stations, 18 fire engines and 520 fire fighter
jobs.
Why are the London Fire Brigade closing 12 stations?
The Conservative/LibDem Government has cut the grant that the
London Fire Brigade receive for 2013/14
and 2014/15 by over 30m. Additionally, the Conservative Mayor
wants to reduce the Council Tax by 1p a
day (for a Band D property) as well as having taken 50m from the
reserves over the last two years to fund
the police. This has resulted in the London Fire Brigade being
required by the Mayor to make savings of
45m over a two year period. As a result, the Commissioner and
his staff have proposed closing 12 fire
stations, cutting 18 fire engines and 520 fire fighters
posts.
What has happened so far this year?
The Labour Group on the London Fire Authority has twice tabled
successful amendments to stop the cuts
going forward. The Conservative Group wants to close fire
stations and cut fire engines and firefighters.
However, the Mayor has not listened to Londoners who are happy
with the current level of service or
the Fire Authority. He has used his legal powers to order the
Fire Authority to consult on the cuts even
though it did not want to do so. The Fire Authority listened to
Londoners and will continue to do so in the
consultation which is now starting.
Can the Mayor afford to continue to keep the Fire Brigade at the
current strength?
Yes. The Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat Groups proposed at
the GLA budget meeting a technical
amendment which was carried. This is the first time in over a
decade that a technical amendment has beenagreed. It set out
proposals for a balanced budget for 2013/14 which, amongst other
benefits, would have
avoided cuts to the Fire Brigade. Part of the amendment was to
cancel the Mayors council tax cut
equivalent to just 1p per day for the average council tax payer.
The same approach of freezing the precept
in future years, rather than accepting the Mayors planned
precept cuts, can release the remaining funding
needed to avoid any closure of fire stations or cuts in the
number of fire engines. However, this
amendment is not binding on the Mayor who is insisting (and has
the power to do so) his original budget
for 2013/14 stands.
What is the draft Fifth London Safety Plan?
The draft Fifth London Safety Plan is the Plan that the London
Fire Brigade produce that sets out how the
Brigade will meet the risks London and Londoners face from fire
and other incidents that the Brigaderespond to such as flooding or
catastrophic events like the 7/7 attacks. This is the document that
includes
the proposals for 12 station closures, the loss of 18 fire
engines and 520 front line firefighter posts, put
forward due to the cuts in the budget required by the Mayor. (It
also covers other non contentious issues,
like improvements to fire safety). There have been 4 previous
LSPs since 04. This is the 5th
one and covers
the period from 2013 onwards. It is this document the Mayor has
forced the Fire Brigade to consult on,
through his threatened legal action.
Is the consultation going ahead?
Yes, but only on the understanding that the 2013/14 budget will
not include any cuts based on the draft
LSP5, (in particular the station closures and withdrawal of fire
engines and firefighter posts) the Fire
Authority agreed to a Labour Group proposal, with support from
the Lib Dem and Greens, that it was not inthe interests of
Londoners to spend taxpayers money on lawyers by going to court, so
the Authority
reluctantly agreed to allow the consultation to go ahead. The
Labour Group also achieved agreement to
Consultation on Future of London Fire Services
What you need to know and how the cuts will affect you
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improve the consultation, including public meetings every London
resident would have the chance to
attend- meetings originally also vetoed by Boris Johnson.
The consultation results and recommendations concerning the
implementation of LSP 5 (or otherwise) will
be reported to the Authority by October 2013.
Will there be cuts in 2013/14?On 28th March, the Authority is
due to agree its 2013/14 budget. The 2013/14 budget will be
balanced and
will not include any of the cuts in draft LSP5, so there is no
need financially for any cuts to happen in
2013/14, as the budget for the year will not require them.
However, the Mayor has stated in his direction that he wants the
LSP5 to be finalised and for
implementation to begin by October 2013, which may well include
fire station closures and cuts to fire
engines and firefighters, depending on the consultation outcome,
even though the 2013/14 budget does
not need this.
The Labour Group will continue to fight for the interests of
Londoners.
How do you know the public dont want the cuts?
The London Fire Brigade undertook extensive public opinion
research which proves that people are
satisfied with the service and do not want cuts to the Fire
Brigade. They see it as a value for money
insurance policy, even if savings would be made as a result of
cuts. This is backed-up by the response on
the doorstep Londoners do not support these cuts.
Why is Labour against this, isnt it the Commissioners
professional opinion - a firefighter of over33
years?
The Commissioner qualified his opinion by making it clear that
he is proposing the LSP5 policies in light of
the financial constratints being imposed on the Fire Brigade.
His draft LSP 5 plan cuts are only in the context
of putting forward proposals to minimise the impact of those
cuts on Brigade attendance times. Theseproposals are in the context
of the Mayor and the Conservative/LibDem Governments reckless plan
to cut
the fire budget. The Commissioner and his staff never suggested
making service cuts on this scale before
the budget cuts were announced.
The Commissioner says that the brigade will still meet its
target response times, so why does it
matter?
There is a difference between target and actual response times.
The target for the first engine is 6 minutes
and for the second, 8 minutes. These are based on averages, too.
In many areas, actualresponse times arebetter than the targets,
however, some areas do not currently meet their target time, for
example Enfield,
Harrow or Barnet. It is areas such as Camden and Westminster
which will see a dramatic increase in their
attendance times, even if technically still within the
target.
What exactly are attendance times?
This is the time between a fire station receiving the call from
the brigade control centre and the fire engine
arriving at an incident.
It is not from the time of the 999 call nor does it end when the
brigade actually start work on the fire. if the
fire is in a tower block, for example, the attendance time is
measured up to the point the fire crew manager
books the fire engine at the address of the block, not outside
the individual flat concerned: it could be quite
a bit longer before they actually reach the fire if it is on an
upper floor and start rescue or firefighting work.
It only increases some attendance response times and doesnt it
actually improve response times insome areas?
Though a few boroughs will receive a marginally improved service
(by redeploying 4 fire engines from inner
to outer London Boroughs) vast areas of London will receive a
worse service in practice. We do not oppose
measures to improve performance in those boroughs which will
have better times. But overall performance
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in London gets worse. London-wide attendance to an incident will
increase by 15 seconds for the first fire
engine and 16 seconds for the second fire engine.
According to the Borough averages, 4.7 million Londoners (or
58%) will see an increase in the time it takes
fire engines to arrive. Areas like Conservative run Westminster
will see an increase of 41seconds for the
first fire engine attendance, which is why their council has
come out against the proposals along with
Conservative Kensington and Chelsea. Camden will see an average
increase of 45 seconds for their first fireengine attending an
incident.
The stations that are proposed for closure are in the poorest
areas of the city. Research by the London Fire
Brigade clearly shows those most at risk from fire are those who
predominantly live in the most deprived
areas of the city.
The differences are only in seconds, does it matter?
It is important, because seconds count: for example a domestic
fire can quadruple in intensity in just 2
minutes.
We dont have a fire station closing near us, why should I
care?The London Fire Brigade plans emergency cover on a London-wide
basis. Fire stations respond to fires
throughout London and not just in their locality. The closures
will increase the average attendance time for
London as a whole. There are only six boroughs where attendance
times marginally fall. Each area is
dependent on fire engines from neighbouring fire stations. For
example, Clerkenwell and Islington attend
hundreds of incidents in Camden each year.
But once these cuts happen, that will be it, wont it? No more
cuts?
The Labour Group doesnt think so. If these cuts go through,
there is still an additional 5.6m to find for
2014/15. The budget shortfall for 2015/16 is over 9m and the
Chancellor has already said that he expects
the cuts agenda to continue until 2018. To cut the budget by
this further 15m, we believe that the Mayor
will demand even more station closures and fire engine
withdrawals in the future.
Isnt it Labours fault anyhow?
The cuts to public services, including the fire brigade, are not
a response to the world wide economic
downturn. The Conservative/LibDem government have driven forward
a politically motivated economic
policy of cutting too far, too fast. Additionally, the Mayor
proposes to reduce council tax by 1.2% in
2013/14. That equates to a 1p cut per day for a Band D property
(11m cut). We believe Londoners would
be happy for that 1p to go towards the costs of the service they
receive from the fire brigade.
Who should I contact to give my view? Where can I find the
consultation details?
It is vital that as many Londoners as possible express their
views on these cuts, especially if they think
they are wrong. You can do so online, by post and by attending
the public meeting for your area.
The consultation on the draft Fifth London Safety Plan was
formally launched on 4th
March 2013. Further
information is available on the London Fire Brigade website
-www.london-fire.gov.uk/lsp5. People can
respond to the consultation by email, by Freephone number, by
post and interactively responding on the
website noted above. The London Fire Brigade contact details
are:
London Fire Brigade, 169 Union Street, London, SE1 0LL
Tel: 0800 9888 569
Email: [email protected]
How can I get involved in the campaign?If you want further
information about the 999 SOS campaign, please go
towww.999SOS.org.ukor email
[email protected], or write to 999 SOS, London Labour Party,
10 Melton Street, London NW1 2EB.
Printed and promoted by Alan Olive on behalf of the London
Labour Party, 10 Melton Street, London NW1 2EB March 2013
http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/lsp5http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/lsp5http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/lsp5mailto:[email protected]://www.999sos.org.uk/http://www.999sos.org.uk/http://www.999sos.org.uk/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.999sos.org.uk/mailto:[email protected]://www.london-fire.gov.uk/lsp5
