National Fire group established to build bigger voice

THE six Metropolitan Fire and Rescue Authorities in England have agreed to establish a coordinating group to promote their views to central Government.

The Association of Metropolitan Fire and Rescue Authorities (AMFRA) is made up of Authorities from Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands, South and West Yorkshire.

Fire Authority leaders, Chief Fire Officers and Treasurers from each of the Metropolitan areas will make up the group, which will work alongside the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA), as well as other representative bodies.

Their objective will be to improve existing ties between the six authorities and those responsible for the delivery of effective fire and rescue services across the country. It will also coordinate activities locally to add value to the work of local partners and to ensure that the views and needs of the Metropolitan areas are adequately reflected.

Acting chairman of the group, Cllr Paul Shannon from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority, said:- “The Mets along with London represent nearly 50 per cent of the fire service nationally. Densely populated urban communities often suffer more deprivation and therefore greater risk of death or injury from fire. This association will campaign to highlight Metropolitan issues and help Government understand the challenges we face keeping our towns and cities safe. It is vitally important that given the cuts expected in public spending over the coming years, that the voice of the fire service in all these major urban centres is heard and the opportunity to collaborate more effectively is investigated.”

South Yorkshire Fire Authority chair Cllr Jim Andrews helped establish the new Metropolitan Fire Authority Group. He added:- “The new group will allow the Mets to work even closer together and coordinate activities. This will be an opportunity to share best practice between the Authorities, helping to improve service delivery around the country and in South Yorkshire. We hope that by bringing together all of our voices, we can create a bigger impact on the Government and generate excellent benefits for our own region.”

Fuel Poverty

THE Government’s Fuel Poverty Advisory Group (FPAG) is deeply concerned by the announcement that, according to Government figures, a further 1 million households in England will be in fuel poverty by the end of 2009. FPAG reiterates its demand made earlier this year for radical action to prevent many more households being pushed into fuel poverty as a result of essential investment to secure energy supplies, climate change prevention measures, growing unemployment and escalating energy prices.  Derek Lickorish, chairman of the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group, said:- “This announcement to tackle fuel poverty is totally inadequate. With the spectre of nearly 7 million UK households being in fuel poverty within the next 18 months, together with Ofgem’s recent announcement of a range of energy price scenarios showing potential increases of around 25%, with a worst case of a 60% rise, FPAG demands urgent action. Government must put in place the plan and the resources to start the massive task of improving the energy efficiency of the UK’s housing stock. Furthermore, the Government’s own programme, Warm Front, which has so successfully assisted nearly 2 million households to reduce their fuel bills, is facing a draconian budget cut. This must be restored. Funding is due to fall by more than 47% next year. In real terms, this means that the Scheme, which will assist 215,000 vulnerable households this financial year, will be reduced to assisting only 90,000 homes next year, resulting in many vulnerable homes being forced to lose out on the assistance they need. I have agreed with the Energy and Climate Change Minister, David Kidney MP for an urgent meeting to discuss the situation. Finally, FPAG does welcome the Government’s proposal to mandate the price support for certain low income pensioners. However, FPAG believes the mandate needs to go further and extend to include low income families and disabled people.”  Interestingly on thre same day, 21 October 2009, British Gas became the first supplier to partner with community groups to deliver "whole house" energy programme to help.   The Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) is a joint initiative between the government, energy suppliers and power generators which will see a total of £350m worth of energy efficiency measures installed over three years. British Gas will be spending approximately £70 million as part of the programme. The Energy and Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock, gave her backing to the first wave of CESP projects, that includes the British Gas "whole house" energy programme.

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