Whilst the recent media attention has been about which
animal should be listed on the contents of beef-burgers and lasagne, the
government has quietly taken the first steps in its proposals to privatise the
fire services.
A letter from fire minister Brandon Lewis to the chair of
the House of Commons Regulatory Reform Committee has revealed that the
government is set to put forward proposals “that would enable fire and
rescue authorities in England to contract out their full range of services to a
suitable provider.”
This would mean that fire stations in Derbyshire and South
Yorkshire and their control staff and firefighters could be employed and run by
a private company. All services, including special rescue work, could be outsourced
or privatized.
The minister is seeking to push the changes through the
little-known Regulatory Reform Committee, which means that the proposals would
avoid full Parliamentary scrutiny.
I have to say that I firmly oppose these proposals and the
way in which the government is trying to slip them through without having to
answer some difficult questions. Fire and rescue is an essential service which
we all depend on for our safety and, sometimes, our lives. Private sector
obligations to deliver profits for shareholders are completely incompatible
with the ethos of the Fire and Rescue Service, which puts public safety first.
Local people need to have confidence that fire-fighting in
our area is being run for public protection, not company profit. The Olympics
provided a forceful lesson that private firms often cost more and deliver less
than promised when they bid to take over public services.
How happy would you be to learn that your fire service had
been outsourced to G4S, which had then sub-contracted the supplies of ladders
to Bob’s Window Cleaners, fire engines to Kerbside Motors, and fire-fighters to
ATOS?
