Fire front-line at risk as funding slashed by ‘double-edged sword’

UNFAIR funding cuts threaten to prove a “double edged sword” forcing fire stations to close and blaze prevention programmes to be axed, one of Yorkshire’s top officers has warned.

South Yorkshire chief fire officer Jamie Courtney warned there would be severe consequences if six metropolitan forces – including his own and West Yorkshire – are hit with another two years of deeper cuts than in other areas.

He spoke out as MPs met Fire Minister Bob Neill yesterday to press for cuts to be imposed in a fairer way from next year.

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Metropolitan fire services say cuts to their budgets from 2011 to 2013 are already double those inflicted on other forces, some of whom have seen grants from Government increase after Ministers changed the way funding was calculated. They claim to have already made significant savings over the past decades and are often called on to respond to major regional or national incidents.

Mr Courtney told the Yorkshire Post: “I have an element of frustration over the Government’s stance that these cuts will not impact on front line services. There’s no way I can save that sort of proportion of my budget without it impacting on front line services.

“We’ve been at pains to point out that we believe the [cuts already announced] mean minimal impact to risk but we can’t offer those guarantees for any sort of deep further cuts we’re forced to introduce over and above what we’ve already identified.

“It’s been suggested that the cuts represent a fair approach to the savings that need to be made from the fire sector.

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“I’m struggling to understand how a situation which brings about a £4.7m budget reduction in South Yorkshire in years one and two can be compared with situations elsewhere around the country where chief fire officers have received more funding this year than they did last year.”

Asked about the impact of a “worst case scenario”, which could see budgets cut by 27 per cent over the two years from 2013, Mr Courtney, who is already consulting on proposals to close several fire stations and shed 140 jobs, issued a stark warning.

He said: “Not only will it impact on front line services delivered by way of responding to incidents like fires and road traffic collisions, potentially it could impact upon the good work we’ve done to reduce the number of incidents across the piece because we will no longer have the resources to maintain the current education initiatives we’re working on.”

Unlike local government funding, cuts to fire service budgets have been “backloaded” – meaning deeper cuts will be inflicted in the two years from April 2013 than were announced for the two years from April 2011.

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The Metropolitan areas – South and West Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and West Midlands – have been particularly hard hit because Government funding makes up a bigger proportion of their overall spending, meaning any central cuts have a bigger impact.

In many shire areas, council tax provides more of the funding so cuts to Government grants have a smaller overall impact.

For South Yorkshire, it means £4.7m of budget cuts in the first two years will be followed by another two years of cuts which some fear could top £8m. West Yorkshire could face further cuts of up to £13.4m.

Wentworth and Dearne MP John Healey, who led yesterday’s delegation to meet Mr Neill, said the meeting had been positive. “We wanted him [Mr Neill] to be clear it’s hard and unfair that the fire service cuts are being borne most heavily in areas like ours.”

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He said Mr Neill had agreed to carry out detailed work on the consequences of more skewed cuts for safety, emergency standards and rescue capability.

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: “Fire authorities can make sensible savings without impacting on the quality and breadth of services offered to communities. sSuch savings can include more flexible staffing arrangements, better sickness management, sharing back office services, improved procurement and sharing Chief Fire Officers and other senior staff.”