MPs turn heat on fire centre farce

The expensive project to close the region's four control centres and merge them into a single one in West Yorkshire is branded a "catalogue of poor judgement and mismanagement".

It has been so badly organised the new base near Wakefield will not become operational until July 2012 – even though it is already costing 5,000 every day, which the Tories brand a "scandalous waste of taxpayers' cash".

Fire officials in the region have done little to disguise their frustration at the Government's handling of the scheme, and the Fire Brigades Union has called for it to be scrapped.

But despite today's savage attack from the Communities and Local Government Committee, Fire Minister Shahid Malik insisted "the project is in a better position than ever before".

He seized on the committee's recommendation the project should still go ahead – but failed to point out the committee had come to this conclusion only "on balance" because of the amount of money already spent, warning it should only proceed if officials address the "significant concerns and issues" it raised and the drawing up of a "viable project plan".

MPs also warn there are now "considerable doubts about whether the project can be delivered" and say its position is "precarious".

And the Government faces even further embarrassment today after the Tories discovered that 6,000 has been spent on deluxe espresso machines – including the cost of training people how to use it.

Shadow Fire Services Minister Stewart Jackson said: "Labour's plans for these regional fire centres have been dysfunctional from start to finish. Yet again, Gordon Brown has wasted the public's money on a botched and over-blown IT project. They can spend 420m on the likes of deluxe espresso machines, but can't fix the system to answer the phones.

"This is a scandalous waste of taxpayers' cash. Such money could have been used to help keep council tax down or protect fire stations from closure. This is another example of how Labour wastes your money on white elephant projects and why we urgently need a change of government."

The FireControl project will close down local control rooms and replace them with one centre in each region but the costs have ballooned from 120m to 420m.

It aims to improve the response to 999 calls and major incidents but has been beset by problems with the IT system and high turnover of staff running the project, with MPs warning some fire and rescue services have "deep hostility" towards it.

Today's report slams the Government for a lack of openness without which "many of the ensuing problems might not have occurred".

Ministers claimed, however, that they had been reassured of the support of chief fire officers and promised it would continue "with renewed vigour".

Mr Malik also said that new radios and specialist emergency systems which also soared over budget are now "substantially" complete.

He said: "This is a part of the Government's unprecedented and successful investment in the Fire and Rescue Service that means that firefighters are better equipped than ever before and able to respond effectively to incidents whether caused by nature, industrial accident or terrorist activity."