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FIRE CREWS CALL FOR URGENT INVESTIGATION INTO SOARING COSTS OF FIRE SERVICE IT PROJECT

Plans to close 46 emergency fire control rooms in England and move to 9 regional centres will cost £868 million, not the £100 million originally budgeted, nor the £360 million which the Government currently claims, the Fire Brigades Union has learned.

The £868 million includes £278 million of spending on management consultants, regional project directors, “change co-ordinators”, project assurance directors, PR staff, civil servants, and agency staff. “There is an army of management consultants, contractors and employment agencies swimming in taxpayer’s cash,” said FBU general secretary Matt Wrack.

The project, called Firecontrol, is already three years late, with no guarantee it will work as claimed. The Government originally promised massive savings and that the project would pay for itself within 5 years.

The Fire Brigades Union is calling for an urgent investigation into the controversial plans. The plans affect every fire service in England, although similar plans were recently dropped in Scotland and have not been considered in Wales.

The union accuses the Government of diverting massive amounts of public money away from frontline fire services where it is desperately needed. It says the Project, known as Firecontrol, is unnecessary, over budget and three years late.

Only £190 million, less than a quarter of the costs identified, will be spent on the actual technology. The costs also include nearly £400 million for renting new buildings.

The union has identified the £868 million of costs from the detail of a series of parliamentary answers and Department for Communities and Local Government circulars. But the union expects the much delayed national business case will show project costs in excess of £1.5 billion.

The union’s research shows:

+ £92.2 million has been ear-marked for regions and fire brigades to pay largely for additional staffing and associated projects costs between 2008 and 2011 including for regional directors, press officers, “change co-ordinators”, project assurance staff and for “redundancies, relocation and redeployments”.

+ £55.4 million going to management consultants, well above the last estimate of £36 million. By the end of June of this year, £38,571,512 had already been paid with a further £16.9 million more ear-marked for consultants by the end of the project.

+ £27, 885,926 was paid between 2005 and 2008 to fire brigades and regions to cover the additional staffing and associated costs of setting up the project.

+ £22 million had been paid by the Department until the end of June 2008 on those working on the project at national level including civil servants, contractors and agency staff (in addition to consultants).

These four sets of costs alone come to a total of £278,860,956 and still rising, mainly for staffing and associated costs. This figure is nearly three times the original cost estimate of £100 million for the entire project.

In addition there are rental costs for the new 9 regional control centre buildings of at least £342 million, which excludes London. FBU researchers conservatively estimate the lease for a new regional control centre in London will cost £60 million, pushing the rental cost of the buildings for the new national network above £400 million.

The IT system costs regularly quoted in Parliamentary Answers are only £190 million. The union believes that cost is actually £213 million for the first 8 years alone.

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: “The public and the fire service are being taken to the cleaners. There is an army of management consultants, contractors and employment agencies swimming in taxpayer’s cash.

“We’re short of firefighters in many brigades and in desperate need of more safety critical equipment and training. Even a fraction of this money would make an enormous difference in every fire brigade.

“Instead, it is being wasted on management consultants, regional project directors, change co-ordinators, project assurance directors, PR and human resource directors. No one ever dialled 999 and asked for any of those.

“It is an appalling waste of public money on a project which is unnecesary, already three years late, massively over budget and with no guarantee it will work as claimed. The Government’s track record of major IT-based projects is truly appalling and this is underlined by what is happening in the fire service.

“There must be an urgent independent review into what is going on with this project before it is too late. The Government thinks the project is going along splendidly, when almost everyone else in the fire service knows it is already a disaster.”

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Media contacts

National Francis Beckett 020 8349 9194 / 07813 001372

East Anglia Adrian Clarke 07917 017713

North West Kevin Brown 07834 656085

North East Pete Wilcox 07977 006 132

South West Tam McFarlane 07813 170 279

South East

For Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Oxfordshire contact:- Karl Horan 07917 065856

For Kent, Surrey, East and West Sussex contact:- Jim Parrott 07702 394440

Yorkshire & Humberside Sean Cahill 07968 071849

West Midlands Chris Woods 07788 700 675

East Midlands

Tom Murray - Regional Control Rep 07894613403

Phil Poole – Regional Control Rep 07894613397

Dave Limer – Regional Secretary 07894 613404

Northern Ireland Jim Barbour 07711 210731 / Jim Quinn 07788 700 675

Scotland Roddy Robertson 07801 047601 / Ken Ross 07801 047602

Wales Mike Smith 07702 285514 / Grant Mayos 07970 475153

Sources quoted below in full, where possible.

Source 1: £92 million ear-marked for local brigades and regions 2008 to 2011:

2 Jun 2008 : Column 542

Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what effect she estimates the FiReControl project will have on the council tax precept on individual fire and rescue authorities over the next three years; [207525]

(2) what funding has been set aside by her Department to finance any new burden costs associated with the implementation of regional control centres; [207527]

(3) what liability or financial burden fire and rescue authorities will bear for any cost overruns in delivery of the FiReControl project; [207532]

(4) what changes will be made to the funding of fire and rescue authorities as a consequence of the FiReControl project. [207533]

Mr. Dhanda: The FiReControlProject should have no impact on council tax precepts for Fire and Rescue Authorities. In line with the Government's commitment on new burdens, a specific grant of £92,200,000 has been allocated to cover the net additional cost to Fire and Rescue Authorities of the FiReControlProject over the period of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007. Any cost overruns in the delivery of the project will be met by Communities and Local Government.”

The relevant Fire Service Circular FRS circ 5/2008, FiReControl Implementation Funding Circular sets out the details and what the funding is for (largely extra staffing and associated costs, but also a small amount of other costs). The figures actually add up to £92.9 million, rather than the £92.2 million quoted in the Parliamentary Answer above.

The relevant part of the circular includes:

“CSR 07 Funding covering the three Financial Years 2008-09 to 2010-11

4.1 The Department intends to provide the following funding during the CSR07 Period.

4.2 These funds are intended to cover the following:

Transition activities – as set out in the FRS transition plans;

Staff Pool – the estimated costs of the staff pool currently being explored with the East Midlands, North East, South West and West Midlands;

LACC companies – all costs prior to cutover, including staff and accommodation costs, professional advice and insurance;

Regional Project Teams – the cost of regional project teams, local FRS change co-ordinators and project assurance;

Specific one-off staff costs – redundancies, relocation and redeployments.”

Source 2: £54.4 million going to consultants:

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her estimate is of the cost, including VAT, of all consultants' fees for the FiReControl project for the duration of the project. [217129]

Mr. Dhanda[holding answer 8 July 2008]: To the end of June 2008 the cost of consultancy services for the FiReControl project totalled £38.6 million (inclusive of VAT). Communities and Local Government estimate that future costs will be £16.9 million (inclusive of VAT).

Source 3: £27.8 million has already been allocated for the FireControl Project by the Department and spent by fire brigades and regions:

PQ 20 March 2008: Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what allocation was made to each fire authority for (a) fire control, (b) fire link and (c) new dimensions programmes in each year since 2002, broken down by region. [195408]

Mr. Dhanda: The information requested is listed in the following tables.

Fire control—Grants to fire and rescue authorities
£
Fire and rescue authority	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Bedfordshire and Luton Combined Fire Authority	11,616	76,984	111,904
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority	11,170	80,366	118,157
Essex Fire Authority	15,411	92,742	132,170
Hertfordshire County Council	11,839	82,412	117,039
Norfolk County Council	193,796	216,233	331,130
Suffolk County Council	11,616	79,425	115,043
East of England Total	255,448	628,162	925,443
Derbyshire Fire Authority	28,179	158,096	613,165
Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Combined Fire Authority	222,125	335,943	2,157,403
Lincolnshire County Council	28,416	148,068	525,606
Northamptonshire County Council	26,589	144,838	269,849
Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority	29,006	159,421	525,225
East Midlands Total	334,315	946,366	4,091,248
Greater London Authority	87,571	234,150	659,062
London Total	87,571	234,150	659,062
Cleveland Fire Authority	219,699	325,541	1,193,418
County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Authority	31,227	142,711	293,546
Northumberland Fire Authority	28,814	131,633	248,152
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Authority	33,948	160,944	388,365
North East Total	313,688	760,829	2,123,481
Cheshire Fire Authority	15,230	93,692	177,393
Cumbria County Council	12,998	85,963	128,299
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority	243,923	118,093	283,347
Lancashire Combined Fire Authority	19,025	99,611	224,957
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority	21,257	239,612	465,158
North West Total	312,433	636,971	1,279,154
Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority	11,231	95,538	135,765
East Sussex Fire Authority	11,555	99,159	143,632
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority	14,705	112,472	320,891
Isle of Wight Council	10,779	87,619	123,409
Kent and Medway Towns Fire Authority	15,573	115,410	296,981
Oxfordshire County Council	11,141	94,284	143,810
Royal Berkshire Fire Authority	13,671	97,139	157,406
Surrey County Council	11,555	104,084	143,551
West Sussex County Council	218,713	234,415	382,295
South East Total	318,923	1,040,120	1,847,740
Avon Fire Authority	33,082	52,986	462,041
Cornwall Fire and Rescue Authority	28,588	52,986	56,041
Devon Fire and Rescue Authority	33,732	188,818	—
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority	46,559	—	2,899,563
Dorset Fire Authority	—	52,986	56,041
Gloucestershire County Council	29,834	52,986	1,114,041
Somerset Fire Authority	29,794	724,619	—
Wiltshire and Swindon Fire Authority	195,455	52,986	56,041
South West Total	397,044	1,178,367	4,643,768
Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority	71,277	148,228	319,276
Shropshire and Wrekin Fire and Rescue Authority	11,375	137,554	269,128
Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Authority	15,626	161,277	331,032
Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Authority	10,803	138,902	256,054
West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority	166,056	357,304	785,796
West Midland Total	275,137	943,265	1,961,286
Humberside Fire Authority	14,799	83,956	123,024
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority	12,541	84,736	124,080
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority	16,828	88,617	170,161
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority	201,302	239,954	531,957
Yorkshire and Humberside Total	245,470	497,263	949,222
FireControl Total	2,540,029	6,865,493	18,480,404

Source 4: £22 million spent national by the Department on civil servants, contractors and agency staff:

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) staffing costs, including civil servants, interim and agency staff, (b) secondment costs and (c) travel costs of the national FiReControl project team have been; and whether these costs are included in the business case. [R] [217126]

Mr. Dhanda[holding answer 8 July 2008]: The following table identifies the costs incurred on FiReControl to the end of June 2008.

Resource type	Total (£)
T and S	1,176,773
Pay, civil servants	4,824,300
Interim (including fixed term contractors and agency staff)	11,692,568
Secondee	4,328,853
Total	22,022,494

These costs were included in the Business Case version 1 published in June 2007 and will be updated in part 2 of the Business Case to be published later in the summer. A copy of the full Business Case will be placed in the Library.

Source 5: Regional control centre rental costs in excess of £400 million.

The parliamentary answer quoted below establishes the agreed rents of the new regional control centres will cost £342 million nationally. But this excludes the cost of leasing London’s new regional control, which we conservatively estimate at £60 million, and takes no account of the varying leasehold lengths of 25 and 20 years which will cost additional money for the extra 5 years of leasing required.

Parliamentary answer 13 March 2007

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the rental cost of each regional fire control centre, over the full period of its lease, inclusive of VAT and increases produced by the mechanism for future regular rental upratings. [126285]

Angela E. Smith: The rental costs of each Regional Control Centre (RCC) are shown in the following table. The costs given are over the full period of the lease, inclusive of VAT and uplifted in line with the terms of the lease. The costs, other than for London, are based on rents agreed with the developer of each RCC. Procurement of the London RCC is in progress. RCCs should be able to recover the VAT.

RCC	Estimated cost (£ million)	Lease term (years)
East Midlands	45	25
East of England	50	25
North East	31	20
NorthWest	45	25
SouthEast	54	25
SouthWest	34	20
WestMidlands	50	25
Yorkshire and Humberside	33	20

Source 6: the original estimate of the project was £100 million:

Parliamentary answer 27 October 2005 regarding the original cost estimates for regional fire controls. Then fire minister Jim Fitzpatrick said consultants Mott MacDonald “estimated project costs at £100 million, comprising project management costs, technology costs, accommodation costs and redundancy.”