The Fire Brigades Union has said that an inspection of Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service confirms that the fire and rescue service is not getting the funding it needs from government.
The report, released yesterday, comes from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, which has statutory responsibility for the inspection of fire and rescue services and police forces across the country. The report found that Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue Service ‘requires improvement’ in various areas, including in terms of ‘effectively and efficiently keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks’ and the ‘extent to which the service looks after its people’.
Ben Selby, Fire Brigades Union executive council member for the East Midlands, said:
“The concerns raised by this report – that the fire and rescue service may struggle to fulfil its functions – are similar to concerns that our local officials already had prior to this report. We’d already been hearing noises to this end from firefighters and members of the community.
“We do not need to look far for the culprit here. Steep cuts over the last decade have left Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue severely under-resourced. For example, Lincolnshire now has around 1 in 7 less firefighters compared to 2010. That is a huge reduction.
“As a trade union we will continue to work with Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue as they work to try and improve the areas of their service that need requirement. However, we recognise that there is only so much that they will be able to do without further resources. The government cannot take significant funds from fire and rescue services across the country and expect everything to work as communities want.
“Worryingly, the report suggests that Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue requires improvement when it comes to ensuring fairness and promoting diversity. This is an area of vital importance and we particularly look forward to working with the service on this area”.
More info on statistics on cuts to firefighters used in this press release: https://www.fbu.org.uk/news/2021/10/05/new-job-cut-figures-firefighters-might-not-be-able-fight-all-fires.
N.b. firefighters are defined in these statistics as comprising of
- wholetime firefighters who are present on fire station throughout their shifts, and
- retained (or on-call) firefighters who respond from home or their other workplace if available to do so) and
- control staff who work in the emergency fire control rooms
