Fire and Rescue Services Bill
9:25 am
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
I was interested to hear the Minister apparently yearning for the days when Standing Committee proceedings were lengthier and involved more leisurely deliberation. I remember with great pleasure the Standing Committee on the National Minimum Wage Bill—my first major Standing Committee. Sadly, it was not under your chairmanship, Sir Nicholas; it was chaired by the equally redoubtable hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mrs. Dunwoody). Many a happy night was spent
considering that Bill in this very Room. I remember the pleasure of seeing the sun rise behind the Minister's head every Tuesday and Thursday morning, casting him into silhouette in front of me. It was an enjoyable and interesting experience, because many people are under the impression that the orientation of this Building is such that the river fa¢ade is to the south, whereas in fact, as anyone who has spent a night on the Opposition Benches in Committee here will know, it faces due east.
I hope that this Minister's enthusiasm for more deliberation on Bills in Committee will pervade the Government's thinking about the way in which the House of Commons currently conducts its business. Indeed, we may manage to see a return to more leisurely consideration of Bills in Committee in future.
The Opposition support the moves that the Government are making in the Bill to broaden the remit of the fire and rescue services. We are, however, somewhat concerned about the degree of centralisation in the Bill and the wide, general powers that it gives the Secretary of State. Those powers are in stark contrast to the rhetoric about restoring local control and accountability to the fire and rescue services which we frequently heard from Members on the Government Benches during the firefighters dispute in 2002–03, and that is at the root of the modernisation agenda underlying the Bill.
We are also concerned about the status of the national framework document, which will be created, revised and updated by Ministers and officials without being agreed or approved by Parliament and which is given statutory force by the Bill. We are greatly perplexed by the Government's apparent determination in the face of all the evidence and all arguments to the contrary to pursue an agenda of regionalisation of our fire service on the basis of the existing Government offices of the regions.