Clause 1 - Fire and rescue authorities
Fire and Rescue Services Bill
9:45 am
Mr Nick Raynsford (Minister of State (Local and Regional Government), Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; Greenwich and Woolwich, Labour)
Clause 1 defines the term ''fire and rescue authority''. It re-enacts existing legislation with modifications to cater for the creation of unitary authorities following local government reorganisation in the 1990s. A fire and rescue authority can differ in constitution from area to area, and the current framework includes county fire and rescue authorities, metropolitan county fire and civil defence authorities, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and combined fire and rescue authorities. There are currently 24 such combined fire authorities in England, which are the product of previous combinations undertaken under the 1947 Act powers and referred to in clause 4.
The fire and rescue service in Wales is provided by three combined fire and rescue authorities, which are also the product of previous combinations of county or county borough fire and rescue authorities. That may account for the slight confusion to which the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Mr. Williams) referred on Second Reading: I think that he had assumed that the reference to such authorities in clause 1 was a definitive statement, without linking it to the combination powers in subsequent clauses.