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)
As the hon. Gentleman will know, because he is experienced in Committee—I have greatly enjoyed our exchanges in other Committees and look forward to them in this one—the ways of parliamentary counsel are indeed mysterious to those of us lesser mortals who have to try to understand the way that they draft legislation to fit with a range of other considerations. The Bill sets out a structure that carries forward the provision in the 1947 Act, and it explains the subsequent arrangements made under combination powers. As the hon. Gentleman said, they are covered by later clauses.
That structure allows maximum flexibility and provides against future circumstances; for example, without clause 1 there would be no legal authority if a combined fire authority were dissolved. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will recognise that there is logic behind what might appear superficially to be a slightly convoluted way of expressing the provisions.
We are changing the legal term to ''fire and rescue authorities'' in recognition of the wider role of the fire and rescue service in the 21st century. However, it will be up to individual authorities to decide whether they wish to rename themselves in line with the new definition. Many authorities already style themselves
''fire and rescue authorities'', and it will be up to the others to adopt that title if they wish to do so.