Clause 2 - Power to create combined fire and rescue authorities
Fire and Rescue Services Bill
9:45 am
Mr Richard Younger-Ross (Shadow Minister, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Local Government & the Regions; Teignbridge, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendment No. 4, in
clause 2, page 2, line 11, after 'greater', insert 'public safety,'.
We referred earlier to the centralising tendencies of the Bill. Subsection (2)(a) outlines one of the conditions for combining authorities. It says:
''A scheme under this section may be made only if . . . it appears to the Secretary of State that for the purposes of this Act, in the interests of greater economy, efficiency and effectiveness, there should be a single fire and rescue authority for the combined area''.
Under clause 22(3)(b), similar provisions refer to
''the economy, efficiency and effectiveness''
of changes. However, paragraph (a) refers to ''public safety''. As public safety is a condition later in the Bill, it would be sensible to include it in clause 2. That would mean that change would not be made purely for the sake of economy, which people in my constituency might regard as cost saving, for the sake of efficiency, which they might also regard as cost saving, or for the sake of effectiveness, which cynics would again regard as cost saving. The inclusion of the words ''public safety'' would mean that any change would be made for the right reason—the protection of the public from fire.