Clause 2 - Power to create combined fire and rescue authorities
Fire and Rescue Services Bill
11:15 am
Mr Richard Younger-Ross (Shadow Minister, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Local Government & the Regions; Teignbridge, Liberal Democrat)
In summing up on Second Reading, the Under-Secretary of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the hon. Member for Corby (Phil Hope) referred to the issue at some length. I should like to remind the Committee of a couple of his comments and ask the Minister to respond. He said:
''It is important that public authorities meet the expectations set out in the framework, because failure to do so might have an impact on national strategies to deliver essential emergency response services.''
That is key to the provisions we are debating, but the Government have not clarified those definitions. In the context of moving to a regional authority, it would be helpful to have greater clarity. The Under-Secretary went on to say:
''To make it clear, we are not regionalising the service, except in areas where voters themselves choose to have an elected regional assembly.''—[Official Report, 26 January 2004; Vol. 417, c. 123.]
My understanding is that the Government will use clause 2(2)(b) to establish a regional authority if authorities have failed to work together to develop a framework. Unless I am misreading the Second Reading debate, that seems to contradict what the Under-Secretary said to the House.
If those powers are used, it is essential that the size of the authority is pertinent. That is particularly important for regional control rooms, which we will debate later. As has already been said, the authorities in the north-east are considerably smaller than those in the south-west. I note that three other Committee members represent parts of the south-west. They will all know the common views of their constituents, who are pointing out that the regions are massive. The people in Penzance do not relate easily to those in Gloucester, and it is almost as quick to go from Penzance to London as it is to go up the Severn valley. That shows the size of the region. Indeed, if we asked the people of Penzance whether they wanted to cross the Tamar to come into Devon, we would find a great reluctance. It would be even greater if we asked them to join a region that was created by the Conservatives for entirely different purposes from what the Government propose to use it for.