Clause 27 - Inspectors
Fire and Rescue Services Bill
9:45 am
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
Dealing with the inspectorate, the clause re-enacts the provisions of the 1947 Act, but goes further in providing that a person appointed under the 1947 Act will continue in office under the current provisions. What the clause does not tell us—the explanatory notes are also entirely silent—is the Government's intentions for the inspectorate.
If I may be blunt, during the course of the dispute there was quite a bit of rumbling in the fire authority community about the role of the inspectorate and the way in which the inspectorate collectively contributed to progress during the dispute. There was a belief among the fire authorities that there was a degree of sympathy in the ODPM for the view that the inspectorate's contribution was not at all times entirely helpful, and there was an expectation that, as part of the process of modernisation and reform, there might be substantial changes to the way in which the inspectorate operates and the role that it plays. Nothing in the Bill precludes that. It is perfectly possible that inspectors will go on being appointed by Her Majesty, as they have always been, and that assistant inspectors and other officers will be appointed by the Secretary of State, but that they will perform a quite different role.
It would be wrong of us to skip though the clause apparently confirming the status quo when, in fact, the Government might have in mind a fairly significant change in the role that the inspectorate plays. Rather than nod the clause through, I wanted to give the Under-Secretary an opportunity to explain to the Committee the role that he envisages the inspectorate having.
Given the role of the Audit Commission, and the fact that the proposals for comprehensive performance
assessment will apply to fire and rescue authorities—the best value regime—will there be some duplication? If the fire service inspectorate is to continue to inspect, why do we need the more generic local government inspection and performance assessment mechanism as well? It would help the Committee if the Under-Secretary explained not only what is in the Bill, because that is clearly understood and not contentious, but what lies behind it and how the inspectorate will operate in the future.