Operational and training duties
Fire and Rescue Services Bill
4:30 pm
Mr Phil Hope (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; Corby, Labour/Co-operative)
The employers will be fully engaged in the process. It is essential that we understand the motives, and the reluctance, of private and public employers whom we wish to attract into releasing their staff to become retained firefighters. Therefore, the review team is seeking advice from a wide range of public and private sector employers and the national bodies that represent them.
The hon. Gentleman was concerned, as was the hon. Member for Teignbridge, about the reluctance of public sector employers. We have specifically included in the review team the Local Government Association. In addition, we have included the practitioners forum and the fire business and community forum, which was established deliberately to engage with the business community in fire safety matters.