MPs to meet FBU to discuss South West control room plans
Devon and Cornwall MPs are due to meet Fire Brigades Union today in London as part of an organised FBU mass Parliamentary lobby against emergency fire control room regionalisation.
In a Government white paper issued last year the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister outlined plans to merge the seven county-based fire control centres in the South West in to one regional "super control centre" to begin operating in 2007.
Unions oppose the proposals stating that there has been little consultation with control room workers, even though the changes may mean major job losses and relocation in many cases. Liberal Democrat MPs for the south west have criticised the method in which the Government has gone about the regionalisation process, imposing regional control centres on fire brigades without first giving a chance for proper debate on the issue.
The FBU is concerned that given the scale of the planned operation there will be many problems in the early stages, not least with the installation of new technology, which could lead to a significant reduction in the standard of service and therefore undermine public safety.
Julia Goldsworthy, MP for Falmouth and Camborne notes:
"We share the FBU's concerns that these projects both rely upon recently procured equipment and new technology which may prove inappropriate for this job or even worse, unreliable. Given the history of public sector computer disasters many are not holding out much hope for an IT project of this scale, which is a risk we cannot afford to take when it comes to our fire and rescue services."
Adrian Sanders, MP for Torbay stated
"Top of the Government's list of priorities should be the effect these changes will have on the present work force in Devon and Cornwall's fire control rooms and yet they have barely been consulted on the proposals to date."
Nick Harvey, MP for North Devon, added:
"Devon alone handles 30,000 calls annually in its control centre when you take valid and duplicate calls in to account. We are deeply concerned that the new regional control centre will not have nearly enough staff or the capacity to deal with seven times this quantity of calls and I have urged the Government on more than one occasion to reconsider its proposals."
