asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if non-uniformed staff will be transferred automatically with the uniformed staff to the proposed fire boards in the event of the abolition of the Greater London council and the metropolitan county council;(2) what provisions the proposed fire boards will be obliged to make for redundancy payments to long-serving staff who are not re-employed, in the event of the abolition of the Greater London council and the metropolitan county councils.

The paper "Abolition of the Greater London Council and the metropolitan county councils: arrangements for staffing the new structure" issued by the Department of the Environment in November 1984 announced the Government's intention that the uniformed and non-uniformed members of fire brigades in London and the metropolitan councils would be transferred to the proposed fire joint authorities by statutory order. Redundancy payments to Greater London council and metropolitan county council staff who are left without a job at abolition will be a matter for the appropriate residuary body.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether obligations will be imposed on the proposed fire boards to employ non-uniformed staff currently on the Greater London council's and metropolitan counties' disabled persons list in the event of the abolition of the Greater London council and the metropolitan county councils.

Disabled people who are currently members of the brigades in London and the metropolitan county councils fire brigades will suffer no disadvantage in transfer terms on the abolition of the Greater London council and the metropolitan county councils. The proposed joint fire authorities' employment policies will have to comply with the quota scheme for the employment of disabled people.