As individual Fire and Rescue Services cut over to the Regional Control Centre they will pay their relative proportion of the total running cost, with the Department financing the remaining share until all FRSs within a region have cut over. It is for the FRAs within a region to collectively agree what their relative proportions will be.
The steady state total running cost estimates for the Regional Control Centres are currently those included in the FiReControl Business Case Part 1: the Regional Cases published in July 2008 and summarised in the following table.
Region Forecast RCC running cost (£000 pa) EE 7,373 EM 6,262 Lon 10,898 NE 5,405 NW 8,426 SE 8,767 SW 6,992 WM 7,457 YH 7.124 EM 6,262
Copies of the Business Case Part 1 and 2 are available in the House Library or at
http://www.communities.gov.uk/fire/resilienceresponse/firecontrol/businesscase/
(2) what contingency plans she has put in place for fire and rescue services to respond to the potential terrorist threat to the 2012 Olympic Games, in the event that not all fire and rescue authorities cut over to regional control centres by 2012.
On 26 November 2008 I announced a rescheduling of the FiReControl cut over timetable. We have shared an indicative timetable with the Fire and Rescue Services and are validating the revised dates with them directly. The draft timetable, broken down by region and Fire and Rescue Service, is:
FRS (by Region) Provisional revised date1 South West Region Somerset July 2010 Devon July 2010 Dorset October 2010 Avon November 2010 Cornwall June 2011 Wiltshire August 2011 Gloucestershire October 2011 East Midlands Region Derbyshire July 2010 Leicestershire October 2010 Nottinghamshire November 2010 Lincolnshire February 2011 Northamptonshire February 2011 North East Region Tyne and Wear July 2010 Durham and Darlington October 2010 Cleveland November 2010 Northumberland November 2010 West Midlands Region Staffordshire October 2010 West Midlands FRS November 2010 Shropshire February 2011 Warwickshire June 2011 Hereford and Worcester June 2011 South East Region Hampshire February 2011 West Sussex June 2010 Royal Berkshire August 2011 Oxfordshire October 2011 Kent October 2011 East Sussex December 2011 Buckinghamshire December 2011 Isle of Wight February 2012 Surrey February 2012 North West Region Greater Manchester February 2011 Merseyside June 2011 Cumbria August 2011 Cheshire August 2011 Lancashire August 2011 Yorkshire and Humberside Region West Yorkshire August 2011 South Yorkshire October 2011 North Yorkshire December 2011 Humberside February 2012 East of England Region Cambridgeshire October 2011 Essex December 2011 Bedfordshire December 2011 Suffolk December 2011 Norfolk February 2012 Hertfordshire February 2012 London London February 2011 1 As with any project of this nature, we will only have certainty about the timing of these later stages of the project once earlier stages have been completed successfully. We will be communicating progress on this directly with our stakeholders.
As a consequence of this rescheduling the London cutover moves forward relative to other regions with the entire network due to be in place by February 2012, under current planning assumptions. We will continue to work closely with the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority to review preparations.
The Home Office is leading work with other Government Departments, the Police and emergency services to develop the Safety and Security plan for the 2012 Games. The DCLG is working closely with the Fire and Rescue Service and other stakeholders on planning and coordination requirements as part of this process.
The Government are currently reviewing the fire and rescue relative needs formula used in the Formula Grant distribution system. Options arising from this review will be consulted upon in summer 2010, with any changes implemented for the next three year settlement (i.e. from 2011-12).