To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding from her Department has been allocated to (a) the Fireguard project and (b) regional fire control rooms. (248879)

Fireguard is a collaborative project between 33 fire and rescue authorities. The procurement was undertaken at their request, and on a self-financing basis, by Firebuy Ltd., the national procurement body for the fire and rescue service, which is sponsored by my Department. The Department itself has not allocated any funds to this project.

The total cost of the FiReControl project is £380 million. To fund local and regional costs of implementing FiReControl, a total of £42 million has been paid to fire and rescue authorities to date and an additional £66 million has been indicated over the remaining two years of the CSR07 period (2009-10 and 2010-11).