Fire administrations in the Unified Realm

The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.

Emergency cover is provided by over fifty agencies. These are officially known as a fire and rescue service (FRS) which is the term used in modern legislation and by government departments. The older terms of fire brigade and fire service survive in informal usage and in the names of a few organisations. England and Wales (and formerly Scotland) have local fire services which are each overseen by a fire authority, which is made up of representatives of local governments. Fire authorities have the power to raise a Council Tax levy for funding, with the remainder coming from the government. Scotland and Northern Ireland have centralised fire services, and so their authorities are effectively committees of the devolved parliaments. The total budget for fire services in 2014-15 was £2.9 billion.

Central government maintains national standards and a body of independent advisers through the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser, which was created in 2007, while His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services provides direct oversight. The devolved government in Scotland has a similar agency, HMFSI Scotland.

Firefighters in the United Kingdom are allowed to join unions, the main one being the Fire Brigades Union, while chief fire officers (the heads of the various FRS) are members of the National Fire Chiefs Council (formerly the Chief Fire Officers Association), which has some role in national co-ordination.

The fire services have undergone significant changes since the beginning of the 21st century, a process that has been propelled by a devolution of central government powers, new legislation and a change to operational procedures in the light of terrorism attacks and threats.

History

A 1951 Dennis P12 fire appliance belonging to the Wiltshire Fire Brigade
Main article: History of fire brigades in the United Kingdom
Legislative framework
See separate article History of fire safety legislation in the United Kingdom
Comprehensive list of recent UK fire and rescue service legislation:
Legislation (United Kingdom, Great Britain or England and Wales)
Fire services are established and granted their powers under fairly new legislation which has replaced a number of Acts of Parliament dating back more than 60 years, but is still undergoing change; a rough timeline can be seen below.

1938: Fire Brigades Act 1938. This Act (which is no longer in force) provided for centralised co-ordination of fire brigades in Great Britain and made it mandatory for local authorities to arrange an effective fire service.
1947: Fire Services Act 1947 This Act transferred the functions of the National Fire Service to local authorities. Now repealed entirely in England and Wales by Schedule 2 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004.
1959: Fire Services Act 1959 This Act amended the 1947 Act; it dealt with pensions, staffing arrangements and provision of services by other authorities. It was repealed in England and Wales along with the 1947 Act.
1999: Greater London Authority Act 1999 This act was necessary to allow for the formation of the Greater London Authority and in turn the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.
In 2002, there was a series of national fire strikes, with much of the discontent caused by the aforementioned report into the fire service conducted by Prof Sir George Bain. In December 2002, the Independent Review of the Fire Service was published with the industrial action still ongoing; it made radical proposals to how the fire service should be organised and managed. Bain’s report ultimately led to a change in the laws relating to firefighting.

2002: Independent Review of the Fire Service published
2004: Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004,[8] generally only applying to England and Wales.
2006: The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 This piece of secondary legislation or statutory instrument replaces several other acts that dealt with fire precautions and fire safety in premises, including the now defunct process of issuing fire certificates. It came into force on 1 October 2006.The DfCLG has published a set of guides for non-domestic premises:
2006: The Government of Wales Act 2006 gave the National Assembly for Wales powers to pass laws on “Fire and rescue services. [and] Promotion of fire safety otherwise than by prohibition or regulation.” but does not prevent future legislation being passed by the UK government which applies to two or more constituent countries.
There are further plans to modernise the fire service according to the Local Government Association. Its website outlines future changes, and specific projects:

“The aim of the Fire Modernisation Programme is to adopt modern work practices within the Fire & Rescue Service to become more efficient and effective, while strengthening the contingency and resilience of the Service to react to incidents. “

Select committee
The fire service in England and Wales is scrutinised by a select committee of the House of Commons. In June 2006, the fire and rescue service select committee, under the auspices of the Communities and Local Government Committee, published its latest report.

The committee’s brief is:

The Communities and Local Government Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Department for Communities and Local Government and its associated bodies.

The committee’s report, and the subsequent government response in September 2006,are important as they outlined progress on the FiReControl, efforts to address diversity and the planned closure of HMFSI in 2007 among many issues.

Both documents are interesting[clarification needed] as they refer back to Professor Bain’s report and the many recommendations it made and continue to put forward the notion that there is an ongoing need to modernise FRSs. For example, where FRSs were historically inspected by HMFSI, much of this work is now carried out by the National Audit Office.

On 8 February 2010, the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee heard evidence on the Fire Control project. Called to give evidence were Councillors Brian Coleman and James Pearson from the Local Government Association. Also giving evidence Matt Wrack from the Fire Brigades Union and John Bonney Chief Fire Officers Association. The second session heard evidence from Shahid Malik MP Fire Minister, Sir Ken Knight Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser, Shona Dunn Director for Fire and Resilience Department for Communities and Local Government, Robin Southwell CEO and Roger Diggle Project Director EADS. The committee was chaired by Dr Phyllis Starkey MP and attracted significant media attention.