Press Release - New Dimension – enhancing the Fire and Rescue
Services’ capacity to respond to terrorist and other large-scale
incidents
31 October 2008
A £330 million programme has enhanced the 46 English Fire
and Rescue Services’ capacity to respond to terrorist attacks and
other catastrophic incidents such as major flooding. But
better value for money could have been secured in the procurement
of the specialist vehicles and equipment, according to a National
Audit Office report out today.
The New Dimension programme was introduced
following the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001. It
involved procuring specialist vehicles and equipment, training
10,000 firefighters, and helping to prepare Fire and Rescue
Services to tackle terrorist and other major incidents. The
equipment has already been used successfully at three major
incidents to date: the Buncefield fire, the 2007 summer floods, and
at the Warwickshire warehouse collapse in November 2007.
There appear to be sufficient numbers of
firefighters trained for all but one of the equipment types.
The Fire Service College carries out most of the training, although
firefighters training in Urban Search and Rescue were sent to Texas
before September 2005 as College facilities were not ready.
Funding uncertainty and poor programme,
project and financial management in the early days of the project
resulted in delays in introducing the equipment and significant
cost overruns. A fraud of £867,200 within the programme
remained undetected for 9 months and in procuring one vehicle type,
for example, poor contracting and record keeping resulted in a
delay of a year and unnecessary costs of between £3 and £8
million.
Improvements in programme and financial
management have since been made. But more still needs to be done to
address weaknesses which might hamper future incident response. In
particular the department need to address uncertainties over the
respective roles of national co-ordinating bodies and develop a
strategy for national and regional multi-agency practice
exercises.
Tim Burr, head of the National Audit
Office, said today:
“The New Dimension programme has
helped provide the Fire and Rescue Services with the specialist
equipment and training it needs to respond to terrorist and other
major catastrophic incidents. But better value for money could have
been achieved, and the project has been subject to considerable
delays. The Department for Communities and Local Government
still needs to enhance major incident planning by Fire and Rescue
Services for regional and national-scale
incidents.”
Notes for Editors
- This report covers England only. Both
the Scottish and Welsh governments have pursued very similar
policies and programmes to England. Wales has procured almost
exactly the same equipment and vehicle types. Scotland has
procured very similar types, except that their equivalent vehicles
to Incident Response Units can transport Urban Search and Rescue
modules as well as Mass Decontamination units. Mutual aid
agreements exist between English, Welsh and Scottish Fire and
Rescue Services to provide support if needed.
- New Dimension vehicles and equipment provide
for: Mass Decontamination in case of chemical, biological,
radiological or nuclear incidents, Urban Search and Rescue
equipment in case of collapsed buildings; High Volume Pumps to
relieve flooding and tackle large fires.
- Press notices and reports are available from
the date of publication on the NAO website, which is at
www.nao.org.uk. Hard copies can be obtained
from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Tim
Burr, is the head of the National Audit Office which employs some
850 staff. He and the NAO are totally independent of
Government. He certifies the accounts of all Government
departments and a wide range of other public sector bodies; and he
has statutory authority to report to Parliament on the economy,
efficiency and effectiveness with which departments and other
bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 46/08
All enquiries to Mark
Anderson,
NAO Press Office: Tel: 020 7798
7558
Mobile: 077796 937 119