‘Falling to the lowest common denominator’ – how the Audit Commission got it wrong on the Fire Service
March 28, 2010 by admin
Filed under News, News - National
The FBU have published a report on how the Audit Commission made errors in their assessment of the U.K. Fire Service:
Download Falling to the lowest common denominator – how the Audit Commission got it wrong on the Fire Service as a PDF
Introduction
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Oscar Wilde
Our service is facing difficult times. The financial crisis which unfolded from 2008, has created huge uncertainty about the future of the UK (and the world) economy.
We are told that there is a huge gap in the public finances and that this must be filled by tax increases and major cuts in public spending. This mantra has been repeated so often that it appears to be the only option.
Regrettably, many politicians within our service seem to agree (however reluctantly) with the cuts agenda which is now developing. All too many Chief Fire Officers are simply asking how deep the cuts need to be.
To add to this the Audit Commission have unleashed their ‘report’ on the fire and rescue service. To the Audit Commission it is all very easy. You can churn out a few simple statistics and ‘prove’ that cuts can be made across the board, regardless of local circumstances and regardless of what has gone before.
The truth is that the Audit Commission has not thoroughly examined our service. It has completely ignored the professional concerns of firefighters about the quantity and quality of operational training being delivered or about the number of fatalities at operational incidents. They completely ignore the need for fire services to assess risk and then to plan for how it will deal with the operational incidents which will and do happen. The quality of the service provided is completely ignored.
Our report highlights these contradictions. I hope that others within the service will join with the FBU in challenging the simplistic ‘bean counter’ approach to running a fire and rescue service. The truth is that if this agenda is not challenged we face a very uncertain future.
There are two key things missing from the Audit Commission report: firstly any attempt to take on board the views of professional firefighters; and secondly any attempt to identify what the public want from their fire and rescue service.
The market-based approach which the Audit Commission advocate has been tried elsewhere in our public services.
Is the result greater public confidence and trust? Not in the slightest. Our service enjoys very high levels of confidence and trust. The agenda set by the Audit Commission poses a very serious threat – a threat to the very reputation of firefighters and the fire and rescue service. At the heart of our profession is a commitment to public service – that is something which is totally absent from the Audit Commission thinking and why they represent a very serious and very cynical attack on our service and our profession.
Matt Wrack
General Secretary
Related links:
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.