Lease costs for South East Regional Control Centre announced
July 23, 2010 by admin
Filed under Campaigns, FiReControl - Regionalisation of Emergency Fire Controls, News, News - Local
Lease costs for South East Regional Control Centre (SERCC) have been announced.
The figures show that the South East Regional Emergency Fire Control has a 25 year lease costing £46 million.
Breaking this down per annum is an annual cost of £1.84m.
Dividing this figure down further to County level (for the nine counties for the RCC: Isle of Wight, Hampshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent, Berkshire) means the cost per annum to the local tax payer will be £204,445.
Additional figures that would have to be added to the above annual costs for the Regional Fire Control Centre (based in Fareham) would be £396,825 per annum (£44,091 for the Isle of Wight) for facilities management services (provided by VT Flagship), Firelink (radio contract costs – unknown) and staffing costs (unknown).
All of these additional charges would be levied to Isle of Wight council tax payers to the Fire Authority of the Isle of Wight Council.
The IT solutions (provided by EADS) costs are £200 million. Whilst ongoing consultants have cost £52 since the Regional Fire Control Centre (FiReControl project as it is known) inception in 2004.
Additional costs include the project management at the Department for Communities and Local Government (formerly Office of the Deputy Prime Minister – the then John Prescott), along with the South East Regional Management Board for FiReControl.
The project is five years behind schedule and massively over budget.
The nine Regional Fire Control Centre buildings lie empty costing £40,000 per day in rent (source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/philipjohnston/7533673/Will-this-waste-of-our-money-never-stop.html).
Projected savings have not materialised. The Isle of Wight Fire Control Centre was originally due to move to the South East Regional Control Centre (in Fareham) in 2007, but is now due to move in 2012, with rumours of further delays to the project. Isle of Wight Fire Control staff have seen their jobs under threat for the past six years.
The FiReControl project is currently subject to the spending review being carried out the the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition.
The Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition has promised to provide services at a local level.
Source: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2010-07-22a.9947.h&s=firecontrol#g9947.r0
Government funding of the Chief Fire Officers’ Association (CFAO) announced: FiReControl
July 23, 2010 by admin
Filed under FiReControl - Regionalisation of Emergency Fire Controls, News, News - Local, News - National
Government funding of the Chief Fire Officers’ Association (CFAO) have been announced.
In a parliamentary written question and answer the funding provided by the Government to the Chief Fire Officers’ Association (CFAO) have been announced a follows:
From 2005 to 2010/11 (YTD) funding for the FiReControl project to CFAO has totalled £1.3m.
Source: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2010-07-15b.7917.h
FiReControl scenario? Grandmother died of blood clot ‘after sat nav sent ambulance to wrong village’
May 27, 2010 by admin
Filed under Campaigns, FiReControl - Regionalisation of Emergency Fire Controls, News
FiReControl is heavily dependent on new technologies and software yet to be created, established or tested. The theory of FiReControl is that fire appliances (fire engines) will be sent and guided using satelite navigation, within the region, including cross border/county. However, the theory is all very well but the reality may not be quite so good for the safety of the public or Firefighters.
Everyone knows the limitations of satelite navigation, but unfortunately in emergency situations such limitations will endanger lives.
As the reported incident shows below, the possibility of fire appliances being guided to incorrect addresses as a result of the limitations of the FiReControl project ethos could have fatal consequences. Firefighters and Fire Control staff know all too well the importance of local knowledge.
Unfortunately this is not the first time there have been incidents reported of ambulances being misdirected to incorrect addresses for either emergencies or patient transport with a reliance on using satelite navigation. It is unlikely to be the last.
For the South East region, the Regional Fire Control Centre will cover nine counties (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent and Oxfordshire), with a population of eight million people. Calls from other regions will also be taken by the South East Regional Control Centre (situated in Fareham), as the premise of overflow from other REgional Control Centres. Likewise, calls from the South East Region will be taken by other Region Control Centres around the country.
The FiReControl project is currently five years behind schedule and millions of pounds over budget.
‘A grandmother died after she was forced to wait 42 minutes for an ambulance which was taken to the wrong address by its sat-nav, her family has claimed.
Nora Jaques, 69, lost her fight for life just minutes before the paramedics arrived – after touring three neighbouring villages looking for the address.
Her son, Martin Benson, 49, claimed that the apparent blunder cost his mother her life.
‘Wherever the ambulance came from it doesn’t excuse taking 42 minutes to arrive. It was a 999 call,’ he said.
‘I spoke to the ambulance service the next day and they said it was the sat-nav system which had sent them to the wrong place.
‘Why don’t they use maps or turn out local paramedics? My mum was alive up to five minutes before the crew arrived.
‘All that time they lost was crucial. If they had got her to the hospital, I believe the doctors could have done something.
‘When the ambulance eventually arrived there was nothing they could do. She never made it to hospital.’
Mr Benson is considering legal action against the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, which has an eight-minute response time target for life-threatening calls.
Mrs Jaques, who leaves ten children and 17 grandchildren, fell ill at the home she shared with her other son, Leonard Jaques, in Staincross, Barnsley.
He found her collapsed in a toilet at their home at 11.20pm after he returned from a night out last Monday and dialled 999. He then fetched his sister, Janet Benson, who lives two doors away, to speak to the operator while he waited for the ambulance to arrive.’