Tayside’s fire chief has dismissed talk of a merger of Scotland’s fire and rescue services as “an unnecessary distraction from the real challenges.”
Stephen Hunter said he did not agree mergers were “inevitable” and scarce resources would be wasted on amalgamations.
He was reacting to claims made by Jimmy Campbell, former chief fire officer in Fife who took up the leading post in the Lothian and Borders fire service last month. Mr Campbell said he thinks that mergers are inevitable.
He predicted Scotland’s eight fire services would be merged to three in the face of public sector cuts. Merged services would cover the west, south-east and north.
Mr Campbell said Welsh fire services had already been cut, without seemingly having an adverse effect on the core services that have to be delivered by law.
However, Mr Hunter said, “I am surprised at Jimmy Campbell’s comments, for a number of reasons.
“I would like to know what evidence Jimmy Campbell has to say what he has said that mergers are inevitable, because if you look at the Independent Budget Review which was commissioned by the Scottish Government and published last month, it states that wholesale restructuring of the public services within Scotland would be counterproductive at this time.
“The reasoning for saying that, which I support, is because scarce resources would be used focusing on making the amalgamation work rather than using those scarce resources to focus on how we deliver high quality community safety and emergency response services to the communities we serve at a time of increasing financial constraints.”Informal discussionsThe Tayside chief said discussions about an informal arrangement where Central Scotland, Fife and Tayside services would work together to save money did take place when Mr Campbell was chief fire officer in Fife, but mergers were never mentioned.
Mr Hunter said, “The reason I find his current comments surprising is that at no time during our many meetings did Jimmy Campbell mention mergers of services.
“There is no evidence to suggest that mergers would achieve anything like the level of savings which fire and rescue will be required to make.”
He said Scotland’s fire and rescue service costs less than 3% of Scotland’s total local government spending.
Mr Hunter said, “If all eight fire and rescue services were immediately closed this would only release a fraction of the total savings which are required (on the Scottish Government’s total budget).
“Therefore I consider the talk of mergers to be an unnecessary distraction from the real challenges we are facing at this moment in time.”
Mr Campbell said that predicted cuts of anything between 12% and 25% would inevitably affect how brigades operated.
He said, “I am seeking a national approach from the fire and rescue services’ chief fire officers to establish a realistic direction and course of action that fundamentally protects our frontline firefighters and maintains the quality standard of services that the people of Scotland have come to expect.”