I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
Two main factors have influenced the evolution of the present Bill. One was the need to improve the organisation and powers of the country's fire service to meet present and future requirements. The other factor was the necessity for strong and detailed provisions relating to fire safety.
The Bill was at a very advanced stage when the Stardust tragedy occurred in February. The House will recall that, following that tragedy, I undertook that certain activities would be developed in a short time. The completion of the processing of the Bill was one of these and, in fact, its presentation now discharges the last of the undertakings which I gave.
If I may remind the House, the other measures which I referred to then were that revised draft building regulations, incorporating amendments, would be published within six weeks and made available for use in their operations by local authorities, industrial and professional bodies, pending the enactment of the necessary legislation to give them statutory force, and that a special task force, reporting directly to me, would be set up with a special budget to augment the work of the Fire Prevention Council in promoting greater public awareness of fire hazards, especially those associated with places of public entertainment. I am pleased to report to the House that these commitments have been honoured in full. Furthermore, I have introduced a scheme of 50 per cent State subsidy on loan charges on fire stations and equipment.
The present Bill, however, is the most important of the measures involved, both for the comprehensiveness of its proposals to update and strengthen the law and because it fixes the new framework within which the efforts of all concerned with fire safety must henceforth be directed. To set these new provisions in perspective, it is necessary to deal briefly with the history of fire services legislation up to the present time.
Apart from certain local Acts, this legislation was confined in the 19th century to a number of Town Commissioners Acts, beginning in 1828 and culminating in the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1854. This meant that fire-fighting powers were the preserve of certain urban authorities only and, even there, the exercise of them was adoptive rather than mandatory. Part VIII of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1907, gave an implied power to maintain a fire brigade to both urban and rural local authorities, but again the measures involved were only adoptive.
The primary object of the Fire Brigades Act, 1940, was to introduce a statutory requirement of fire cover right across the country. This it did by imposing an obligation on all sanitary authorities to make reasonable provision for the prompt and efficient extinguishing of fires in their areas and for the protection and rescue of persons and property from injury by fire. Sanitary authorities were free to discharge this obligation either by themselves maintaining a fire brigade or by arranging with another authority to provide this service in their area. The 1940 Act also laid down the basis of a fire prevention system in the concept which it introduced of a "potentially dangerous building" in relation to which the sanitary authority was enabled to serve a fire precautions notice.
Although the Fire Brigades Act, 1940, was a comparatively brief measure, it enabled local authorities to establish an effective fire fighting system and to operate considerable controls for the prevention of fire hazards. Accordingly, although the present Bill proposes to repeal the old Act, a number of its provisions are being re-enacted, but usually with such amendments as experience has shown to be necessary.
Much has happened in the past 40 years to warrant a radical review of fire service legislation. Industrialisation has been in progress on a scale never contemplated in 1940. Less dramatic, perhaps, but just as important has been the growth in residential, service and amenity development consequent on our expanding population and increased economic activity. Another factor is that changes have taken place in the methods, scale and style of construction, including introduction of new buildings materials.
All of these things add to the demands on the fire service not only in regard to fire fighting strength but also in regard to equipment and training. A new dimension has been added in the need to secure fire safety in buildings and in the contribution which the fire service is called on to make to the operation of planning and development controls.
It is true that the greatest concentration of buildings is in our urban areas but fire hazards are not confined to these areas. Many factories, institutions, stores and housing schemes are located outside urban boundaries. Rural areas share with urban areas the problems which may arise from the transport of hazardous substances, major road or rail accidents and other disasters. All of these are matters in which the fire service must become increasingly involved in providing emergency assistance.
The need for a thorough assessment of the capacity of our fire service for its now more onerous role was recognised when the Minister for Local Government appointed a working party in November 1972 with full terms of reference in relation to the fire service. In particular, the working party was asked to advise the Minister on the questions of fire resources, fire prevention measures, legislation, financial implications and on staffing and training arrangements.
The main report of the working party was published in July 1975 and it contained 39 recommendations grouped around the five headings of the operational fire service; fire prevention; staffing structure and qualifications; training, and miscellaneous aspects.
In addition to this complex set of recommendations, a number of minority reports were also submitted with the main working party report.
The report on the fire service, and the comments which were received on it have in practice formed the basis of a programme of action which has been under way in recent years with a view to improving and modernising the country's fire service. I think it important to stress to the House the ongoing nature of this programme and in particular to allay any impression that implementation of the fire service report is only now beginning with the publication of the new Fire Services Bill. New legislation, important though it is, is only one instrument in a concerted series of measures to equip the fire service for the challenges facing it.
To remind the House of some of the more important initiatives involved, local fire service reviews, one of the key measures recommended by the working party, were requested by my Department in 1976. Reports by the local authorities involved have been completed for all areas and they will now have the benefit of these reviews in remedying any deficiencies revealed. A central training programme for fire service personnel has been developed by my Department to supplement local training. As recommended in the 1975 report, a Fire Prevention Council was statutorily established by my predecessor in July 1978 to promote greater public awareness of the need for fire safety. The staff dealing with fire matters in my Department has been substantially expanded and a considerable programme is in train for the provision of advice and assistance to fire authorities by the issue of guidelines, memoranda and circulars.
The Government's concern to bring real improvement to the quality of our fire service is probably shown in its most practical form by the greatly increased capital investment in the service which we have authorised since taking up office in 1977. In that year the capital provision made for fire services by the previous Government amounted to just £694,000. Mindful that a much more realistic allocation was necessary to make a meaningful start on the backlog of fire service projects, the present Government have provided over £2 million each year since 1978. In all, the £9.2 million made available by this Government in capital for fire services over the four years of our administration amounts to some three-and-a-half times that provided by the previous Government over the five budgets for which they were responsible.
This priming of the capital programmes of local authorities, which is already bearing fruit by way of new and modernised fire stations and new fire appliances and equipment, is also being matched by an increased commitment to fire services from local authorities' own revenue resources. This increase may be measured both in absolute terms, with some £17 million devoted to fire services in 1980 as compared to £9.37 million in 1977, and by the greater percentage of the overall revenue resources of local authorities now being devoted to fire services.
These measures and others, which have been pursued independently of the new Bill, are all contributing in their way to the achievement of an improved and more efficient fire service, but the Fire Services Bill now before us marks a major advance in the comprehensive legislative framework which it proposes for the further development of the service. If I may try first to avert some possible misconceptions about the Bill, I would like to point out that it has not been necessary to provide specially in it for many general powers which will remain available to fire authorities in their capacity as local authorities. These general local government powers, already contained in other legislation, will underpin the activities of fire authorities in such matters as revenue financing, borrowing, staffing and land acquisition.
In particular, I am satisfied that an adequate machinery already exists for the development of effective organisational and staffing structures. Negotiations on the development of such structures, with particular reference to the county fire services, have been taking place for some considerable time under the relevant conciliation and arbitration scheme. So far, however, it has not been possible to evolve a structure that would meet the differing views and aspirations of the various interested groups which are concerned with the fire service. There have been, for example, opposed views by the unions on the question of whether chief fire officers should report to county or city engineers or directly to county or city managers. Similarly, there have been differing approaches to questions involving organisation, staffing and promotional outlets at levels below the chief fire officers, and in regard to the qualifications that should attach to posts at various levels.
This Bill, with the improvements it envisages, provides an opportunity for all parties to look afresh at staffing arrangements. I am confident that it is possible to develop a staff structure which takes account of the interest of the community and also the reasonable aspirations of the different staff groups involved. The problem must be approached in this light with a view to bringing it to an early and successful conclusion.
The Bill itself is divided into four parts under which are grouped sections dealing with preliminary and general matters, the organisation of the fire service, fire fighting and fire safety requirements, and, finally, consequential financial and administrative arrangements. Part I is concerned with preliminary and general matters and contains a number of standard sections dealing with commencement, definitions, procedure for making regulations and certain orders, and the expenses of the Minister.
The main substantive provisions of
Part I are the repeal by section 8 of the Fire Brigades Act, 1940 and the now obsolete Cinematograph Act, 1909, and the greatly increased penalties for offences under the Bill are specified by section 5.
Summary and indictable offences are treated separately. A person convicted of the former will be liable to a maximum penalty of a £500 fine and/or 6 months' imprisonment. Indictable offences, which may arise from failure to comply with the duties placed by the Act on persons having control of certain premises (section 18 (2) and section 37) or on a persons on whom a fire safety notice is served (section 20), will be even more severely punishable by fines of up to £10,000 and/or imprisonment of up to two years.
The penalties provided for in section 5 may seem severe when contrasted with the maximum single penalties under the Fire Brigades Act, 1940, of a fine of £50 or three months' imprisonment. Their severity, I can assure the House, is not an end in itself but a recognition of the right of society as a whole to be protected against any irresponsibility in relation to fire risk.
Part II of the Bill proposes a new organisation of the fire service. The main feature of this will be to concentrate and integrate in 35 local authorities, to be known as fire authorities, responsibility for both fire fighting and fire safety functions. The 35 fire authorities provided for in section 9 are the 27 county councils, the four county borough corporations, the borough corporations of Dun Laoghaire and Drogheda and the urban district councils of Dundalk and Athlone.
The change involved here is best understood by reference to the Fire Brigades Act, 1940. Under this, responsibility for both fire fighting and fire safety was, formerly at least, assigned individually to each of 87 sanitary authorities. In practice, all but the four boroughs or urban districts which I have just named have made arrangements with their county council for the provision of a fire brigade service, so that assigning fire fighting functions to the 35 authorities only recognises the de facto position which has obtained for some time.
The situation in respect of fire prevention functions is somewhat different. Under both the Fire Brigades Act, 1940, and a number of other enactments, these functions have tended to be vested in all 87 sanitary authorities. While statutory agreements have been made by a number of urban authorities to have these fire safety functions carried out by their county council, formal arrangements of this kind have not been the general rule. At the same time, most urban authorities have been relying on county councils, partly at least, to provide them informally with the expertise necessary to discharge their fire prevention functions.
I am satisfied that it is desirable to strengthen and rationalise this structure. Section 11 of the Bill accordingly provides for the transfer to the 35 fire authorities of the main fire safety functions vested in local authorities generally under other enactments. Section 17 provides, as may be necessary, for the transfer of staff or property dedicated exclusively to fire prevention work from boroughs or urban districts to the relevant fire authority.
I have referred to the important relationship between fire prevention and planning control. So as to ensure a full fire safety input into the planning decisions of urban authorities who are not fire authorities, section 13 will allow a fire authority to advise a planning authority on the exercise of their planning control functions.
The fire fighting functions of fire authorities, which are set out in section 10 of the Bill, are largely a re-enactment of the corresponding provision of the Fire Brigades Act, 1940. A general duty is placed on fire authorities to make provision for the prompt and efficient extinguishing of fires in buildings and other places, and to establish and maintain a fire brigade. Fire authorities are expressly enabled by section 10 to make arrangements with each other for the joint discharge of their functions and to enter agreements with any other person or body either to provide or to avail of services. Section 14 requires fire authorities, as far as reasonably possible, to give assistance to one another.
The present Bill, however, does not itself authorise the making of agreements between fire authorities for the performance of the functions of one authority by the other, and, indeed, it actually drops a provision to this effect which was contained in section 2 (3) of the Fire Brigades Act, 1940. The reason is that an adequate framework for such agency arrangements has been provided by an enactment subsequent to the 1940 Act, namely section 59 of the Local Government Act, 1955. The present Bill does provide, however, in subsection (6) of section 10, for a reserve power of the Minister to order agreements under the 1955 Act to be made between fire authorities where this appears to him to be necessary.
It will be convenient at this stage to deal briefly with the additional fire fighting powers of fire authorities which are spelt out in sections 25 to 28 of the Bill. Sections 25 and 26 give statutory recognition to the now wider role of fire brigades in coping with emergencies of all kinds. Section 25 does this by allowing a fire authority to carry out or assist at operations of an emergency nature whether or not a risk of fire is involved. Section 26 requires fire authorities to prepare fire and emergency operations plans. Sections 27 and 28 develop considerably the provisions of the Fire Brigades Act, 1940 regarding control of operations at a fire, section 27 designating and defining the person in control and section 28 giving this person wide ancillary powers.
Part II of the Bill is completed by two important sections dealing with the training of fire service personnel. While the primary duty in this regard is properly placed by section 15 on fire authorities themselves, the Minister for the Environment is also empowered to assist, both by arranging for instruction and certificates and by the grant of financial assistance. I should say in passing that these provisions are only a logical recognition of the practical involvement of my Department in this area in recent years. Section 16 allows for the establishment, by order, of a special body to be known as the Fire Services Training Council whose role it will be to advise the Minister for the Environment on the training needs of fire authorities.
Part III of the Bill is concerned with fire fighting and fire safety provisions, the former of which I have already outlined to the House. An important new principle behind the fire safety provisions of the Bill is to emphasise the responsibility of persons having control over certain premises to take all reasonable measures to guard against the outbreak of fire and to ensure the safety of persons on the premises.
Section 18 introduces this obligation and specifies the type of premises concerned. Broadly, all premises to which the public have access fall within the scope of the section, which also requires all persons on such premises to conduct themselves in such a way as not to expose any other person to danger from fire. I regard this as a very important provision of the Bill and it will, I hope, result in greater emphasis by property owners themselves on preventive action.
The Bill also strengthens the powers of fire authorities to take action on potentially dangerous buildings. Strong powers already exist in the Fire Brigades Act, 1940, to deal with such buildings, as witness the action taken by local authorities following my request to them recently. However, sections 19 and 20 will clarify and widen the powers of fire authorities in this regard. An appeal procedure to the District Court, on the lines of the existing procedure, is provided for in section 21. A separate power, however, is being given to fire authorities in section 23, where serious fire risk is involved, to apply to the High Court for an order restricting or immediately prohibiting the use of land or buildings.
Fire authorities will, of course, continue to have available to them the opportunity under various other codes, including the Licensing Acts and the Public Dance Halls Act, to ensure that adequate fire precautions are taken in such premises. A reserve power is also being taken in section 37 to make regulations prescribing precautions to be taken in premises covered by section 18, to which I referred earlier. If the need arises, I would intend, following consultation with the various interests concerned, to use the powers in this section to ensure adequate protection of persons and property against fire risk.
The ministerial powers being taken in section 37 invite some comment on the degrees of central and local involvement envisaged by the Bill. As I have explained, responsibility for provision of a fire fighting service and for performance of certain fire safety functions will rest with local authorities. The role of my Department will be to promote standardisation and encourage and support, mainly by advice and guidance, the efforts of local authorities. Guidelines on certain aspects of the service have already been issued by my Department.
For example, in April of this year detailed guidelines on the use of breathing apparatus were issued to local authorities. Guidelines on recruit training were issued in 1980 and on the planning of retained fire stations in 1977. Recommended fire protection standards were issued earlier. It is my intention to continue to provide guidance as required on the standard of the service.
I might mention that work has already commenced in my Department on the preparation of guidelines on various aspects of the service, including recommended specifications for fire appliances, fire safety in high risk buildings, fire drills and medical standards for recruit firemen.
The remaining major provision of Part III of the Bill is section 22. This gives wide powers of inspection of any land or building to a person authorised by a fire authority. In addition to powers of inspection, the section enables an authorised officer to require information to be given to him and to conduct tests and examinations.
Part IV of the Bill, with the exception of section 37, which I have already outlined, deals with miscellaneous matters of finance and administration. Section 32 will allow the Minister for the Environment, with the agreement of the Minister for Finance, to make annual grants to fire authorities towards the expenditure incurred by them in providing a fire service. This provision will validate the scheme of 50 per cent State subsidy on loan charges arising on capital borrowing for fire services which I introduced earlier this year and which will greatly assist fire authorities in providing new stations and equipment where these are necessary.
Section 33 allows for grants from the Minister for the Environment to persons or bodies engaged in fire research. Section 35 is another financial provision and it makes it clear that, with the exception of urban authorities who are fire authorities in their own right, the expenses of fire authorities will be apportionable equally over county and urban areas. The section also introduces an important new principle whereby a fire authority will be entitled to charge users or beneficiaries of its services.
Section 34 makes provision, familiar in local government legislation, for the furnishing of information by fire authorities to the Minister, and section 38 is a technical measure clarifying the means by which notices under the Bill may be served. Section 36, finally, adapts a provision of the Fire Brigades Act, 1940, so as to give immunity against legal proceedings arising from the discharge of their functions under the Bill to the fire authorities, sanitary authorities and the Minister.
The Bill is a long and complex one and will undoubtedly benefit from the detailed scrutiny which this House will be giving it on Committee Stage. Of course I will be prepared to consider any constructive suggestions for improvement of the Bill's provisions. I am satisfied, however, that in its general principles it will provide an effective framework within which to harness the good will and interest which now exist on all sides for the improvement of the country's fire service.
As I have already emphasised, the Bill is being complemented by a number of parallel measures, notably the revised draft building regulations to which I propose soon to give statutory force. But both practically and symbolically the Fire Services Bill, 1981, stands at the centre of the concerted effort under way for the renewal of the fire service. I know that this House will be fully alive to its responsibilities in this regard and I now commend the Bill to it.
