Fire fighting re-enacts the existing statutory duty for a fire and rescue authority to plan and provide arrangements for fighting fires and protecting life and property from fires within its area. A fire and rescue authority is required to secure sufficient equipment etc. and training to discharge its duty in normal circumstances. A fire and rescue authority must also put in place effective arrangements for receiving and responding to calls for help and for obtaining information to exercise its functions; the latter might include, for example, information about the nature and characteristics of buildings within the authority’s area or availability of and access to water supplies. Section 8 Road traffic accidents Subsection (6) makes it an offence to damage or obstruct a fire hydrant. Under subsection (7) a person guilty of an offence under subsection (5) and (6) is liable on summary conviction to a level 2 fine. Subsections (5), (6) and (7) re-state section 14(5) of the 1947 Act. Part 5 – Water supply (Sections 37 to 42): imposes duties on fire and rescue authorities and water undertakers to ensure an adequate supply of water for fire-fighting activities. This Section re-enacts the power in the Fire Services Act 1947 that determines the arrangements for appointing inspectors of the Fire and Rescue Service. Equipment etc Section 28 As announced in the ‘Our Fire and Rescue Service’ White Paper, the Government believes that the time is now right to devolve responsibilities for fire and rescue authorities to the National Assembly for Wales. The Bill therefore devolves responsibility for the Service in Wales and has been drafted in liaison and agreement with officials from the National Assembly and the Wales Office.

The Bill provides for training for fire and rescue authority employees (and others) to be delivered centrally, regionally or locally. This Section re-enacts and enhances provision allowing the Secretary of State to set up and maintain central or local (including regional) training centres. The Fire Service College at Moreton in Marsh is the central training institution for the Fire and Rescue Service. However, the College is not able to provide all the development and training for the service and some training (for example, training that needs to be carried out regularly) may be best delivered at a regional or local level. PART 4 EMPLOYMENT Negotiating bodies Section 31 Negotiating bodiesIt came into effect on 1 October 2004. It only applies to Great Britain and most provisions apply only in England and Wales. Replacing the previous Fire Services Act 1947 in England and Wales, it clarifies the duties and powers of fire authorities to:- Directions as to arrangements under Section 16 re-enacts provisions in the Fire Services Act 1947 that provide the Secretary of State with the ability to require fire and rescue authorities to enter into contractual arrangements under Section 16 (or to vary or cancel any such arrangements). The Secretary of State can exercise the power on his own initiative or where one of the authorities has asked him to intervene, but the power must be exercised in the interests of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. Before issuing a direction the Secretary of State must give the fire and rescue authorities affected the opportunity to make representations to him and he may hold a public inquiry. Supplementary Section 18 Training centres The Bill does not extend to Northern Ireland. PART 1 FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITIES 1 Fire and rescue authorities work in partnership with their communities and a wide range of partners locally and nationally to deliver their service

Subsection (5) makes it an offence for any person to use a fire hydrant other than for the purpose of fire-fighting or any other purpose of a fire and rescue authority; or other than for any purpose authorised by the water undertaker or other person to whom the hydrant belongs. Section 1 defines what is meant in the Bill by “fire and rescue authority”, which can differ in constitution from area to area. The establishment and membership of metropolitan county fire and civil defence authorities is dealt with in section 26 of the Local Government Act 1985 (c. 51). The London Fire and Civil Defence Authority became the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority under the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (c. 29) – see section 328 Section 2 Power to create combined fire and rescue authorities Section 3 Creation of combined fire and rescue authorities: supplementary Section 4 Combined authorities under the Fire Services Act 1947 Other services provides a fire and rescue authority with the power to agree to the use of its equipment or personnel for any purpose it believes appropriate and wherever it so chooses. For example, a fire and rescue authority may agree to help pump out a pond as a service to its community. Assistance in discharge of functions Section 13 Reinforcement schemesThe Bill does not repeal the provisions of the Fire Services Act 1947 as they apply in Scotland, which will remain in force. The only exceptions to this are the pension provisions in Part 4 of the Bill and consequential provisions, which do extend to Scotland as pension policy is a reserved matter and not a devolved issue. The Bill, therefore, repeals the existing pension provisions in the 1947 Act, and in turn extends the replacement provisions, to England, Wales and Scotland. Section 26 re-enacts in an amended form section 33 of the Fire Services Act 1947. The Secretary of State will be able to hold a public inquiry into the performance of a fire and rescue authority or its handling of a particular incident. Section 27 Inspectors Clause 45 sets out the powers and the obligations of an employee of a fire and rescue authority who has entered a place under clause 44 to gain information or investigate the cause and progression of a fire. The powers and obligations are similar to those applicable to investigations under health and safety legislation. Section 46 Powers of entry: notices

The Bill extends to England and Wales only with the exception of the provisions regarding pensions in Part 4 (as pension policy is a reserved matter) and various consequential provisions which also extend to Scotland. Wherever appropriate, it gives the National Assembly for Wales the powers of the Secretary of State in its application to Wales. Section 61 Short title Abolishes the Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council, which was established under section 29 of the Fire Services Act 1947 to provide general advice to the Secretary of State on matters relating to the operation of that Act. The Council also served as statutory consultee prior to the exercise by the Secretary of State of certain of his regulation-making powers under the 1947 Act (for example with regard to pensions). Where such regulation-making powers are re-enacted elsewhere in the Bill, the Secretary of State will be under a duty to consult with such persons as he considers are appropriate. Section 50 Repeal of Fire Services Act 1947 Section 51 Amendments Section 52 Repeal Exercise of powers at or under sea, the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) has a general duty to manage the response of UK authorities to maritime incidents both in territorial waters and beyond. To support such response the MCA will enter into agreements with other service providers. Fire and rescue services may indicate to the MCA a willingness to provide a response to fires and other emergencies at sea and to provide fire crews equipped and trained to undertake such work. Section 20 will enable fire and rescue authorities to continue to provide a response to incidents at sea and under the sea (for example, in the Channel Tunnel). PART 3 ADMINISTRATION Fire and Rescue National Framework Section 21 Fire and Rescue National Framework FRAs also need to collect information to assess risk in their areas as well as protect the health and safety of their workers. The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 also gives the Government responsibility for producing the Fire and Rescue National Framework which outlines the Government's high level priorities and objectives for FRAs in England. The National Framework's priorities for FRAs are to:The term ‘brigade’ does not appear in the Bill – this reflects a community service structured on the roles of individuals rather than adherence to a rank structure. Territorial Application The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 (c. 21), sometimes abbreviated as FRSA 2004, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. There are four key responsibilities for FRAs that they must ensure that they make provision for including: Sections 44(3) and (4) were repealed on 20 February 2007 [2] by section 6 of the Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006.

This clause re-enacts section 16(1) to (3) of the Fire Services Act 1947 and requires any person who proposes to carry out any works for the purpose of supplying water to any part of the area of a fire and rescue authority to give at least six weeks’ written notice to the authority under subsection (1). A person proposing to carry out any works affecting a fire hydrant is required to give at least seven days’ notice in writing. This section will give combined fire and rescue authorities the powers which are already available to county fire authorities, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and metropolitan county fire and civil defence authorities under section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972. PART 2 FUNCTIONS OF FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITIES Core functions Section 6 Fire safety Section 31 provides the Secretary of State with reserve powers to establish negotiating machinery for the Fire and Rescue Service. The powers allow the Secretary of State to determine the number, composition and chair of the negotiating bodies following consultation. Subsection (2) requires that a statutory body includes employers, unions and an independent chairman.An Act to make provision about fire and rescue authorities and their functions; to make provision about employment by, and powers of employees of, fire and rescue authorities; to make provision about education and training and pension schemes; to make provision about the supply of water; to make provision about false alarms of fire; to provide for the funding of advisory bodies; and for connected purposes. The term “emergency” is defined, for the purposes of this Bill only, at Section 56. Other functions Section 10 Directions relating to particular fires and emergencies Prior to the second world war the fire service was run by local government and the responsibility delegated in most cases to the police. During the second world war the fire service was nationalised (NFS) and it was agreed on cessation of hostilities that the fire brigades would be returned to local authorities. In 1947 the Fire Services Act became law, making the fire service a department in its own right and provided a legal framework how fire service should be setup and administrated. The core function was to extinguishing fires and very little was included about the other functions of the fire service. The fire safety role was defined in subsection 1(1)(f) which states the fire service should provide fire prevention advice on request and with regards to the special services roll, it stated that fire brigade equipment could be used for other than firefighting purposes. The fire service budgets are met, partly from the government and is called the Revenue Support Grant, community charges, and the the local government precept. The Standing Spending Assessment is calculated on the operational commitment of the fire brigades and as there is no legal requirement for the secondary functions they are not included in the calculation of the SSA. Because of the extra resources needed for the secondary functions, shortfalls appeared in budgets with increasing problems. To resolve the problem with budgets the fire service started to lobby the government for a new fire services act which would include provisions for all the secondary functions. The result is the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 and it is now law. The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 Chapter 21