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Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

Answer

Mr Watts: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister who commissioned the Pathways reports; for what reason the Government commissioned the Pathways review; when he expects to publish its findings; how the draft Pathways recommendations differ from the Bain report's findings; and if he will place a copy of the draft Pathways report in the Library. [93418] Mr. Raynsford: I assume that my hon. friend is referring to the report of the Fire Cover Review Task Group of the Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council (CFBAC), also known as the Pathfinder report. The report was commissioned by the Council in order to assess the practical issues that would have to be addressed if risk-based fire cover were introduced, as had been recommended by the Audit Commission in its report In the Line of Fire (1995). The Pathfinder report was placed in the Library of the House and was also published on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister web site on 23 December, 2002. The report made general recommendations about the implementation of Fire Service Emergency Cover and the way forward, including ways in which some of its numerical findings could be made more accurate. None of the quantitative findings reported in the Pathfinder report were endorsed by the Fire Cover Review Task Group. They recommended that the calculations which these findings were based on should be improved in various ways to make them more reliable. Bearing this in mind the Pathfinder recommendations are not at variance with those of Sir George Bain's Independent Review of the Fire Service. The Fire Cover Review Task Group's report suggests that substantial improvements in Fire Service efficiency and effectiveness are achievable, especially if greater attention is given to fire prevention. Sir George Bain's report endorsed these findings.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

93418; 399 c13W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Fire and rescue services Publications Modernisation Fire Cover Review Task Group

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk