Jonathan Djanogly, the Member of Parliament for the Huntingdon Constituency, this week congratulated Conservatives in Parliament who extracted a guarantee from the Government that retained (part-time) firefighters would not lose their jobs in the Government's fire service modernisation review. this means that the 295 retained firefighters across Cambridgeshire will not face the threat of job cuts.
Commenting on this Mr Djanogly said:
"We are delighted to have obtained a guarantee that retained firefighters, who do such a superb job, will not suffer as a result of the modernisation of the fire service. We owe so much to them, without whose service and dedication we could not guarantee the safety of the public.
Along with the military, the retained firefighters have proved the real heroes during this fire strike, and we are delighted that they will not be punished for their conscientious public service.
However, the Government must now come clean and spell out exactly its agenda for the 276 full-time firefighters and 23 control room staff across our area as part of the Government's modernisation of working practices. It is vital that we implement the judgements of Chief Fire Officers after risk-based assessments on what's best for fire safety,and that the Government does not simply focus on crude cost-cutting measures like axing jobs."
Notes
Threat of job cuts
Nick Raynsford, the Fire Services Minister, has asked Chief Fire Officers to draw up risk asessment plans for all the 58 fire authorities in England to decide what levels of cover need to be provided in which areas. However, it apeears that the Government is planning job cuts, irrespective of what the fire officers recommend.
Retained firefighters guarantee
During Deputy Prime Minister's Question Time in Parliament, Conservative MP, Mark Francois, asked the Deputy Prime Minister to give an assurance that the Retained Firefighters Union (RFU) would not suffer as a result of the modernisation review being undertaken in the fire service. John Prescott gave an evasive answer. The Shadow Secretary of State, The Rt Hon David Davis MP, followed this by asking the Deputy Prime Minister to give a clear guarantee that the RFU would not lose jobs as a result of the modernisation review. Under pressure John Prescott replied to this 'yes'."