NFCC responds to Autumn Budget 2024

Responding to the Budget statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) Chair, Mark Hardingham, said:

“We welcome the government’s commitment to improving building safety and accelerating the remediation programme, including the new investment to speed up the remediation of social housing.

“We also welcome the increase in funding for the school rebuilding programme and urge that fire safety is embedded into any plans to improve the school estate to secure the continued learning of children and afford greater protection to these vital community assets. Sprinklers should be included in all rebuilds or major refurbishments plans as the rebuilding programme takes place – something that NFCC and fire and rescue services have long called for.

“With fire and rescue services grappling with the impact of increasing extreme weather events, we welcome the commitment to invest £2.4 billion in flood resilience over two years, to offer greater protection to our communities. However, with the frequency and magnitude of flooding events expected to continue to increase, it is vital that fire and rescue services are fully prepared and equipped to respond and that requires a large amount of training and investment. We would, therefore, hope to see this recognised in the forthcoming spending review.

“We also need to see increased and sustained investment into fire and rescue services through the spending review. This is crucial to ensure that we can drive continued improvement and ensure that as a critical blue light service, fire and rescue services are properly resourced, trained and equipped to meet both current and emerging risks and to continue to protect the communities they serve.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

• The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) is an independent membership association and the professional voice of the UK Fire and Rescue Service. NFCC support fire and rescue services to continually improve, helping them to save lives and keep their local communities safe. NFCC are a charity and a membership association supporting and representing the UK Fire and Rescue Service. Founded in 1941, NFCC was established as a company and charity in 1998 as The Chief Fire Officers’ Association, transforming into the NFCC in 2017.