Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority agrees further £1.4m to help Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service
Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority has agreed to invest a further £1.4m to help the county’s fire service to be more efficient and effective.
The fire authority approved a council tax increase of 1.95%, equating to a rise of between £1.04 and £3.12, for Bands A to H, for the Fire Authority’s portion of the council tax bill.
Authority chairman Michael Payne, said: “We have agreed this move as the service needs to continue to invest in the future delivery of its services and staff, ensuring it can respond to the ever-changing needs of the people that live and work within the city and county, as well as the changing demands of the fire sector itself.
“During the last year NFRS has made great strides, but we want to improve even further against a backdrop where funding continues to be a challenge. I am sure our citizens believe NFRS offers real value for money and, therefore, understand our decision to increase the fire authority council tax by 1.95%.”
John Buckley, chief fire officer, said: “The sector is at a pivotal moment in time. We are starting to see some initial outcomes from the Grenfell fire inquiry, and all fire and rescue services have undertaken their first inspections by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.
“The new strategy sets out very clear ambitions to transform the service, to lead the way in the sector and to strive for improvements that will positively impact on risk within our communities.
“The increase in council tax will support those ambitions and will enable us to deliver improvements in efficiency and effectiveness, for the benefit of our Nottinghamshire citizens.”
The fire and rescue service aims to improve services and productivity of staff over the next two years with investment in digital technology, responding to the learning outcomes of the Grenfell Tower enquiry, ongoing support for collaboration projects, and more training for all staff.
During 2019, firefighters attended just over 15,000 emergency calls that not only included fires and incidents on Nottinghamshire roads, but also flooding, animal rescue and to support other emergency services where lives were potentially at risk.
It has also increased its visits to schools, businesses and homes to provide advice and support, and the number of Safe And Well checks, which target those most at risk in their homes, is set to double to 12,000 by 2022.
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