Press Release
GMB welcomes London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority reversing decision to privatise its 999 fire control centre
22 June 2012
GMB members in the control room who handle 2.5m calls a year and are responsible for getting fire crews to emergencies had repeatedly said the outsourcing plan would reduce response times, endanger lives and cost more.
GMB welcomes the decision taken by the London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) yesterday to reverse plans to outsource it's 999 Fire Control Service.
This decision reverses the decision taken on 15th March 2012 by LFEPA, after a 6 month restricted procurement exercise, to outsource its 999 Fire Control Service through a 10 year contract with Capita. The contract was expecting to deliver new systems installation with savings of around £5m over the term of the 10 year contract plus incentives to improve technologies and deliver innovation throughout the term.
Fine tuning of the contract meant that it had not yet been signed allowing the newly constituted LFERA the opportunity to reconsider its earlier decision at its first meeting yesterday 21 June 2012. See note 1.
Paul Maloney, GMB regional secretary, said:
“This is a decision that triumphs the sensible approach over the political and ideological one that would have privatised what is already an excellent and efficient 999 service for the people of London.
GMB members in the control room who handle 2.5m calls a year and are responsible for getting fire crews to emergencies had repeatedly said the outsourcing plan would reduce response times, endanger lives and cost more.
Leading Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green Party Authority Members had asked that a decision taken by the Fire Authority in March of this year be reconsidered at the first sitting of the newly constituted Fire Authority due to their concerns that the earlier decision had been made hastily before the election and their belief that the risks associated with this privatisation exercise are too great to bear.
A motion submitted jointly by those parties proposed that the outsourcing proposal be scrapped in favour of an alternative to simply refresh the ICT mobilising systems and work with the committed existing 999 staff to achieve budgetary savings and efficiency improvements in the future. See note 2.
GMB's tireless work, in the past year, with London Borough and London Assembly representatives, as well as the Members of the Fire Authority, succeeded in achieving the right outcome today and furthermore the GMB is happy to continue to work with the Fire Authority to identify and deliver what is necessary to keep the service cost effective & efficient as long as the service remains in-house rather than see the privatisation of what is a front line life critical service.
GMB members are extremely grateful for the support from Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green Party representatives for our highly trained extremely professional members in the fire control room and their agreement with us that the earlier decision presented a significant risk to the safety of Londoners. That risk has now been averted, thanks to them and our members”.
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