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Fire Crews Call for Urgent Investigation Into Soaring Costs of Fire Service IT Project LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(MARKET WIRE)--Aug 25, 2008 -- Attn National/Regional news desks Media embargo 00.01 hours 26 August 2008 Plans to close 46 emergency fire control rooms in England and move to 9 regional centres will cost Pounds Sterling 868 million, not the Pounds Sterling 100 million originally budgeted, nor the Pounds Sterling 360 million which the Government currently claims, the Fire Brigades Union has learned. The Pounds Sterling 868 million includes Pounds Sterling 278 million of spending on management consultants, regional project directors, "change co-ordinators", project assurance directors, PR staff, civil servants, and agency staff. "There is an army of management consultants, contractors and employment agencies swimming in taxpayer's cash," said FBU general secretary Matt Wrack. The project, called Firecontrol, is already three years late, with no guarantee it will work as claimed. The Government originally promised massive savings and that the project would pay for itself within 5 years. The Fire Brigades Union is calling for an urgent investigation into the controversial plans. The plans affect every fire service in England, although similar plans were recently dropped in Scotland and have not been considered in Wales. The union accuses the Government of diverting massive amounts of public money away from frontline fire services where it is desperately needed. It says the Project, known as Firecontrol, is unnecessary, over budget and three years late. Only Pounds Sterling 190 million, less than a quarter of the costs identified, will be spent on the actual technology. The costs also include nearly Pounds Sterling 400 million for renting new buildings. The union has identified the Pounds Sterling 868 million of costs from the detail of a series of parliamentary answers and Department for Communities and Local Government circulars. But the union expects the much delayed national business will show project costs in excess of Pounds Sterling 1.5 billion. The union's research shows: + Pounds Sterling 92.2 million has been ear-marked for regions and fire brigades to pay largely for additional staffing and associated projects costs between 2008 and 2011 including for regional directors, press officers, "change co-ordinators", project assurance staff and for "redundancies, relocation and redeployments". + Pounds Sterling 55.4 million going to management consultants, well above the last estimate of Pounds Sterling 36 million. By the end of June of this year, Pounds Sterling 38,571,512 had already been paid with a further Pounds Sterling 16.9 million more ear-marked for consultants by the end of the project. + Pounds Sterling 27, 885,926 was paid between 2005 and 2008 to fire brigades and regions to cover the additional staffing and associated costs of setting up the project. + Pounds Sterling 22 million had been paid by the Department until the end of June 2008 on those working on the project at national level including civil servants, contractors and agency staff (in addition to consultants). These four sets of costs alone come to a total of Pounds Sterling 278,860,956 and still rising, mainly for staffing and associated costs. This figure is nearly three times the original cost estimate of Pounds Sterling 100 million for the entire project. In addition there are rental costs for the new 9 regional control centre buildings of at least Pounds Sterling 342 million, which excludes London. FBU researchers conservatively estimate the lease for a new regional control centre in London will cost Pounds Sterling 60 million, pushing the rental cost of the buildings for the new national network above Pounds Sterling 400 million. The IT system costs regularly quoted in Parliamentary Answers are only Pounds Sterling 190 million. The union believes that cost is actually Pounds Sterling 213 million for the first 8 years alone. FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: "The public and the fire service are being taken to the cleaners. There is an army of management consultants, contractors and employment agencies swimming in taxpayer's cash. "We're short of firefighters in many brigades and in desperate need of more safety critical equipment and training. Even a fraction of this money would make an enormous difference in every fire brigade. "Instead, it is being wasted on management consultants, regional project directors, change co-ordinators, project assurance directors, PR and human resource directors. No one ever dialled 999 and asked for any of those. "It is an appalling waste of public money on a project which is unnecesary, already three years late, massively over budget and with no guarantee it will work as claimed. The Government's track record of major IT-based projects is truly appalling and this is underlined by what is happening in the fire service. "There must be an urgent independent review into what is going on with this project before it is too late. The Government thinks the project is going along splendidly, when almost everyone else in the fire service knows it is already a disaster." Sources quoted below in full, where possible. Source 1: Pounds Sterling 92 million ear-marked for local brigades and regions 2008 to 2011: 2 Jun 2008: Column 542 Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what effect she estimates the FiReControl project will have on the council tax precept on individual fire and rescue authorities over the next three years; (207525) (2) what funding has been set aside by her Department to finance any new burden costs associated with the implementation of regional control centres; (207527) (3) what liability or financial burden fire and rescue authorities will bear for any cost overruns in delivery of the FiReControl project; (207532) (4) what changes will be made to the funding of fire and rescue authorities as a consequence of the FiReControl project. (207533) Mr. Dhanda: The FiReControl Project should have no impact on council tax precepts for Fire and Rescue Authorities. In line with the Government's commitment on new burdens, a specific grant of Pounds Sterling 92,200,000 has been allocated to cover the net additional cost to Fire and Rescue Authorities of the FiReControl Project over the period of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007. Any cost overruns in the delivery of the project will be met by Communities and Local Government." The relevant Fire Service Circular FRS circ 5/2008, FiReControl Implementation Funding Circular sets out the details and what the funding is for (largely extra staffing and associated costs, but also a small amount of other costs). The figures actually add up to Pounds Sterling 92.9 million, rather than the Pounds Sterling 92.2 million quoted in the Parliamentary Answer above. The relevant part of the circular includes: "CSR 07 Funding covering the three Financial Years 2008-09 to 2010-11 4.1 The Department intends to provide the following funding during the CSR07 Period. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FY 2008-09 FY 2009-10 FY 2010-11 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pounds Sterling 27.0m Pounds Sterling 36.6m Pounds Sterling 29.3m ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4.2 These funds are intended to cover the following: Transition activities - as set out in the FRS transition plans; Staff Pool - the estimated costs of the staff pool currently being explored with the East Midlands, North East, South West and West Midlands; LACC companies - all costs prior to cutover, including staff and accommodation costs, professional advice and insurance; Regional Project Teams - the cost of regional project teams, local FRS change co-ordinators and project assurance; Specific one-off staff costs - redundancies, relocation and redeployments." Source 2: Pounds Sterling 54.4 million going to consultants: John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her estimate is of the cost, including VAT, of all consultants' fees for the FiReControl project for the duration of the project. (217129) Mr. Dhanda (holding answer 8 July 2008): To the end of June 2008 the cost of consultancy services for the FiReControl project totalled Pounds Sterling 38.6 million (inclusive of VAT). Communities and Local Government estimate that future costs will be Pounds Sterling 16.9 million (inclusive of VAT). Source 3: Pounds Sterling 27.8 million has already been allocated for the FireControl Project by the Department and spent by fire brigades and regions: PQ 20 March 2008: Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what allocation was made to each fire authority for (a) fire control, (b) fire link and (c) new dimensions programmes in each year since 2002, broken down by region. (195408) Mr. Dhanda: The information requested is listed in the following tables. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fire control-Grants to fire and rescue authorities ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pounds Sterling ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fire and rescue authority 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bedfordshire and Luton Combined Fire Authority 11,616 76,984 111,904 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority 11,170 80,366 118,157 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Essex Fire Authority 15,411 92,742 132,170 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hertfordshire County Council 11,839 82,412 117,039 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Norfolk County Council 193,796 216,233 331,130 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suffolk County Council 11,616 79,425 115,043 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- East of England Total 255,448 628,162 925,443 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Derbyshire Fire Authority 28,179 158,096 613,165 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Combined Fire Authority 222,125 335,943 2,157,403 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lincolnshire County Council 28,416 148,068 525,606 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Northamptonshire County Council 26,589 144,838 269,849 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority 29,006 159,421 525,225 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- East Midlands Total 334,315 946,366 4,091,248 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greater London Authority 87,571 234,150 659,062 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- London Total 87,571 234,150 659,062 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cleveland Fire Authority 219,699 325,541 1,193,418 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Authority 31,227 142,711 293,546 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Northumberland Fire Authority 28,814 131,633 248,152 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Authority 33,948 160,944 388,365 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- North East Total 313,688 760,829 2,123,481 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cheshire Fire Authority 15,230 93,692 177,393 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cumbria County Council 12,998 85,963 128,299 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority 243,923 118,093 283,347 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lancashire Combined Fire Authority 19,025 99,611 224,957 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority 21,257 239,612 465,158 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- North West Total 312,433 636,971 1,279,154 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority 11,231 95,538 135,765 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- East Sussex Fire Authority 11,555 99,159 143,632 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority 14,705 112,472 320,891 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Isle of Wight Council 10,779 87,619 123,409 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kent and Medway Towns Fire Authority 15,573 115,410 296,981 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oxfordshire County Council 11,141 94,284 143,810 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Royal Berkshire Fire Authority 13,671 97,139 157,406 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Surrey County Council 11,555 104,084 143,551 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- West Sussex County Council 218,713 234,415 382,295 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- South East Total 318,923 1,040,120 1,847,740 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avon Fire Authority 33,082 52,986 462,041 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cornwall Fire and Rescue Authority 28,588 52,986 56,041 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Devon Fire and Rescue Authority 33,732 188,818 - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority 46,559 - 2,899,563 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dorset Fire Authority - 52,986 56,041 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gloucestershire County Council 29,834 52,986 1,114,041 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Somerset Fire Authority 29,794 724,619 - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wiltshire and Swindon Fire Authority 195,455 52,986 56,041 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- South West Total 397,044 1,178,367 4,643,768 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority 71,277 148,228 319,276 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shropshire and Wrekin Fire and Rescue Authority 11,375 137,554 269,128 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Authority 15,626 161,277 331,032 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Authority 10,803 138,902 256,054 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority 166,056 357,304 785,796 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- West Midland Total 275,137 943,265 1,961,286 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Humberside Fire Authority 14,799 83,956 123,024 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority 12,541 84,736 124,080 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority 16,828 88,617 170,161 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority 201,302 239,954 531,957 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yorkshire and Humberside Total 245,470 497,263 949,222 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- FireControl Total 2,540,029 6,865,493 18,480,404 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source 4: Pounds Sterling 22 million spent national by the Department on civil servants, contractors and agency staff: John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) staffing costs, including civil servants, interim and agency staff, (b) secondment costs and (c) travel costs of the national FiReControl project team have been; and whether these costs are included in the business case. 'R' (217126) Mr. Dhanda (holding answer 8 July 2008): The following table identifies the costs incurred on FiReControl to the end of June 2008.
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Total
Resource type (Pounds Sterling)
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T and S 1,176,773
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Pay, civil servants 4,824,300
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Interim (including fixed term contractors and agency staff) 11,692,568
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Secondee 4,328,853
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Total 22,022,494
----------------------------------------------------------------------------These costs were included in the Business Case version 1 published in June 2007 and will be updated in part 2 of the Business Case to be published later in the summer. A copy of the full Business Case will be placed in the Library. Source 5: Regional control centre rental costs in excess of Pounds Sterling 400 million. The parliamentary answer quoted below establishes the agreed rents of the new regional control centres will cost Pounds Sterling 342 million nationally. But this excludes the cost of leasing London's new regional control, which we conservatively estimate at Pounds Sterling 60 million, and takes no account of the varying leasehold lengths of 25 and 20 years which will cost additional money for the extra 5 years of leasing required. Parliamentary answer 13 March 2007 Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the rental cost of each regional fire control centre, over the full period of its lease, inclusive of VAT and increases produced by the mechanism for future regular rental upratings. (126285) Angela E. Smith: The rental costs of each Regional Control Centre (RCC) are shown in the following table. The costs given are over the full period of the lease, inclusive of VAT and uplifted in line with the terms of the lease. The costs, other than for London, are based on rents agreed with the developer of each RCC. Procurement of the London RCC is in progress. RCCs should be able to recover the VAT.
Estimated cost Lease term
RCC (Pounds Sterling million) (years)
East Midlands 45 25
East of England 50 25
North East 31 20
NorthWest 45 25
SouthEast 54 25
SouthWest 34 20
WestMidlands 50 25
Yorkshire and Humberside 33 20Source 6: the original estimate of the project was Pounds Sterling 100 million: Parliamentary answer 27 October 2005 regarding the original cost estimates for regional fire controls. Then fire minister Jim Fitzpatrick said consultants Mott MacDonald "estimated project costs at Pounds Sterling 100 million, comprising project management costs, technology costs, accommodation costs and redundancy." Contact: Contacts:
Media contacts
National
Francis Beckett
020 8349 9194
07813 001372
East Anglia
Adrian Clarke
07917 0177 13
North West
Kevin Brown
07834 656085
North East
Pete Wilcox
07977 006 132
South West
Tam McFarlane
07813 170 279
South East
For Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight
and Oxfordshire contact:
Karl Horan 07917 065856
For Kent, Surrey, East and West Sussex contact:
Jim Parrott 07702 394440
Yorkshire & Humberside
Sean Cahill
07968 071849
West Midlands
Chris Woods
07788 700 675
East Midlands
Tom Murray - Regional Control Rep 07894613403
Phil Poole - Regional Control Rep 07894613397
Dave Limer - Regional Secretary 07894 613404
Northern Ireland
Jim Barbour 07711 210731
Jim Quinn 07788 700 675
Scotland
Roddy Robertson 07801 047601
Ken Ross 07801 047602
Wales:
Mike Smith 07702 285514
Grant Mayos 07970 475153
Source: Fire Brigades Union
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