Fire services are urged to bring in more women

May 20 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

MERSEYSIDE and Cheshire fire services will be told today to recruit hundreds of extra women firefighters or risk hefty fines under new equality laws.

The Government will announce that all fire and rescue services must ensure 15% of recruits are female by 2013, to ensure they tap all the “talent and potential” available.

In addition, they must hit targets for minority ethnic recruits that match the make-up of their local populations, which are Merseyside (3.2%) and Cheshire (1.8%).

The recruitment drives will be major challenges for both areas where firefighters are – like in almost all fire services – overwhelmingly male and white.

Last year, Merseyside boasted just 40 women firefighters out of a total of 1,292 (3.1%) and only 31 black and Asian staff out of 1,747 (1.8%).

Cheshire fire service is even more overwhelmingly “pale and male”, with just 16 women (2.1%) and only ten ethnic minority staff (1%). But Parmjit Dhanda, the fire minister, insisted there was no alternative if the service was going to catch up with big changes in the police, prison service and NHS.

The minister pointed to evidence that lives could be saved if a fire service could better reach those most at risk, driving down the number of fires and increasing the reporting of arson.

And he announced a £2m bonus pot as an incentive to go further, by recruiting 18% women and 2% above the local minority ethnic population – which would be 5.2% of recruits in Merseyside.

Mr Dhanda said: “This is not about political correctness, but about providing opportunity for all and finding the best skilled and talented people across communities.

“This will ensure the Fire and Rescue Service not only better represents the diversity of the communities they serve but enhances protection for everyone.

“The challenge now is for Fire and Rescue Services to get out there and find and recruit them. This might be radical, but it's the right thing to do.”

Mr Dhanda pointed to fines – or even imprisonment – for people guilty of “serious breaches of equalities legislation”, in a carrot and stick approach.

Fire services that fall short of their targets will also be unable to achieve an excellent rating in the annual performance league tables, which also has financial implications.

A new national strategy, to be published today, will require all fire chiefs to set out the progress made in an annual report, to be published by the government.

Each report must also display improvements in employment practices, following an alarming survey of firefighters which highlighted harassment, discrimination and even assaults in the workplace.