Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006

I am grateful for the comments that have been made, in particular regarding support for the fire service. During my period of office at the ODPM I was partly responsible for the Fire Services Bill, on which this measure is based. It beggars belief that one has to legislate to protect fire personnel being attacked while fighting fires. It is beyond the pale. We shall not stand for it and people found guilty of such an offence will feel the weight of the law coming down on them. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, that there was a public consultation on the draft order in 2005. That was preceded in 2004 by a public consultation on the policy proposals. Consultation responses were generally positive. We received 17 written responses to the consultation on the draft order. They are on the department’s website. There is a response to each of the issues. To the best of my knowledge nothing untoward was raised about which the fire service is unhappy. The fire brigade union submitted responses to the consultations in 2004 and in 2005. The responses are available. Meetings were held with fire brigade union representatives to discuss their views on tackling the problem of attacks on fire-fighters. The union expressed strong support for the statutory offence of an assault on a fire-fighter. The other issues constitute a mirror image of what happened during the reform of the fire service in England and Wales. On risk assessment, guidance documents will be published for each of the 10 broad commercial sectors covering all premises used for commercial purposes. They will steer the responsible person through the fire risk assessment. That will include not just users of the premises and people who work there but also customers, visitors and delivery people. There will be a general duty of care anyway on the relevant people in such premises regarding how they address the risk assessment. That is an important aspect. I know from my former constituency that fire-fighters spend the vast majority of their time trying to prevent fires rather than fighting them. A small part of their time is spent fighting fires. However, a lot more targeted work could be done to eradicate fires through undertaking risk assessment and placing some responsibility on people who own and operate the premises that we are discussing. They can get help and advice, of course, from the professional Fire and Rescue Service, as it will be renamed. If I have missed any points, I shall be happy to write to noble Lords. On Question, Motion agreed to.