Where the money comes from
The Government Support we received was £41.906million a decrease of £4.398m or -9.5%, (Approximately 61% of the Authority’s income comes from Government grant).
The remaining income comes from council tax. The Authority issues a precept (a total of all the council tax to be collected) on the 5 districts of Merseyside. This year after recognising the financial pressures on the communities of Merseyside the precept has been set at a level, £27.242 million, that allows the council tax to be frozen at the 2010/11 rates. The Council Tax Band D property rate remains at £64.77, equivalent to 18p a day for Band D Tax Payers.
| Income 2011/12 Budget |
£'m |
% |
| Government Formula Grant |
£41.9 |
60.6% |
| Council Tax |
£27.2 |
39.4% |
| |
|
|
| Total |
69.1 |
100 |
Analysis of Expenditure by Type of Service
The Authority has an excellent track record of investing in line with its
corporate priorities and this was reflected in the external assessment reviews
under the CAA and UoR scoring process. It can be seen from the pie chart below,
(excluding debt charges), that over 66% of gross expenditure, goes on emergency
and specialist response, 3% on Control Rooms and 6% on Fire Resilience and 8% on
Fire Reduction & Preventative work. Support costs making up the remaining 17%.
Looking in more detail at each area the following investments are included :-
Responding & Control:
Investing over £47m:
- Service delivery and emergency response through its 26 fire stations (these
staff do increasing amounts of preventative work as well)
- Specialist teams
like Search and Rescue Team, Targeted Response Group, Hazmats Team and Emergency
Response Dogs
- Invested in staff safety – procured effective fire kit, helmets,
boots and appliances
- Invests in two small fires units, targeting antisocial
fires
- Invests £0.4m on the Incident Management Team
- Developed the unique
Quick Response Motorcycle Unit
- Deliver 100,000 HFSC’s p.a.
Reduce & Restore
Investing over £5m p.a in fire safety including:
- Employment of 46 specialist
Advocates (£1m)
- Purchase of £0.7m worth of smoke alarms per annum
- Continuation of the Princes Trust and other Programmes
- Investment in an Arson
Task Force (£0.4m)
- Investment in Fireworks Team (FIRST) (£0.1m)
- Investment
in District Fire Safety Teams (£1.4m)
- Fire Service Direct (£0.2m)
- Working
with young people, including school liaison
- Invested in volunteers with the
Fire Support Network (£0.2m)
- Working with the private sector to deliver
speedier restoration of property
Preparedness & Resilience
The investment of £4m to deliver a variety of services to help, support
and complement the front line response investment and ensure firefighter safety:
- Operational Planning and Policy,
- Contingency Planning,
-
New Dimensions to cope with major disasters and terrorist threats.
- Operational Equipment Team
- A Water Section
- A Health and Safety Department
- Transport/Fleet Management – to keep vehicles operating effectively
- Workshops
- A Marine Rescue Unit to support the airport and safety on the river
- A Standard Operating Procedure Review Team
Support Services & Other
The investment in support services of £11m (17% of the budget) includes:-
- People and Organisation Development – includes investment in the Training and Development
Academy and costs of training for all staff
- Estates – includes the running costs of buildings including 26 Community Fire
Stations
- ICT – includes the cost of the Mobilising communications Centre.
| Expenditure 2011/12 |
£'m |
% |
|
Reduce & Restore |
£5.4 |
8% |
|
Responding & Control |
£46.7 |
69% |
|
Preparedness & resilience Response |
£4.1 |
6% |
|
Support Services & Other |
£11.5 |
17% |
| Total |
67.7
|
100
|
|
|