Government admits to bungling FiReControl project

£350m scheme to overhaul fire and rescue service technology "didn't start off too well" says minister

The new system will control the dispatch of fire engines

The government has admitted that its plan to overhaul the technology behind the Fire and Rescue Service has run into problems because of "insufficient" planning.

The controversial £350m FiReControl programme aims to replace 46 individual fire brigade control centres with nine regional ones.

But the scheme is now running almost two years late and the government is paying £40,000 a day to maintain the regional control centres, which are currently empty because the technology is not ready.

Local government minister Shahid Malik told a communities and local government committee yesterday: "The truth is that this didn't start off too well. Insufficient work had been done with the fire and rescue community and others to understand where we were going with this. The concept and vision was fine but I don't think the detailed work was there."

Malik said the system is on course to be delivered by the new mid-2011 deadline, though it emerged a new contract has not yet been signed with technology supplier EADS.

Both Malik and EADS representatives said there had been significant improvements in the scheme over the past 12 months including new project directors, though they refused to give a cast-iron guarantee on the 2011 deadline.

"All the technology is there, it's just a question of bringing it all together," said Malik.

But councillor Fred Walker of the Local Government Association told the committee that large parts of the Fire and Rescue Service are still deeply uncomfortable with the scheme.

"If the nine regional control centres are to go live, millions more will have to be spent. The Department of Communities and Local Government hasn't understood what was needed and that ultimately will lead to the downfall of the project."

The Conservatives have indicated that they would pull the plug on the project if they win power in a general election this summer.

The move would follow the example of Scotland, where the SNP scrapped the plans after government was devolved.

But John Bonney, president of the Chief Fire Officers Association, said this would be a disaster because it could leave many local fire services stranded without call centres.

"The worse thing that could happen would be to scrap the scheme with no second option because many fire services would then be five years behind," he said.

This is because many fire services have delayed technology refreshes with the expectation that FiReControl would be delivered on time. Refreshes can take up to three years, meaning some would be using obsolete technology should FiReControl be scrapped.

Bonney and Walker both accepted that if the scheme had been delivered on time and on budget, it would have been better than the current system because it would allow any control centre to dispatch any fire engine regardless of location – something that is currently not possible.