FiReControl will be late for Olympics

Monday, June 22, 2009

The Fire Service's new IT network is now so far behind schedule it will not be available to support the London 2012 Olympic Games.

According to The Observer, leaked documents have revealed that the national roll out of the programme may now be in 2013.

The system, which will link all fire and rescue control centres via nine regional hubs and will cost £380m to set up, was meant to be completed by the end of 2007. A series of delays had then pushed back the deadline for a national roll out to spring 2012, just months before the games. But leaked documents seen by The Observer have now revealed that the programme faces a further 10 months delay. An email from the Communities and Local Government (CLG) department – who are responsible for the project - to those involved in the project has asked them to treat with "sensitivity" issues involving further delays in the system's roll out.

Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrats' shadow olympics minister, said: "It is deeply concerning that the government has not got a grip on a project that they deem vital to security and our resilience to a terrorist attack. When you spend over a billion pounds of taxpayers' money making them safer, they should not have to wait five years for it."

The Fire Brigades Union's (FBU) general secretary, Matt Wrack said the project was in "meltdown". He warned that unless the network was working by the summer of 2011, it would not be tested enough to work effectively for the 2012 games anyway.

"The options being looked at are farcical. They appear to be the last gasp of civil servants desperate to justify their previous recommendations," he said.

"The new ministers need to take the opportunity to look at this project afresh and end it now to give the fire service certainty and end the anxiety being caused to control room staff. The only real option is keeping and upgrading our existing fire controls and getting the new digital radio system in place."

A DCLG spokeswoman said in response: "Schedules for projects of this kind are kept under constant review. The department's focus is making sure the benefits of this project are delivered to the fire and rescue service and the public."