Cleveland Fire Brigade has won a multi-million pound contract to provide 24-hour emergency cover for one of Europe’s biggest plastics manufacturers INEOS Nitriles.
Profits from the contract will be used to fund new community safety schemes with ministers welcoming the news as a “huge vote of confidence” in Cleveland Fire Brigade and the fire service themselves describing the deal as “ground-breaking”.
The contract will be delivered via a new social enterprise arm run by the Brigade that will aim to protect the fire service from public sector cuts while any profits generated are used to pay for education programmes over the next three years.
The contract will see Cleveland Fire Brigade providing 24-hour cover at INEOS Nitriles’ Seal Sands site, near Middlesbrough.
Ground breaking territory
Chief fire officer Ian Hayton said: “This is fantastic news – we’re over the moon that our social enterprise approach has scored its first big commercial success. The money we make from this work will go directly back into protecting our community and we expect this contract to be the first of many more in the future.
"This is ground-breaking territory not only in the good it will deliver for our community, but it holds the door wide open for fire and rescue services across the country to follow in our footsteps, using commercial income to protect our service nationwide.”
Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, welcomed the news saying it was a “huge vote of confidence” in the fire service.
He continued: “It proves how successful entrepreneurial public servants can be and bolsters Cleveland’s ambition to spin their Brigade out of the public sector and run it as a staff-led mutual business.
Jean Phaneuf, from INEOS Nitriles explained that the decision was “not taken lightly.”
He also said: "Our Teesside site has tried and tested risk management and incident prevention arrangements in place. In awarding this contract it was absolutely essential that these were not compromised.
“We believe that dedicated service provided by Cleveland Fire Brigade Risk Management Services CIC will meet our very high expectations and help us to further develop our capability as part of requirement to continually improve our own employees capabilities.
“Cleveland Fire Brigade CIC will help us to further develop our close focus on safety by ensuring the very best equipment and expertise will continue to be applied to the prevention of incidents and if necessary respond effectively.
“Not only will we be receiving a high quality professional service, will are delighted that profit made by CIC will be used to provide vital community safety work that will make a positive difference to people safety and quality of life across Teesside.”
“Pride in our community”
Chief fire officer Hayton also said: “At the heart of our approach is pride. Pride in our service and pride in our community – that’s what gets us out of bed in the morning. Supported by the profits we make we can maintain an impeccable level of service, and carry on saving lives and keeping local people safe. Through working with industry, we can also help boost our local economy and get more people into work.”
Cleveland Fire Brigade is keen that the contract and others like it will not only protect jobs and lives in Teesside but will encourage other industries to establish themselves in the area by providing maximum safety levels at the Seal Sands site.
Francis Maude also added that the government are keen to see more fire services following suit and attempting to deliver services as mutuals.
He said: “Cleveland Fire Brigade shows how innovative approaches can lead to more effective and efficient public services. I will be watching their progress with close interest. This shows that there are very few limits to our ambitions for more public sector organisations to deliver their services as mutuals.
“This Government is helping more mutuals get up and running via the £10 million Mutual Support Programme fund and online Mutuals Information Service. We want public sector staff, taxpayers and service users to reap the benefits of higher productivity and better customer satisfaction that mutuals can create.”