Fire and rescue authority

FOIA Schedule I includes:

14 - A fire and rescue authority constituted by a scheme under section 2 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 or a scheme to which section 4 of that Act applies

Since 2004, firefighters have simply been employees of fire and rescue authorities, so there's no legal distinction between a fire and rescue authority and a fire and rescue service. This is in contrast to the police situations, where police authorities are separate legal persons from their chief officers.

Section 2 of the 2004 Act allows the Secretary of State by order to make a scheme constituting a fire and rescue authority for the combined area of two or more existing fire and rescue authorities. One such scheme seems to have been made:

• SI 2006/2790: Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority

Section 4 of the Act applies to schemes made under sections 5 and 6 of the 1947 c. 41^{({{#formlink:form=Legislation|link text=add|query string=Legislation[Type]=ukpga&Legislation[Year]=1947&Legislation[Number]=41}})}. Such schemes have been made by the following orders:

• SI 1995/3127: Avon Fire Authority
• SI 1995/3131: Cleveland Fire Authority
• SI 1995/3132: Humberside Fire Authority
• SI 1995/3133: North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
• SI 1995/3218: North Wales Fire Authority / Awdurdod Tân Gogledd Cymru
• SI 1995/3229: Mid and West Wales Fire Authority / Awdurdod Tân Canolbarth a Gorllewin Cymru
• SI 1995/3230: South Wales Fire Authority / Awdurdod Tân De Cymru
• SI 1996/2915: Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Combined Fire Authority
• SI 1996/1916: Wiltshire and Swindon Fire Authority
• SI 1996/2917: Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Fire Authority
• SI 1996/2918: Bedfordshire and Luton Combined Fire Authority
• SI 1996/2919: Derbyshire Fire Authority
• SI 1996/2920: Dorset Fire Authority
• SI 1996/2921: County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Authority
• SI 1996/2922: East Sussex Fire Authority
• SI 1996/2923: Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority
• SI 1996/2924: Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority
• SI 1997/2695: Royal Berkshire Fire Authority
• SI 1997/2696: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority
• SI 1997/2697: Cheshire Fire Authority
• SI 1997/2699: Essex Fire Authority
• SI 1997/2700: Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority
• SI 1997/2701: Kent and Medway Towns Fire Authority
• SI 1997/2702: Shropshire and Wrekin Fire Authority
• SI 1997/2760: Lancashire Combined Fire Authority
• SI 1997/2761: Nottinghamshire and city of Nottingham Fire Authority

In areas not covered by a combined authority, the fire and rescue authority is determined by section 1 of the 2004 Act:

• In England:
  • a non-metropolitan county council (England) is the fire and rescue authority for the county; (Cornwall, Cumbria, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Isle of Wight, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Sussex)
  • a non-metropolitan district council (England) for an area for which there is no county council is the fire and rescue authority for the area;
  • the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority is the fire and rescue authority for Greater London;
  • a metropolitan county fire and civil defence authority is the fire and rescue authority for the county;
  • the Council of the Isles of Scilly is the fire and rescue authority for the Isles of Scilly.
• In Wales:
  • a county council is the fire and rescue authority for the county;
  • a county borough council is the fire and rescue authority for the county borough.

All of these are subject to the Act by virtue of other entries in Schedule I.