Background
- The Fire and Rescue National Framework for England sets out the priorities and objectives for fire and rescue authorities (FRA’s) and makes specific reference to reserves. The document requires FRA’s to provide information to enable understanding of the purpose for which each reserve is held and how holding each reserve supports the FRA’s MTFP.
- The information which FRA’s are required to publish includes:
- How the level of the general reserve has been set
- Justification for holding a general reserve larger than 5% of budget
- Details of the activities or items to be funded from each earmarked reserve and how they support the FRA’s strategy to deliver a good quality service to the public. Where an earmarked reserve is intended to fund a number of projects or programmes (for example a change or transformation reserve), details of each programme or project to be funded should be set out.
3 The information on each reserve should make clear how much of the funding falls into the following three categories:
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- Funding for planned expenditure on projects and programmes over the period of the current MTFP.
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- Funding for specific projects and programmes beyond the current planning period.
c. As a general contingency or resource to meet other expenditure needs held in accordance with sound principles of good financial management (e.g. insurance).