The Government has come under strong attack over its plan to replace 46 fire control rooms in England with nine new regional centres when a committee of MPs said the programme had been "inadequately planned, poorly executed and badly managed".
The Communities and Local Government Select Committee warned that the future of an efficient system for the fire service had been put at "substantial risk".
Problems included high staff turnover at the Communities and Local Government Department (DCLG), which compromised its ability to manage the project, as well as a lack of openness.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said the project should now be scrapped. Escalating costs and severe delays looked set to leave several fire and rescue authorities dealing with the new system when they should be preparing for the 2012 Olympic Games, said the committee.
In a series of damning findings after studying the so-called FiReControl project, the committee said: The original agreement for the computer work was ill-suited to the nature of the project; relationships with major stakeholders and contractors were mishandled; A lack of explanation from the Government had left many fire authorities with "profound reservations" about whether the new system will be safer and more efficient. They also said the fate of the project remained further exposed by an "adversarial" relationship between the DCLG and the main IT contractor EADS.
Committee chairman Dr Phyllis Starkey (Labour, Milton Keynes South West) said: "The original aims and expected benefits of this scheme were, in our view, sound. But the department has clearly not learned from its previous mistakes. FiReControl is yet another catalogue of further poor judgment and mismanagement."
The MPs said that given the investment of public funds already committed, and the benefits that will accrue, the project should go ahead, but set a number of conditions, including moves to make sure the project will go live by mid-2011. The FBU, which claimed the project was hundreds of millions of pounds over budget and years late, said the report supported its long-held view that public money was being "wasted" and safety compromised.
"The committee sets out six conditions for the continuance of the project, and in our view these conditions cannot be met, so the project must be abandoned. We recognise that this will mean that public money has been wasted, but to continue with the project means throwing good money after bad," said general secretary Matt Wrack.
Fire Minister Shahid Malik said: "The Government agrees with the select committee that the FiReControl project should continue with renewed vigour. This is a part of the Government's unprecedented and successful investment in the fire and rescue service that means that firefighters are better equipped than ever before and able to respond effectively to incidents whether caused by nature, industrial accident or terrorist activity.
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"We accept that there have been problems in delivering the project. However, through the changes we have already made - many reflected in the committee's recommendations - I believe the project is in a better position than ever before."
