THE boss of the firm responsible for fire and rescue responses at HM Naval Base Clyde has insisted that morale among staff is high despite a row over jobs.
MPs grilled Capita management on their handling of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) contract for the base, which was outsourced to the company in 2019 and has resulted in four specialist firefighters leaving their roles at Faslane and Coulport under 'voluntary exit' terms so far.
Representatives of the Unite trade union have raised "safety critical concerns" over the cuts and the effectiveness of replacement crews during industrial action, which took place throughout November.
Richard Holroyd, managing director of Capita Defence Fire and Security, gave evidence to a meeting of the House of Commons' defence sub-committee on Tuesday.
Mr Holroyd told MPs on the committee: "These firefighters, that we're very proud to have as part of our organisation, are continuing to deliver to the very highest standard and morale across the piece is generally very high.
"We absolutely respect that in certain parts of our establishment there are changes that are very difficult for the organisation to accept and we consider that to be part of our responsibility to help people through that process.
"But this is about modernising the fire service and bringing to bear £50 million worth of investment in new equipment and new processes to bring the service up to date.
"That is what the MoD asked us to do as part of the contract."
During the Westminster meeting, chaired by West Dunbartonshire MP Martin Docherty-Hughes, Mr Holroyd said that his firm had brought a "new way of thinking" about fire and rescue responses at the bases, which has involved the introduction of a new fleet of vehicles, technology and safety equipment.
Pressing him on the issue of profits over safety, Tory MP Tobias Ellwood said: "Looking back over five years ago, what the capabilities were to what you have today it is markedly different.
"To the untrained eye it would look like there's a bit of cost saving taking place."
READ MORE: Fire and rescue workers at naval base set to strike over Capita 'cuts' concern
Mr Holroyd replied: "It's important to note that we are a commercial organisation and we are incentivised to deliver on the contract, which in this instance was to modernise the fire service.
"If we were to propose an integrated risk management plan that we felt or the customer felt wasn't safe then it is not in our interests to implement it in order to save money.
"It would not be in anybody's interest to underwrite an unsafe method of operation in order for commercial gain. We just simply won't do that."
Capita workers from the fire and rescue service took part in discontinuous strike action at Coulport on November 10-11, November 16-17, November 18-19 and November 22-23.
Alex Clark, chief fire officer with Capita fire and rescue, told the committee: "For me, as a professional fire officer, safety is paramount.
"I would not put my name to something that I did not believe was safe when it comes to an operational response model.
"I can understand how people could look at it that way, however you've got to think of the fire and rescue service on the base as part of an integrated safety system.
"We don't work in isolation to make sure the operation is safe, we work in partnership with other response agencies to make sure that the whole operation is done in as safe a way as possible."
READ MORE: Fire and rescue crews at Faslane and Coulport start overtime ban in Capita dispute
Crewing levels on a daily basis at Faslane and Coulport have been reduced by one firefighter at each base - from six to five - since Capita took over.
But bosses said that they have full confidence in their teams' abilities to respond to any major incidents on site, while working in partnership with the Royal Navy and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
Concluding the meeting, Mr Docherty-Hughes said: "I'm sure you'd appreciate that being in the neighbouring parliamentary constituency, the worst case scenario is not thinkable because it's not just about us.
"It's everybody in the whole of Scotland and the north east of England and across the sea to Northern Ireland, so the consequences need to be talked about and understood."
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