The government has no plans to prescribe how this is done,rather it will continue to fall to each Fire and Rescue Service to enter into dialoguewith primary employers to encourage local agreements.It is already the case that,consistent with agreements made at the National Joint Council for Local AuthorityFire Brigades where responsibility for this matter lies, retained firefighters areprotected with respect to any loss of earnings incurred as a result of respondingto an emergency.Jim Smith, a retainedfirefighter and a large employer with experience of releasing staff for fire-fightingduties, has recently been appointed as an Assistant...