DORSET and Wiltshire Fire service did not receive any cash from the Government to recoup the costs of responding to the Novichok incident.

Whereas Wiltshire Police and South Western Ambulance Service Trust (SWAST) both received money, including £900k to scrap and replace 24 cars ambulances and 4x4s, the fire and rescue team got nothing.

The service applied for money through the Central Government’s disaster emergency funding pot the Bellwin Scheme.

Each service, from police to councils, had been given a threshold costs must meet before a pay out was given.

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service did not spend more than £106k reacting to the Novichok incident and so had their request blocked, it was revealed this week.

Ministers ruled that the costs to the service did not meet a threshold to warrant the payout.

Quizzed by councillors on the Finance and Governance Board of the fire service, chief fire officer Ben Ansell confirmed they would not be reimbursed.

He said: “We were encouraged to apply for money through the Bellwin Scheme to assist our emergency response and ran a ledger of additional spend.

“It is interesting that the two incidents were classed separately, there was Salisbury and Amesbury and the view was that they couldn’t roll into one. They also fell over two different financial years.

“I sat on meetings with the local MP who publicly gave assurance we wouldn’t have additional costs but this wasn’t the case.

“We put in our funding request but the view was taken that it wasn’t appropriate to give us any money because we hadn’t met the threshold.

“The view was taken that we had had additional but not substantial costs which hadn’t been significant.”

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service has been asked to provide info on how much was spent.