Fire Safety Bill

Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Lord Stunell

Committee stage & Committee: 1st sitting (Hansard) & Committee: 1st sitting (Hansard): House of Lords
Thursday 29th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Stunell (LD) [V]]

[Inaudible.]

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

I think that the noble Lord might need to unmute or increase the volume, or perhaps position himself more closely to his microphone.

[Lord Stunell (LD) [V]]

Perhaps the noble Lord can tell me whether the situation has improved. Is he able to hear me?

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

Yes.

[Lord Stunell (LD) [V]]

My Lords, Amendment 3 is in my name and that of my noble friend Lady Pinnock. The Bill was of course discussed at Second Reading and is a long-overdue framework Bill, with a potential reach far wider than the high-rise residential blocks at the centre of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. I thank the Minister for the very open-handed way in which he has talked to Members on all sides of your Lordships’ House about the Bill and its intention.

We know that every multi-occupied home is in scope, from terrace houses to high-rise executive duplexes. It will impose significant duties on a scarce group of professionals—fire safety engineers. It will also impose significant duties on building owners of many different levels of professional competence and probity, and potentially it would impose significant costs on the occupiers of homes—renters, leaseholders and owner-occupiers—as commented on in the previous discussion by the noble Lord, Lord Shinkwin, and the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe.

In other discussions today, we shall be looking at the functions and duties in more detail, but the intention behind Amendment 3 is to probe whether the Government have understood nearly clearly enough how much work they have to do before the Bill can become operational.