Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the new fire risk assessments will be subject to a single regulatory standard; and whether leaseholders in apartment blocks under 18 metres will be informed as a result of those assessments in the event that remediation works are necessary.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the FSO) states that the responsible person (usually the building owner or landlord) must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to which relevant persons are exposed for the purpose of identifying the general fire precautions they need to take to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed on them by the FSO. This requirement is not new, having been in place since the FSO came into force in 2006, and applies to all buildings regulated by the FSO.
The Fire Safety Act 2021 clarifies that the external walls (including cladding and balconies) and individual flat entrance doors for buildings containing two or more sets of domestic premises must be included in that assessment.
The Fire Safety Act will apply to all buildings containing two or more sets of domestic premises (multi-occupied residential buildings) so will include buildings under 18 metres.
Article 19 of the FSO states that the Responsible Person must provide employees with comprehensible and relevant information about relevant fire safety matters.
We are currently seeking to amend the FSO, via the Building Safety Bill, to extend this requirement to residents in buildings containing two or more sets of domestic premises. ‘Relevant fire safety matters’ includes the risks to residents of the domestic premises identified by the risk assessment and the preventive and protective measures.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which police forces are yet to sign up to Operation Encompass.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Domestic abuse can lead to emotional, physical and psychological harm in victims including children. Operation Encompass aims to mitigate this harm by rapid provision of support within the school to safeguard children. Operation Encompass works by directly connecting the police with schools. When officers have attended a domestic abuse incident, police share the information with a school’s trained Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) before the start of the next school day, so that appropriate support can be given at the earliest possible opportunity.
The Home Office has provided funding to rollout Operation Encompass nationally, and together with the Department for Education has provided £194,360 in funding for a specialist Teacher’s Helpline during the pandemic. This helpline provides free access for teachers to confidential and immediate access to support and guidance from experienced clinical and educational psychologists
To date 41 forces have signed up to Operation Encompass, Bedfordshire and Avon & Somerset are yet to sign up.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of DBS checks being fast-tracked and the processing fees waived to ensure that volunteers wishing to help their communities in response to the covid-19 outbreak can be vetted by community organisers.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Volunteers do not need a DBS check if they are carrying out tasks such as delivering shopping or walking dogs for people in their community.
The DBS has published guidance to assist community volunteering groups understand when a check may be needed.
Standard and enhanced checks are free for volunteers.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department will publish its response to the consultation on Strengthening police powers to tackle unauthorised encampments, which closed on 4 March 2020.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
On 5 November 2019, the Government launched a consultation seeking views on measures to strengthen police powers to tackle unauthorised encampments. The consultation closed on the 5 March. We will announce the outcome of this consultation in due course.