Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps are being taken to ensure businesses are routinely up to date with fire safety guidance.

The Government has established a programme to update guidance issued under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Nine new guides have been published with at least 13 still in development. This programme includes guidance specific to business and premises types, such as the guidance for small non-domestic premises, as well as the larger guides on offices & shops and factories & warehouses.

We engage relevant businesses on specific guides through stakeholder engagement on the draft guides and promote these once published. This includes working with the Department for Business and Trade on pages specifically helping businesses to understand their duties. As part of this we published a new page aimed at small business on 6 January, which can be found on gov.uk here.

Fire safety legislation is devolved. Government and devolved administration officials meet regularly, and the Northern Ireland Executive publish guidance similar to that published in England.