Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in ensuring that (a) adequate fire safety arrangements and (b) appropriate fire drills, including evacuations, are carried out for (i) hospitals, (ii) schools, (iii) care homes and (iv) women's refuges.

Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, a responsible person (usually the employer or building owner) must carry out regularly a fire risk assessment and ensure effective fire safety arrangements are in place, and maintained, to protect all those using the premises.

Local fire and rescue authorities are the enforcing authorities in the majority of premises which the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies. Under the National Framework for Fire and Rescue in England, each authority must determine its own risk-based inspection programme and have in place a management strategy for enforcing its provisions.

It is for competent fire safety officers in each authority to consider, on the basis of their audit and/or inspection findings, whether the general fire precautions in place in any particular premises are sufficient to comply with the requirements of the Order. Where shortcomings are identified, fire and rescue authorities have a range of enforcement powers, up to and including prosecution, to ensure any necessary improvements are made.

Details of the number and outcome of fire and rescue authority audits under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in 2016/17 are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-prevention-and-protection-statistics-england-april-2016-to-march-2017