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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how long he estimates recently introduced waking watch services will be in operation before they can be replaced with effective alarm systems funded through the Waking Watch Relief Fund.

The Government launched the £30 million Waking Watch Relief Fund to incentivise buildings to install a common alarm system and reduce the dependency on Waking Watch in as many buildings as possible, thereby reducing the burden of expensive waking watch measures on leaseholders. The Waking Watch Relief Fund reopened for all buildings across England from 26 May until 24 June. We are urging building owners to act swiftly to reduce the financial effect of waking watch measures. Where grant funding is provided, we expect applicants to install alarms as quickly as possible.