Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department have taken to promote awareness of the survey of (a) Fire Risk Assessors and (b) Responsible Persons to potential participants.

On 3 July 2023, the Home Office launched two surveys, one for Fire Risk Assessors (FRAs) and one for Responsible Persons (RPs) surveys were launched by Home Office on 3 July 2023. The aim of the FRA survey is to increase our understanding of the FRA sector and inform our work to improve FRA capacity and capability, while the aim of the RP survey was to increase our understanding of RP behaviour when appointing FRAs and to aid our understanding of their awareness of, and experiences in relation to, recent changes in fire safety legislation.

To help promote the surveys and ensure we reach as many FRAs and RPs as possible we have taken the following steps:

• We sent both surveys directly to all relevant stakeholders who have expressed an interest in being contacted in this way;
• Major industry bodies such as the Fire Sector Federation (FSF), the Fire Industry Association and the Fire Protection Association (FPA) were asked to promote the surveys through their contacts and media channels;
• The FSF also shared the surveys on our behalf via LinkedIn;
• We asked attendees at our sector engagement forums, which include representatives from both the FRA and RP sectors, to promote the surveys via their contacts;
• We attended trade events such as Firex and the Institute of Fire Safety Managers (IFSM) Trade and Technical Event to directly promote the surveys;
• We included articles promoting the surveys in our Fire Safety Reform Bulletin;
• A number of fire safety training providers shared the surveys with current and former course attendees;
• Four fire safety magazines including Fire Safety Matters, International Fire and Safety Journal, FIRE Magazine and International Fire Professional Magazine, were asked to publish promotional articles;
• FRA certification and registration bodies shared the surveys with their members and sought their support in promoting them;
• We sent the survey to users of the Home Office’s Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT), and;

Other government Departments (or regulators) were asked to share the surveys with their own relevant contacts.