Question

To ask The Senior Deputy Speaker, in respect of the evacuation of the House of Lords at 15:00pm on Thursday 2 July, (1) to what extent, if any, were members and staff of the House of Commons involved, (2) to what extent was the London Fire Brigade informed and involved, and (3) how long did the evacuation take, from the time of sounding the alarm to the last person leaving the building.

The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. The House of Commons was fully involved in the evacuation drill. For the purposes of evacuation, the Parliamentary Estate is treated as a single zone. Accordingly, the House of Commons Chamber was also evacuated during a debate.

The London Fire Brigade was informed in advance of the exercise. Its control room was notified and remained in contact throughout the drill. The local Borough Commander and the Station Commander from Soho were also informed. A representative from the London Fire Brigade's Risk Management Team attended and observed the exercise in order to provide feedback. In addition, the Chief Inspector from the Crown Premises Fire Safety Inspectorate attended to observe the evacuation.

The evacuation took a total of 15 minutes from commencement of the exercise until all members of the public and staff, excluding security personnel and designated observers, had left the building.