High Rise Flats: Fires
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to section 21A of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, if he will issue guidance to local authorities on the timeframe within which the responsible person should give residents of domestic premises (a) comprehensible and (b) relevant information about the risks to residents identified by risk assessments of their housing stock.
Answered by Samantha Dixon
Article 21A of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 makes clear that whenever there has been a fire risk assessment in a multi-occupied residential building, the risks identified in the assessment must be communicated to residents as well as the measures being taken to address these risks. This requirement is also the case whenever the fire risk assessment is updated.
In guidance we publish on these requirements, titled Check your fire safety responsibilities under Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022, we advise that those responsible for fire safety communicate this information alongside the instructions to residents on what to do in the event of a fire which is an annual requirement. This advice is repeated in guidance on blocks of flats.
There is a regulatory making power to mandate the frequency of this information, and we will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the legislation to identify if such a mandate is necessary, but the important information should already be communicated to residents under the existing provision.
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