Energy Bill

Baroness Stowell of Beeston Excerpts

Tuesday 19th November 2013 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Stowell of Beeston]

13: After Clause 149, insert the following new Clause—
“Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision imposing duties on a relevant landlord of residential premises in England for the purposes of ensuring that, during any period when the premises are occupied under a tenancy—
(a) the premises are equipped with a required alarm (or required alarms), and(b) checks are made by or on behalf of the landlord in accordance with the regulations to ensure that any such alarm remains in proper working order.(2) “Required alarm” means—
(a) a smoke alarm, or(b) a carbon monoxide alarm,that meets the appropriate standard.(3) Regulations may include provision about—
(a) the interpretation of terms used in subsections (1) and (2);(b) the enforcement of any duty imposed by regulations.(4) Provision made by virtue of subsection (3)(b) may in particular—
(a) confer functions on local housing authorities in England;(b) require a landlord who contravenes any such duty to pay a financial penalty.(5) Provision about penalties made by virtue of subsection (4)(b) includes provision—
(a) about the procedure to be followed in imposing penalties;(b) about the amount of penalties;(c) conferring rights of appeal against penalties;(d) for the enforcement of penalties;(e) about the application of sums paid by way of penalties (and such provision may permit or require the payment of sums into the Consolidated Fund).(6) Regulations may—
(a) include incidental, supplementary and consequential provision;(b) make transitory or transitional provision or savings;(c) make different provision for different cases or circumstances or for different purposes;(d) make provision subject to exceptions. (7) Consequential provision made by virtue of subsection (6)(a) may amend, repeal or revoke any provision made by or under an Act.
(8) Regulations are to be made by statutory instrument.
(9) An instrument containing regulations may not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.
(10) Subject to provision contained in regulations, in this section—
“the appropriate standard”, in relation to a smoke alarm or a carbon monoxide alarm, means the standard (if any) that is specified in, or determined under, regulations;
“local housing authority” has the meaning given in section 261(2) of the Housing Act 2004;
“premises” includes land, buildings, moveable structures, vehicles and vessels;
“regulations” means regulations under this section;
“relevant landlord” means a landlord in respect of a tenancy of residential premises in England who is of a description specified in regulations;
“residential premises” means premises all or part of which comprise a dwelling;
“tenancy” includes any lease, licence, sub-lease or sub-tenancy (and “landlord” is to be read accordingly).”

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Stowell of Beeston) (Con)]

My Lords, in moving Amendment 13 I will speak also to Amendments 14 and 15. Before I get to that, though, I will start by paying tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay of Llandaff, and indeed your Lordships’ House, for raising and debating the important matter of carbon monoxide poisoning during the passage of this Bill.

As noble Lords will recall, in Committee the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, explained the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning and highlighted, as indeed did other noble Lords, some of the recent tragic cases. The noble Baroness tabled an amendment that would have introduced regulations for carbon monoxide detectors in the Bill. We could not accept that amendment but it provoked a debate within government which led me to announce on Report a couple of weeks ago that we would extend our review of private rented accommodation to examine whether landlords should be required to install carbon monoxide detectors.

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[Lord Grantchester]

My Lords, we, too, thank the Minister for joining with the energy department to bring forward this sensible amendment which, if implemented, will undoubtedly save lives. We also thank the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, and other noble Lords, including my noble friend Lord Harrison who cannot be in his place today, who have campaigned strongly on the issue. Deaths from carbon monoxide and from fire are avoidable. These alarms are cheap to buy and fix and must be among the most efficient life-saving devices ever on the market. It must also be stressed that there can be no substitute for regular maintenance. I am glad to see that element also included in the amendment.

While welcoming the consultation to capture views on how the measure may be taken forward as part of a wider review, our only concern is that the Government may not bring forward the necessary regulations despite the undoubted value of these devices, which could save hundreds of lives a year. Will the Minister tell the House when the review announced on 16 October will report? We see no reason to hold up this welcome measure unnecessarily while the review looks at a number of other, quite unrelated issues. We therefore urge the Government to move with some haste on this measure, so saving tenants across the country from the risk of death either from fire or from carbon monoxide poisoning.

[Baroness Stowell of Beeston]

I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken and for their support for these government amendments. I share the views expressed by my noble friend Lady Maddock and the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, on the work that my noble friend Lady Verma has done in this area. It was she who responded to the debates in Committee and ensured that there was the greater collaboration across government departments that led to the announcement that I made on Report. We have worked together on this, but the amendment was triggered by her response to the debates that took place in Committee.

I do not think that there is a great deal more for me to add to the points that I made when moving the amendment. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, for his support for the amendment. As I said in my opening remarks, the review that the measure forms part of will conclude next June. We will be as swift as possible in making public our conclusions in response to that review. As I have said and as I have demonstrated today, if the outcome of that review is a decision that we should regulate, we now have in place the order-making powers that would make that possible. The noble Lord urged us to go further, but as I said when we discussed this matter at the previous stage, his own Government conducted a comprehensive review of this area only in 2009 and concluded that they should limit regulations to just the installation of solid-fuel appliances. I accept his challenge and the pressure he puts on me to make sure that we go further, but we are doing this by way of review because we think that it is the right thing to do. I am quite confident that, by conducting a comprehensive review, we will be able clearly to demonstrate that our conclusions are evidence-based and well informed.

Amendment 13 agreed.

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Moved by

[Baroness Stowell of Beeston]

14: Clause 154, page 122, line 6, leave out “Section 145 extends” and insert “Sections 145 and (Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms) extend”

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Moved by

[Baroness Stowell of Beeston]

15:In the Title, line 12, after “State;” insert “about smoke and carbon monoxide alarms;”