Draft Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (Amendment) Regulations 2022

Debate between Hilary Benn and Eddie Hughes

Monday 20th June 2022 General Committees

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Eddie Hughes)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (Amendment) Regulations 2022.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. This statutory instrument was laid before the House on Wednesday 11 May 2022 under section 150(9) of the Energy Act 2013 and section 250(6)(f) of the Housing Act 2004. I hope hon. Members will agree that, only days after the fifth anniversary of the tragedy of Grenfell Tower, it is both appropriate and fitting that we are meeting today to discuss strengthening safety standards in the social housing sector. In the aftermath of the disaster, the Government committed to putting in place much greater protections for residents against the risk of fire and carbon monoxide in their homes.

Hon. Members might recall that we published a social housing Green Paper seeking the public’s view on the proposals to create parity between the private rented sector and the social rented sector on safety standards. It will come as no surprise to hon. Members that the overwhelming majority of respondents were in favour. We have subsequently built on those proposals with our social housing White Paper to drive up standards across the board in the social housing sector and make sure that all tenants live somewhere that is decent, safe and secure. To deliver on that vision, we are amending the regulations to bring requirements for social homes in line with private rented homes. I am delighted to be the Minister taking this legislation through, given the fact that I proposed something similar in my ten-minute rule Bill as a Back-Bench MP in 2018.

Currently, the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 make it mandatory for private landlords to install smoke alarms on every floor of a home that they let. Carbon monoxide alarms must be installed in every room with a solid fuel-burning appliance such as a log-burning stove or a coal fire. At present there are no such requirements for social landlords, and that is despite the Home Office suggesting that someone is around eight times more likely to die in a fire if they do not have a working smoke alarm in their home. Hon. Members might also be shocked to hear, as I was, that there are on average 20 deaths from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning each year in England and Wales. So let us be clear: smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms save lives.

Through this statutory instrument we will amend the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 so that they replicate those for the private rented sector. The changes will mean that for the first time all social rented homes in England will be required by law to have smoke alarms installed. Specifically, social landlords will need to make sure that at least one smoke alarm is installed on the floor of a home where there is a room used for living accommodation. All landlords, regardless of tenure, will need to install a carbon monoxide alarm in rooms that are used for living accommodation but which have a gas boiler or similar appliance, or a solid fuel-burning appliance. That does not include gas cookers, which are responsible for fewer incidents of carbon monoxide poisoning than gas boilers.

These strengthened regulations will also require all landlords to repair or replace a faulty alarm as soon as they practically can.

[Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)]

Does that obligation on the landlord extend to replacing the battery? If someone has a smoke alarm that is beeping because the battery has run out, does that obligation fall on the tenant or the landlord?

[Eddie Hughes]

I suggest that it would be the responsibility of the tenant, only in as much as they would want that done quickly. However, if they were unable to afford to do that, I suspect that the social landlord would take that up. I guess it is a question of proportionality and speed. Tenants would want it done quickly, and it is unlikely to be something that a social landlord would prioritise, given the other calls on their time.

The changes will not just make it easier for tenants to detect a fire in their home. They will also protect them from the risk of carbon monoxide fumes, which are undetectable and can cause serious illness or death. We will update guidance on the placement of smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and on the types of alarms that need to be installed, so that landlords have absolute clarity on what they need to do to meet the standards.

On the timescale for the changes, I am sure that hon. Members will agree that a lengthy delay between regulations being made and taking effect could put lives at risk. We have therefore decided that 1 October 2022 is an appropriate date for the regulations to come into force. Landlords have known about the changes for a while now, but that gives them a little more time to get everything in place before the regulations come into force.

To conclude, the regulations will save lives and give thousands of households reassurance that they are receiving the best possible protection from the risks of fire and carbon monoxide in their home. We are determined to ensure that the reforms set out in the social housing White Paper, including these changes, will drive up standards so that people across the country have a safe and decent home to live in. I hope that colleagues will join me in supporting the draft regulations. I commend them to the Committee.

Social Housing and Building Safety

Debate between Hilary Benn and Eddie Hughes

Thursday 9th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Eddie Hughes]

I am delighted to make that commitment. My hon. Friend mentioned the complexity of the EWS1 form and, as a civil engineer and a member of the Chartered Institute of Building, I am a keen enthusiast for such technical detail. I look forward to that discussion.

It was good to hear the valuable observation from the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney) that Members in all parts of the House are committed to tackling these problems together. She is right that we often do not have consensus, so it is welcome that we have it here. I will continue to consult on and consider remediation costs, and I will make sure we have discussions with social housing providers to come to an appropriate conclusion on how those costs can be covered.

The hon. Lady referred to the work of Kwajo Tweneboa and ITV. To a degree it is sad that we need people outside the House to highlight these points to us, but I am grateful to them for doing so. A number of housing providers are ahead of our legislation and are already upping their game. Many housing providers provide excellent service and high-level accommodation in safe and secure properties for their tenants, but just one case such as we have seen highlighted by Kwajo Tweneboa or ITV is one too many. We need to address that so nobody feels it is appropriate to provide poor-quality accommodation.

The hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury) mentioned PEEPs. The Government have now committed to undertake a new consultation. This will include a proposal called “emergency evacuation information sharing,” which would require persons responsible for high-risk buildings to assess the needs of their most vulnerable residents and to consider what might reasonably be done to mitigate any fire safety risks.

The right hon. Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn) mentioned problems experienced by residents in the Gateway building, which I understand has made a successful application to the building safety fund.

[Hilary Benn]

As I tried to explain, there were applications for three different cladding systems. The building has been funded for one and rejected for two. That is the issue.

[Eddie Hughes]

Rather than attempting to discuss that across the Chamber, it would be good to meet the right hon. Gentleman to discuss the specifics of his case in more detail.

The Secretary of State is keen to see more social housing supply generally. I fully appreciate that the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Matthew Pennycook) says the direction of travel has not been positive, and we need collectively to turn that around.

I will finish on a positive note. The hon. Gentleman welcomes the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill, but he says he will push us further and faster. It will be good to work with Members from all parties to discuss how we can enhance that Bill and where there are opportunities for us to go further. We need to take this opportunity to make sure we get it right and to make long-lasting changes.

As a Parliament and as a nation, we must never forget what happened on 14 June 2017. To that end, I echo the comments made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in thanking the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission for its tireless work on determining a fitting and lasting memorial at the Grenfell Tower site. But we must also continue to honour and respect the memory of those who were lost by ensuring that this country has one of the most rigorous and robust building safety regimes in the world.

Working with colleagues from across this House and with campaigners throughout the country, we have already come a long way together. Our Building Safety Act 2022 created a tough new regulator and an even tougher regulatory regime to match, with an “accountable person” held responsible for a building’s safety and the residents who live in it. The Fire Safety Act 2021 has strengthened assessments and improved safety standards across the board. And our charter for social housing residents, developed in close consultation with the Grenfell community, has empowered social housing tenants everywhere, ensuring that they are listened to and treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.

We know that we still have a long way to go, but, as my right hon. Friend stated in his opening remarks, we are now doubling down on our efforts to finish the job we started, by forcing the industry to take collective responsibility for the safety defects it created, and through a new Social Housing (Regulation) Bill, which places tenants’ concerns at the heart of everything that landlords do. We will be judged not by our words, but by our actions to fix this broken system for good and to make sure that everyone in our society lives somewhere that is safe and secure, and that they are truly proud to call home. Let that be Grenfell’s enduring legacy.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered social housing and building safety.