Draft Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015

Roberta Blackman-Woods Excerpts

Monday 14th September 2015 General Committees

[Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab)]

May I say what a pleasure it is to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Percy? I am pleased that the Government are, at last, listening to the concerns that have been expressed across the sector for some time about the need for more action to be taken by the Government to avert the dangers of fire and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are inexpensive and save lives, so I welcome the Government’s plans to make it compulsory for all properties in the private rented sector to have a smoke alarm on each floor and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a solid fuel heating system. It is good that the alarms need to be in proper working order at the start of a new tenancy.

It is shocking that 40 deaths and about 200 non-fatal hospitalisations result from carbon monoxide poisoning each year, yet 17% of private rented properties do not have a smoke alarm. A report by the Gas Safety Trust on carbon monoxide risks showed that the likelihood of an incident in privately rented accommodation is significantly higher than in any other housing sector. The report also shows that residents of rental properties are, on average, three times more likely to suffer a carbon monoxide-related incident. The regulations are therefore very much welcome, but I have a few questions for the Minister.

We know from the Government’s own figures that 40 deaths a year result from carbon monoxide poisoning, so why are the Government not simply making it a requirement that all private rented sector tenancies have carbon monoxide alarms and that they are checked to ensure they are in working order? The regulations place huge enforcement responsibilities on local authorities, and the Government need to ensure that local authorities are adequately resourced to carry out that set of tasks. Many local authorities are facing huge funding cuts, and it is not clear how they will ensure that resources are available to enforce the regulations.

The Government’s impact assessment acknowledges that 9.6% of private rented sector landlords seem resistant to efforts to make them have these alarms fitted in their properties. What will the Government do to ensure that they reach out to landlords who are not providing smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms in their properties?

Why is the Minister not considering more regulation or licensing of private landlords? It would make access to them so much easier for local authorities and others, and it would make it easier to ensure that the alarms are fitted. In fact, the Government acknowledge that in the explanatory memorandum, in the context of licensing houses in multiple occupation. Paragraph 4 states that the regulations need not be applied to HMOs because this is already required through licensing. The obvious question is: why not just have licensing right across the sector? We would then not need to worry about non-compliance.

Will the Government make it clear what standard smoke alarms should be? The Residential Landlords Association has raised that concern publicly and with the Minister, and it wants some assurance that the alarms fitted will be of a good standard. The current guidance does not cover long leases or accommodation shared with the landlord. Will the Minister say a little more about why those are being excluded? Finally, I wanted to ask about the need for a review, but I heard what the Minister said, which was welcome as well.