Schools: Fire Extinguishers

(asked on 20th December 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what advice she has received from the West Midlands Fire Service on fitting sprinklers in schools.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 8th January 2018

The Government takes the safety of pupils and staff seriously. All schools have to follow strict fire safety regulations, including having a Fire Risk Assessment, designed to ensure they are as safe as possible and well prepared in the event of a fire.

New school building projects must comply with Building Regulations, including on fire safety, and this is independently checked by Building Control or an Approved Inspector before buildings are occupied. Schools have a range of measures to ensure they provide a suitable standard of safety. Where sprinklers are deemed necessary to keep pupils and staff safe, they must be fitted.

The Department contracts the design and build of schools under its central programmes. The Department does not liaise with Fire and Rescue Services directly, but they may be consulted by Building Control officers or individual projects.

Alongside the rest of Government, the Department will take forward findings from the independent review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, and from the public inquiry into the tragic Grenfell Tower fire.

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