Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of qualified chartered fire engineers that can undertake an EWS1 survey.

There are 212 chartered fire engineers registered with the Institution of Fire Engineers and based in the United Kingdom.

A wider group of professionals can complete EWS1 forms. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors advises that the EWS1 form must be completed by a fully qualified member of a relevant professional body within the construction industry with sufficient expertise to identify the relevant materials within the external wall cladding and attachments.

To speed up valuations where EWS1 forms are justified, the Government is providing nearly £700,000 funding to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to train up to 2,000 more assessors in 2021. This training commenced in January and there are over 500 candidates on the course.