Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 25 July 2018 to Question 164527 on Buildings: Insulation, what estimate he has made of the number of hospitals in England and Wales of any height that have combustible (a) cladding and (b) insulation.

This summer, the Government consulted on the use of combustible cladding on buildings. Following this consultation, we confirmed on 1 October that we will take forward this ban on all high-rise buildings that contains flats, as well as hospitals, residential care premises and student accommodation, above 18 metres. This ban will be delivered through changes to building regulations guidance and will limit materials available to products achieving a European classification of Class A1 or A2. This ban will apply to all new buildings and refurbishment.

Data is not held centrally on hospitals or other National Health Service buildings that have combustible cladding. NHS trusts are locally responsible for their fire safety within existing legislation, and the NHS fire safety guidance, Firecode, is provided to support them in doing this. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, NHS organisations must, as far as is reasonably practical, make sure that everyone on the premises, or nearby, can escape safely if there is a fire. They will therefore consider the ban on combustible cladding as part of the regular fire risk assessments they carry out on their existing estate.