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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 25 July 2018 to Question 164527 on Buildings: Insulation, what assessment he has made of the level of risk combustible cladding poses to (a) schools, (b) care homes and (c) hospitals.

The remediation programme underway since the Grenfell Tower tragedy is dealing with Aluminium Composite Materials cladding systems which are unsafe. We expect building owners to be systematically reviewing the safety of their buildings as a matter of course. All buildings covered under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which include schools, hospitals, and residential care premises, must have their fire risk assessment regularly reviewed so as to keep it up to date.

Schools are very safe environments in this regard as they are typically occupied during the daytime and have multiple exit routes. In addition, all schools must comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, including having an up-to-date Fire Risk Assessment and conducting regular fire drills.

NHS trusts are locally responsible for their fire safety, and take it very seriously. Fire safety guidance specific to the NHS, 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