Buildings: Insulation
(asked on 9th November 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 25 July 2018 to Question 164527 on Buildings: Insulation, what estimate the Government has made of the number of planned (a) school, (b) hospital and (c) care home buildings where (i) planning permission has been granted or (ii) work has commenced on site and which include the use of combustible cladding or insulation.
The Government does not collect information or publish statistics on the number of schools, hospitals or care home buildings with planning permission, or which has started on site, broken down by external wall type.
Schools are, in general, 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. The Department for Education is responsible for this area.
Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the Government has taken action to ensure that the safety issues that caused it will not happen again. This has included a survey to identify high-rise buildings over 18 metres tall, with Aluminium Composite Material cladding, in England. The latest available information on the cladding status of these building is available at:
In addition, the Government established a Building Safety Programme that included an independent review of Building Regulations and fire safety. Following the publication of the review the Government announced in June 2018 that it intended to ban the use of combustible materials on external walls of high-rise buildings, subject to consultation.
Following consultation, the Government announced on 1 October 2018 that it will take forward this ban on all high-rise residential buildings, as well as hospitals, residential care premises, residential schools and student accommodation above 18 metres. This ban will be delivered through changes to Building Regulations and will limit materials available to products achieving a European classification of Class A1 or A2. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government is responsible for this policy area.
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. As with schools, 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. The Department for Health and Social Care is responsible for this area.