Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of (a) trends in fire-related deaths and (b) the adequacy of future funding for the Fire and Rescue Service.

The number of fire-related fatalities in England has been on a general downward trend since 1981/82, when comparable figures first became available, but have plateaued in recent years.

Fire services have the resources to do their work. In 2019/2020, fire and rescue services will receive approximately £2.3bn in funding. At March 2018 the standalone Fire and Rescue Authorities held £545 million in reserves, equivalent to 42 percent of the core spending power.