Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on housing associations engaging residents of shared accommodation with the outcome of (a) fire inspections and (b) any requirements that result from those inspections.

Housing associations must meet the obligations, on all landlords, requiring resident engagement regarding fire inspections. Housing associations who are registered with the Regulator of Social Housing must also meet the regulator's Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard, ensuring tenants are provided with accessible, relevant and timely information, including on progress of repairs work, and that tenants are given a wide range of opportunities to influence and be involved in the management of their homes.

The Building Safety Bill will ensure that every in scope residential building (18 metres and higher and/or 7 storeys or more), including those belonging to housing associations, must have a resident engagement strategy produced by the Accountable Person. This will provide residents with access to key safety information about their building. Accountable Persons must also establish a formal complaints process for residents to raise concerns - ensuring residents' voices are heard with parity and consistency.

In addition, the Bill requires that the Building Safety Regulator must establish its own process to deal with the safety concerns of residents of high-rise residential buildings, providing a further channel to ensure complaints are handled fairly, and can be escalated effectively.

Finally, the Building Safety Bill will also amend the Fire Safety Order to require Responsible Persons for buildings containing two or more sets of domestic premises to provide residents with comprehensible information about relevant fire safety matters.

This will mean that residents have access to relevant fire safety information to help ensure they feel safe and are safe from fire in their homes.