Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many buildings have waking watches in the UK.

Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the FSO), the Responsible Person for each particular building is required to ensure appropriate fire safety measures are in place within their building, as informed by a fire risk assessment.

The Government and the NFCC make available guidance to support those responsible in complying with the FSO and ensuring their premises remain safe for continued use. The NFCC has recently revised its Simultaneous Evacuation Guidance which reflects best practice and can be located at https://www.nationalfirechiefs.org.uk/Simultaneous-evacuation-guidance.

This guidance encourages greater use of more cost-effective measures such as alarm systems to replace or reduce dependency on waking watch wherever possible.

Local fire and rescue authorities and other enforcers of the FSO can take action where the fire safety measures fall short of compliance.

Government does not collect data on the number of buildings where waking watch forms part of a building's fire safety strategy.