Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has provided to fire and rescue services on safety and contingency planning to tackle the reduction in the number of home safety assessments conducted by those services due to the covid-19 outbreak.

The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) has provided guidance to Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs), to support the safe resumption of prevention activities, including Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSVs)

FRSs will adopt a risk- based approach to HFSVs to avoid the spread of Covid-19 to vulnerable groups and to protect staff, while continuing to deliver their statutory duty of promoting fire safety. The NFCC guidance provides factors that FRSs should consider when working in the home setting. The guidance is available on the NFCC website: https://www.nationalfirechiefs.org.uk/write/MediaUploads/COVID-19/prevention/Strategic_Intention_COVID-19_Prevention.pdf

During the pandemic the Home Office has continued to collaborate with the NFCC through the Fire Kills campaign to raise awareness of pertinent fire safety messages. Campaign materials were developed and made available online and to fire and rescue services to support local interventions addressing specific and topical issues.