May 2019 fire written answers
MQT May 19 LFB mqs
Joint inspection of tower blocks
Question No: 2019/9231
Andrew Dismore
Changes to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order and the Housing Health and Safety Rating System have now been passed by Parliament, which came into force on 23 January this year Joint inspection from fire and rescue services, the Health and Safety Executive and local authorities are now able to enforce removal of dangerous cladding. What progress is being made in setting up teams in London?
Joint inspection of tower blocks
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 May, 2019
The national Government has asked the Local Government Association to take a lead on setting up the Joint Inspection Team. It will be a multidisciplinary taskforce to support local authorities in taking enforcement action against inactive building owners.
The taskforce was announced in June 2018; progress has been slow, though we are told it should be up and running in the next couple of months. Once it is set up, ministers must make sure the team has the power and resources it needs to be effective.
Question No: 2019/9232
Andrew Dismore
What progress is being made with the removal of dangerous cladding from private blocks?
Removal of dangerous cladding
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 May, 2019
Data released by the Government indicate that the removal of dangerous cladding from private sector blocks has been very slow. As of April 2019, 266 private sector blocks (comprising residentials blocks, hotels, and student accommodation) have been identified with unsafe ACM cladding, and around half of these blocks will be in London. Out of these: 43 have had their cladding removed; 21 have begun remediation work; 121 have a remediation plan in place but works have not started; 41 have reported an intent to remediate and are developing plans, and 40 have no clear remediation plans.
Question No: 2019/9233
Andrew Dismore
What is the role and annual funding of the City Operations Unit and what is its relation to London Resilience?
City Operations Unit
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 May, 2019
The City Operations Unit are responsible for the GLA’s work with partners regarding incidents and major events in the city, ensuring that suitable briefing and support is provided to the Mayoralty.
The Unit is currently working on the development of the 24/7/365 situational awareness capability for the capital with the ability to identify, process, analyse and comprehend critical elements of information and turn this into actionable first alert intelligence.
The Unit is responsible for the ongoing development and delivery of the GLA’s response protocols in the event of a major incident, rising-tide scenario and public order events.
The Unit represents the GLA at the London Resilience Forum, the London Resilience Partnership, Strategic Coordinating Groups and manages the day-to-day operational relationship between the GLA and London Resilience Group.
The Unit is also responsible for the development of pan-London key agency coordination plans for the delivery of major events and state ceremonials/occasions where there is likely to be a high impact on business as usual, the transport network and/or other disruption to the capital.
The 2019/20 budget for the City Operations Unit is £500k, however, some staffing costs are held in External Affairs for historical reasons. This will be addressed in time for the 2019-20 budget process.
Question No: 2019/9234
Andrew Dismore
What was the number, total value and average value of contracts, if any, the Greater London Authority family held with Interserve before it went into administration?
Answer for Interserve
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 May, 2019
Officers are drafting a response
Question No: 2019/9235
Andrew Dismore
Recent research by Stephanie Peacock MP shows just 15% of schools built since 2011 have sprinklers fitted. How many schools built in London under the Priority School Building Programme and free schools programme have been fitted with sprinklers, and how many were built in total?
Sprinklers in schools
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 May, 2019
London Fire Brigade (LFB) has campaigned for sprinklers to be made mandatory in all new schools and major refurbishments for over a decade and recommends their use in each building control consultation it responds to. However, LFB does not receive details of whether a build proceeds with sprinklers included and does not collect specific data on whether a school is part of the Priority School Building Programme or free schools programme.
Fire safety in historic buildings [1]
Question No: 2019/9236
Andrew Dismore
What steps is London Fire Brigade taking to improve fire prevention and response across London’s historic buildings of religious and cultural value?
Fire safety in historic buildings [1]
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 May, 2019
London Fire Brigade’s (LFB) fire safety inspection programme includes working with heritage and historic sites across London. A heritage co-ordinator within the Fire Safety department assists and supports heritage sites by engaging with external stakeholders, such as English Heritage and Royal Palaces, and to review their emergency plans, salvage plans, out of hours response plans and gathers relevant information for operational response considerations.
The LFB emergency response to heritage sites is practiced through borough based exercises. Recent examples include salvage exercises at the Guildhall and the Tower of London alongside the Royal Palaces salvage teams. Further exercises planned for this year include St Paul’s Cathedral and Hampton Court.
Following the fire at Notre Dame LFB are writing to all known historic buildings in London reiterating advice on fire safety in historic buildings and on the need for salvage plans. This letter will be sent by the end of May.
Question No: 2019/9237
Andrew Dismore
During the operation to save Notre Dame cathedral, the Brigade des sapeurs-pompiers de Paris used a robot, “colossus” and drones to aid firefighters. What assessment has London Fire Brigade made of the help a similar robot would give to operations in London?
London Fire Brigade equipment
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 May, 2019
London Fire Brigade (LFB) is not currently investigating the use of colossus or similar robots for firefighting. LFB has representation on both national and regional research and development forums and is not aware that colossus or any similar robots are currently being investigated at any of these forums. However, LFB will look closely at colossus over the next six months, to see whether this type of technology might be able to be used successfully to aid firefighting and improve firefighter safety in the context of London’s complex and varied built environment.
LFB keeps abreast of technological developments that could improve incident commander’s situational awareness or support firefighter safety by allowing them to extinguish fires remotely.
Question No: 2019/9238
Andrew Dismore
You stated that the London Fire Commissioner had a meeting scheduled in April with the Housing minister to discuss fitting and retrofitting of sprinklers. What was the outcome of that meeting?
Sprinklers
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 May, 2019
The London Fire Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner for Fire Safety met the Housing Minister on 24 April and discussed a number of key issues including remediation work on private blocks, consultations that arose from the Hackitt review and sprinklers. They also gave examples of cases where buildings in London are not being built in accordance with the plans provided to LFB. The Government has since made an announcement on remediation for private blocks and further outcomes of the meeting will become apparent as the Government makes further announcements on these issues.
Electrical appliance safety in public sector fittings
Question No: 2019/9239
Andrew Dismore
London Fire Brigade have recommended consumers do not buy plastic-backed appliances. What steps have you taken to ensure the fit-out on homes built using Greater London Authority money or on GLA land does not use these unsafe appliances?
Electrical appliance safety in public sector fittings
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 May, 2019
I would expect all Londoners to heed the advice of the London Fire Brigade. The London Fire Brigade’s Total Recalls campaign highlights issues with unsafe electrical goods. Ultimately, however, it is the job of central Government to regulate building materials, components and appliances. Any schemes receiving GLA funding will still need to secure planning permission and comply with building regulations, and building owners and individual occupants will need to comply with relevant legislation when managing and occupying new homes.
Support for residents living with flammable cladding (1)
Question No: 2019/9240
Andrew Dismore
Surveys by the UK Cladding Action Group of residents in private tower blocks with flammable cladding showed that a quarter (25.5%) have sought medical help due to mental health issues, while 15.3% said they were receiving medical attention. A total of 38.3% of residents said they had turned to alcohol to help cope with the stress while 8.7% said they were experiencing suicidal feelings as a result. Will you consider writing to the relevant building owners in London and NHS organisations asking them to provide support for these individuals?
Support for residents living with flammable cladding (1)
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 May, 2019
The impact of the tragedy at Grenfell Tower was widespread, and I wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care last October seeking assurance that plans were in place to meet the physical and mental health needs of affected families.
This report shines a light on how wide the impacts of the Grenfell tragedy have been and it is vital to ensure the right support is available to everyone who may be affected.
It is unacceptable that residents should shoulder the burden of the cost of remedial work to remove cladding on privately-owned high-rise buildings. The Government has finally recognised this, recently announcing that they will fund the removal of unsafe ACM cladding.
Support for residents living with flammable cladding (2)
Question No: 2019/9241
Andrew Dismore
Has the Greater London Authority considered establishing or procuring a loans facility to provide reasonable credit to leaseholders affected by interim fire safety and remediation costs in blocks with flammable cladding?
Support for residents living with flammable cladding (2)
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 May, 2019
All the GLA’s housing funding comes from the Government and so any proposal to help leaseholders would need to be supported by them.
Although the Government has finally announced it will cover the cost of removing unsafe ACM cladding in privately owned blocks, this funding will not cover the cost of interim fire safety measures, nor other fire safety works not related to ACM cladding, and so my team will raise with Government our concern about the size of bills that individual leaseholders could still face for works to make their buildings safe.
Public sector flammable cladding remediation
Question No: 2019/9242
Andrew Dismore
What was the total amount of cladding remediation funding awarded to the Greater London Authority to deal with public and social housing in London, and how much of it has been a) spent and b) committed, covering how many buildings?
Answer for Public sector flammable cladding remediation
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 May, 2019
Officers are drafting a response
Rate of flammable cladding remediation on private buildings
Question No: 2019/9243
Andrew Dismore
How many privately-owned tall buildings with ACM-type cladding have been identified in London, how many have plans in place for remediation, how many have started remediation, and how many have completed remediation, since the launch of the Government’s building safety programme? Please provide this figure on a quarterly basis from the earliest suitable date.
Answer for Rate of flammable cladding remediation on private buildings
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 May, 2019
Officers are drafting a response
London Fire Brigade support for boroughs
Question No: 2019/9244
Andrew Dismore
Which boroughs have requested London Fire Brigade advice on the risk posed by tall buildings with flammable cladding in the last 24 months?
London Fire Brigade support for boroughs
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 May, 2019
London Fire Brigade (LFB) routinely liaises with all London boroughs on issues of fire safety proactively and reactively, through liaison with local borough commanders, fire safety teams and the fire safety helpdesk at LFB headquarters. Over the last 24 months, information will have been exchanged with every London borough through these mechanisms including issues relating to high rise premises and cladding.
A senior LFB officer attends the Local Authority Housing Director’s Fire Safety Steering Group and the Local Authority Housing Director’s Fire Safety Group meetings each month at London Councils which have had a particular focus in the last two years on issues relating to high rise residential accommodation, including cladding issues. This forum is open to all London Boroughs.
Question No: 2019/9245
Andrew Dismore
How many joint inspections between London Fire Brigade and local authority housing officers of tall residential buildings with flammable cladding have been carried out in each quarter in the last two years? Please provide this data by borough
Joint fire safety inspections
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 May, 2019
London Fire Brigade (LFB) requires the attendance of the Responsible Person (RP) or their representative at an inspection. This would include a representative from the local authority where the local authority is the RP for the building.
In the last two years LFB has made in excess of 1200 visits to high rise premises with suspected flammable cladding. Of these, 316 visits have been conducted at premises with confirmed flammable cladding.
Visits to premises to with confirmed flammable cladding by borough:
| Borough | Visits | Borough | Visits | |
| Barking & Dagenham | 1 | Hillingdon | 2 | |
| Barnet | 6 | Hounslow | 2 | |
| Bexley | 0 | Islington | 9 | |
| Brent | 23 | Kensington & Chelsea | 2 | |
| Bromley | 1 | Kingston Upon Thames | 0 | |
| Camden | 6 | Lambeth | 9 | |
| City of London | 1 | Lewisham | 3 | |
| Croydon | 14 | Merton | 9 | |
| Ealing | 8 | Newham | 14 | |
| Enfield | 1 | Redbridge | 2 | |
| Greenwich | 45 | Richmond Upon Thames | 0 | |
| Hackney | 14 | Southwark | 13 | |
| Hammersmith & Fulham | 5 | Sutton | 3 | |
| Haringey | 12 | Tower Hamlets | 65 | |
| Harrow | 2 | Waltham Forest | 4 | |
| Havering | 0 | Wandsworth | 14 | |
| Westminster | 26 |
