(Title Image: Dave Croker under Creative Commons Licence BY-SA-2.0)
The Welsh Government have recommended that a new UK Parliament Fire Safety Bill is extended to cover Wales (pdf).
The Senedd’s Communities Committee recommended a new fire safety law as part of their post-Grenfell Disaster inquiry, but the Welsh Government said there wasn’t enough time left to introduce the law before the next scheduled election in 2021.
Instead, the UK Fire Safety Bill will extend Fire Safety Orders (FSOs) to include a building’s structure (doors, windows, cladding etc.) and common areas. It will also give the Welsh Government regulation-making powers to decide which types of buildings an FSO applies to.
The UK Home Office and the Welsh Government are jointly working on the potential costs of the additional regulatory burdens, such as more thorough fire inspections by the fire service.
