The Fire Safety Bill is a government bill, and forms part of the Government’s response to the Grenfell fire. It seeks to clarify the scope of the Fire Safety Order 2005, specifically to ensure that the responsible person or duty-holder for multi-occupied, residential buildings must manage and reduce the risk of fire for the structure and external walls of the building, including cladding, balconies and windows; and for entrance doors to individual flats that open into common parts.
Fire Safety Bill: Briefing for Lords Stages (277 KB , PDF)
On 14 June 2017, a fire broke out at Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey residential housing block in North Kensington, London. The subsequent blaze led to the deaths of 72 people. The Fire Safety Bill 2019-21 forms part of the Government’s response to the Grenfell tragedy. It is among a range of measures intended to reform building and fire safety to ensure such a tragedy does not happen again.
Specifically, the Fire Safety Bill will amend the Fire Safety Order 2005 to clarify that the responsible person or duty-holder for multi-occupied, residential buildings must manage and reduce the risk of fire for:
The Government contends such measures will empower fire and rescue services to take enforcement action and hold building owners to account if they are not compliant. The Government is also currently undertaking a consultation on the Fire Safety Order 2005, due to conclude in October 2020. The results of that exercise will be taken forward via a process separate to the Fire Safety Bill 2019-21. These are likely to include provisions in the Building Safety Bill (currently published in draft); amendments to the Fire Safety Order; amendments to Building Regulations; and through updated guidance.
The Fire Safety Bill is short, containing only two substantive clauses (though it does include regulation-making powers). It has completed its passage through the House of Commons, where opposition parties were broadly supportive of the legislation. However, opposition amendments were proposed at both committee and report stages aimed at encouraging the Government to move further and faster with the implementation of the Grenfell Public Inquiry Phase 1 report recommendations; on the issue of the availability of qualified fire risk assessors; the prioritisation of inspections; and on liability for interim and remedial fire safety measures such as waking watches patrolling at-risk premises. No amendments were made to the bill at either stage.
Fire Safety Bill: Briefing for Lords Stages (277 KB , PDF)
The Education (Non-religious Philosophical Convictions) Bill [HL] is a private member’s bill sponsored by Baroness Burt of Solihull (Liberal Democrat). It would introduce an explicit requirement for schools in England to include non-religious worldviews such as humanism in religious education (RE). The House of Lords is scheduled to debate the bill at second reading on 3 February 2023.
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The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill is due to have its second reading in the House of Lords on 6 February 2023. The bill would automatically revoke, or ‘sunset’, most retained EU law at the end of 2023. However it would also give ministers powers to exempt some retained EU law from the sunset and to restate, reproduce, replace or update retained EU law by statutory instrument.
The Online Safety Bill is a government bill that would establish a regulatory framework for certain online service providers. It would also create several new offences relating to online harms including offences of false communications, threatening communications, sending or showing flashing images electronically (‘epilepsy trolling’) and sending photographs or films of genitals (‘cyberflashing’). The government has said it will bring forward several amendments to the bill in the House of Lords including new offences relating to intimate images and promoting self-harm, criminal sanctions for senior managers of non-compliant providers, and promotion of small boat crossings.
