PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Educational Institutions: Safety (21 June 2017)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether schools and education establishments are fully compliant with fire and safety regulations; and if she will ensure that checks will be made to ensure the safety of schools.

Asked by:
Ian Murray (Labour)

Responsibility for ensuring compliance with fire and safety regulations sits with the employer of staff in a school or other educational establishment. Depending on the type of establishment, the employer may be the local authority, trust, diocese or proprietor.

The Government is taking the potential impact from the Grenfell Tower seriously and as such, we are taking a strategic approach to the assessment of the wider public sector estate. The Department is undertaking an analysis of all school buildings to identify those over four storeys high, to ensure we include all buildings that are over 18m in our analysis. This analysis is to establish what, if any, external cladding has been used on these buildings.

Answered by:
Nick Gibb (Conservative)
27 June 2017