Select Committee on Regulatory Reform Eleventh Report


2 Introduction

2. On 10 May 2004 the Government laid before Parliament a proposal for the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2004 in the form of a draft of an Order and an explanatory memorandum from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (the Department).[1]

3. The proposal is intended to achieve a wide-ranging consolidation of the existing legislation relating to fire safety, thereby reducing the burdens on business caused by the overlap of existing multiple fire safety regimes and the overlap of enforcing authorities. The aim of the proposed order is to achieve a single regulatory regime for fire safety, with one authority in each area responsible for enforcement of general fire safety issues.

4. The House has instructed us to examine the overall proposal against the criteria specified in Standing Order No. 141(6) and then, in the light of that examination, to report whether the Government should proceed, whether amendments should be made, or whether the order should not be made.[2]

5. Our discussion of matters arising from our examination is set out below. Where a criterion specified in Standing Order No. 141(6) is not discussed in the report, this indicates that we have no concerns to raise about that criterion.

6. We have received a number of written representations on the proposal.[3] We determined to take oral evidence from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), the Chief Fire Officers' Association (CFOA), Professor Rosemarie Everton, Professor of Fire Law at the University of Central Lancashire, Mr Tony Taig, a risk consultant, and Phil Hope MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department.[4] We are grateful to all those who have assisted us with our scrutiny of the proposal.


1   Copies of the proposal are available to Members of Parliament from the Vote Office and to members of the public from the Department. The proposal is also available on the Cabinet Office website:
www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/regulation/rra/rro/proposals.asp 
Back

2   Standing Order No. 141(2) Back

3   A list of the written evidence received is at p 59. Back

4   The witnesses are listed at p 60. Back


 
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Prepared 2 August 2004