Correspondence

Progress against the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 recommendations, September 2024 (accessible)

Updated 19 September 2024

Applies to England

September 2024

Introduction

This document provides an update on the progress that has been made to implement the recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry Phase 1 report. It includes updates from the relevant government departments and assurances received from relevant public authorities - including the London Fire Brigade (LFB), National Fire Chiefs Council, and other emergency services - on their progress to address and implement the Phase 1 recommendations directed to them.  The document does not reflect finalised Government policy.

An accessible version of this update can be found on the Fire England website: fireengland.uk.

Summary of thematic update

This is the eighth thematic update on the progress that has been made to implement the recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry Phase 1 report.

The Home Office has worked closely with London Fire Brigade and the National Fire Chiefs Council to monitor progress by Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs). Progress continues to be made by all FRSs towards addressing the remaining Grenfell Phase 1 recommendations, with these now closed by all but one or two services, with all outstanding work due to be finished by April 2025 (more detail below).

More broadly, reforms to building and fire safety legislation have been made in dealing with unsafe cladding in England. All residential buildings above 11 metres in height in England have a pathway to fix unsafe cladding, protecting leaseholders from these costs. This is either through a taxpayer-funded scheme, a developer-funded scheme, or social housing provider-led remediation. Where developers or building owners are not currently funding cladding remediation, the Government has committed £5.1 billion to ensure that people are safe and feel safe in their homes.

The following remediation schemes are underway:

• the ACM Cladding Remediation fund: which has been open since 2018 and covers buildings with the most dangerous type of cladding like that attached to Grenfell Tower;
• the Building Safety Fund: first opened in 2020 for buildings over 18 metres with other forms of unsafe cladding;
• the Cladding Safety Scheme: which was fully opened in July for buildings between 11 and 18 metres and is also open to new applications for 18m+ buildings outside of London;
• Developers have assumed direct responsibility for remediating all life-critical fire safety defects in more than 1,000 buildings, and;

The Government continues to work with the social housing sector to strengthen social housing remediation data and with the Regulator for Social Housing in order to gain assurance that owners of social housing buildings are meeting their obligations to identify and remediate building safety risks at pace. 

The Building Safety Remediation monthly data release includes data across all the above schemes and can be found at GOV.UK.

Reforms introduced to the Building Safety Act give residents and homeowners more rights, powers, and protections.

From April 2024, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has been the regulator for the building control profession. The new regime for design and construction of higher-risk buildings came into force in October 2023 and existing occupied higher-risk buildings were also legally required to be registered with the Regulator by October 2023. 

Further duties were placed on ‘accountable persons’ (the person responsible for an occupied higher-risk building) in January 2024, and the more stringent regime for occupied higher-risk buildings has now been introduced in full and new duties will shortly be placed on accountable persons. Residents have clear routes for raising concerns, first with their accountable person, and if the issue isn’t resolved with the Regulator. The Regulator has commenced the Building Assessment Certification process –and has directed accountable persons for the first tranche of higher-risk buildings to submit their safety case report for scrutiny and approval.

Summary of progress against Inquiry recommendations

Of the Inquiry’s 46 Phase 1 recommendations, 39 have now been completed.

Government

Out of 15 recommendations directed by the Inquiry in 2019 to Government, 11 have been completed.  On 2 September 2024 the Government set out a clear way forward on the remaining four recommendations which centre around evacuation, including evacuation plans and evacuation alert systems (EAS) and mandating PEEPs (2 recommendations).

The Home Office will bring forward proposals later in the Autumn to improve the fire safety and evacuation of disabled/vulnerable residents in high-rise and higher-risk residential buildings in England in response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s Phase 1 recommendations that relate to Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans or PEEPs. These proposals will be called ‘Residential PEEPs’.

The Government has made progress on delivering recommendation 33.22[d] of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s Phase 1 report, on Evacuation Alert Systems (‘sounders’) for new builds, through an amendment to statutory guidance to the building regulations in relation to high-rise residential building design (requiring sounders to be fitted in new buildings over 18 metres in height). 

The Government will consider further the second part of the recommendation, relating to existing buildings, in light of further evidence or recommendations in the Inquiry’s Phase 2 report.  This will, like the work on fire safety improvements nationally, be part of the important task of reducing the likelihood and impact of future fires.

On 16 May 2022, the Fire Safety Act 2021 was fully commenced, addressing any legal ambiguity that responsible persons are required to update Fire Risk Assessments so that external walls and flat entrance doors are taken into account.

On 23 January 2023, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 came into force, that placed additional requirements on responsible persons for multi-occupied residential buildings to improve the safety of residents whilst also ensuring that FRSs have information required to provide an effective operational response in the event of a fire in a high-rise residential building.

On 5 February 2024, National Evacuation Guidelines for carrying out partial or total evacuations of high-rise residential buildings were published. It is now for NFCC and FRSs to consider how best to draw on the guidelines in the development of their operational guidance.

National Progress

In November 2019, the then Home Secretary and the then Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government wrote to every Chief Fire Officer and Fire and Rescue Authority Chair in England to ask that they work together, and through the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), to implement the Inquiry’s recommendations, including considering those addressed specifically to the London Fire Brigade (LFB).

The NFCC continues to reflect the Inquiry’s recommendations in its ongoing review of National Operational Guidance and development of supporting learning materials, including those to help firefighters use evacuation alert systems. This guidance is published on UKFRS.com. The NFCC also surveyed services in June 2024 to review and ensure they are supported in implementing the Inquiry’s remaining recommendations. The NFCC is committed to work with the Government to drive future improvements across the sector as part of its Fit for the Future programme, addressing underlying issues from the Inquiry’s recommendations.  

Since the last progress update was published in March 2024, Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs) across England have continued to make progress on addressing the remaining Phase 1 recommendations, prioritised according to local risk profiles. The NFCC conducted their latest bi-annual self-reported survey in June 2024, which is structured to ask if a policy or process has been updated, and to identify if a service has trained and implemented a change effectively.

The NFCC has reported that out of the nine Grenfell Phase 1 recommendations directed at all FRSs, six have been addressed by all 43 services (excluding LFB which has a separate reporting process – see section below).

The remaining three recommendations have been addressed by all but one or two services.  A total of four services have actions outstanding against one or more of the three recommendations. Those four services each have clear plans in place to close off the remaining actions by Dec 2024 or sooner. Details of the outstanding recommendations, and the plans of the four FRSs to address them, are set out at the bottom of this document. It is important to note that a recommendation to all FRSs can only be signed off as complete once all 43 FRSs (excluding LFB) have completed it.

The NFCC has produced the first suite of National Fire Control guidance following the Grenfell Tower fire. The work, which as a result of early engagement with LFB began before the recommendations were made, has produced multiple benefits including the production of new operational guidance and technical solutions.

There have also been improvements to FRS methods of transferring information between control rooms, with roll-out of the Multi Agency Information Transfer (MAIT) system under way. The system is now operational in 3 fire control rooms serving 8 FRSs and continues to be rolled out across England with an implementation plan of 3 fire control rooms per month. According to current plans, all English fire control rooms should be connected to MAIT by the end of 2024. New talk groups have been introduced to allow fire services to share information live between fire control rooms to ensure the information provided by anyone handling a call, wherever in the country the call may be received, reflects the current state of the fire. All FRSs have now embedded these talk groups in their call rooms.

The Fire Standards Board is an independently chaired body with members from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, the Local Government Association, the NFCC and the Home Office. Nineteen Fire Standards have now been published. These standards build on best practice that already exists in the sector, whilst providing flexibility in how services achieve those standards in line with local community needs. The Fire Standards are designed to encourage services to regularly evaluate their performance, and to continually improve what they do and deliver excellence for the public.

The independently chaired Fire Standards Board published new Fire Standards on Fire Control and Communications and Engagement in early 2023. These Fire Standards were developed partially in response to major incidents such as the Grenfell Tower fire and set clear expectations of all fire and rescue services. The Fire Control Fire Standard addresses key matters of relevance including interoperability, provision of survival guidance, information sharing and workforce management. The Communications and Engagement Fire Standard sets expectations relating to delivering inclusive and accessible communications and recognising the diverse needs of audiences.

A new Internal Governance and Assurance Fire Standard was published in June 2024. It sets expectations for every fire and rescue service to have clear structures in place to ensure strategic priorities and transformation plans are translated into delivery, and to be accountable to the communities it serves.

These Fire Standards, along with the wider work of the Fire Standards Board, can be found in full at firestandards.org

The NFCC also collaborates with Government through the Fire Protection Board, to help ensure appropriate interim measures remain in place for buildings with dangerous cladding, such as Aluminium Composite Material (ACM).

On 2 September 2024 the £18.6 million Waking Watch Replacement Fund 2023 reopened with a further £2 million in grant funding available to support more buildings with fire safety defects. This will provide for the installation of a common alarm system replacing waking watch measures in all residential buildings where a waking watch is currently in place in England, regardless of where the costs of the waking watch fall.

London Fire Brigade

Since the publication of the Grenfell Phase 1 recommendations, LFB has reported to the Home Office and the Mayor of London on the recommendations directed at the Brigade. Overall, there were 29 recommendations directed specifically at LFB, all fire and rescue services or emergency services. As reported publicly by LFB in March 2024, the Brigade has now completed action against all of these.

LFB has recently been inspected by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), with the Inspectorate’s resulting report due for publication in the coming months.

Full details of all completed recommendations are set out in the tables below.

Update on progress against the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Recommendations

Fire and rescue services: knowledge and understanding of materials used in high-rise buildings

Recommendation 33.10a

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to provide their local fire and rescue service with information about the design of its external walls together with details of the materials of which they are constructed and to inform the fire and rescue service of any material changes made to them.

Status: Complete

In 2020 the then Government consulted on its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation and then responded to this consultation in 2021 (link).

The Fire Safety Act (FSA) clarified the scope of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (Fire Safety Order) as including the external walls (including cladding and balconies) and flat entrance doors for premises containing two or more sets of domestic premises. The Act commenced in full on 16 May 2022.

The FSA removes any legal ambiguity and requires responsible persons to update Fire Risk Assessments to take account of external walls and flat entrance doors. Alongside the Act, the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT) was launched, this is an online tool to help responsible persons identify which buildings should have their fire risk assessments updated first.

Commencement of the FSA was followed by the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 on 18 May 2022. These regulations, made under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, implement this recommendation and came into force on 23 January 2023.

Under the Regulations, the responsible person of a high-rise residential building must prepare a record of the design of the external walls of the building including the materials from which the walls are constructed. The Regulations also require the record to contain details of the level of risk which has been identified by the fire risk assessment and the mitigations have been taken in relation to that risk. The responsible person must send this record electronically to their local fire and rescue service. A template will be provided to assist the responsible person in preparing this record.

Recommendation 33.10b

That all fire and rescue services ensure that their personnel at all levels understand the risk of fire taking hold in the external walls of high-rise buildings and know how to recognise it when it occurs.

Status for fire and rescue services: In Progress

The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) report that to fully address recommendation 33.10b, fire and rescue services should review all training products to ensure that the hazards associated with external wall system failures are identified, including those related to Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding, are covered, and then carry out training and assessment of all staff on how to identify control measures to respond to the hazard of fire spread in external wall systems.

42 out of 43 services have completed this recommendation and have trained all relevant staff using NFCC products. This includes updated NFCC guidance and a suite of building information sheets to help services embed the lessons associated with fire spread on external walls of high-rise buildings.

Gloucestershire FRS is the only service to have this recommendation outstanding and is scheduled to have completed it by autumn 2024.

All services have reviewed their training.

The NFCC has produced a number of guidance documents and training materials to support services. These cover: 

• High rise residential buildings and building failures
• Impact of fire or firefighting on structural elements or structural frames
• Impact of fire or firefighting on structural materials
• Partial or structural collapse: Fires in buildings
• External fire spread
• Undetected fire spread
• Fire spread breaching a compartment

Status for London Fire Brigade: complete

The LFB has reported that it has completed recommendation 33.10b. All of the Brigade’s operational and control staff have received training to recognise and understand the risks involved in fires taking hold in the external walls of high-rise buildings and how such risks may be mitigated to enhance the safety of the public and firefighters.

Section 7(2)(d) of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004

Recommendation 33.11a

That the LFB review, and revise as appropriate, Appendix 1 to Policy Number (PN) 633 to ensure that it fully reflects the principles in Generic Risk Assessment (GRA) 3.2.

Status: Complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

The guidance previously contained in their High-Rise Firefighting policy (number 633) has been reviewed and is now incorporated into their Management of Operational Risk Information policy (number 800). All operational staff have completed mandatory training on this revised policy. This improved guidance has assisted operational staff to understand the risks within their station areas and has supported the previous Government’s Building Risk Review.

New National Operational Guidance reflects changes in legislation and technology and incorporates operational learning from fire services. It provides greater detail and tools for services to self-assess their adoption of guidance. The guidance will be maintained by the NFCC and will be based on National Operational Learning, a system that reviews incidents and makes recommendations based on their findings.

Recommendation 33.11b

That the LFB ensure that all officers of the rank of Crew Manager and above are trained in carrying out the requirements of Policy Number (PN) 633 relating to the inspection of high-rise buildings.

Status: Complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

They report that all their operational staff have completed mandatory training on the revised Management of Operational Risk Information policy (Number 800) and are applying this learning to enable a greater understanding of the significant risks within London’s built environment, whilst also supporting the Building Risk Review.

Plans

Recommendation 33.12a

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to provide their local fire and rescue services with up-to-date plans in both paper and electronic form of every floor of the building identifying the location of key fire safety systems.

Recommendation 33.12b

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to ensure that the building contains a premises information box, the contents of which must include a copy of the up-to-date floor plans and information about the nature of any lift intended for use by the fire and rescue services.

Status: Complete

In 2020 the then Government consulted on its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation and  responded to the consultation in 2021 (link).

On 18 May 2022, regulations were laid under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 to implement this recommendation. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 came into force on 23 January 2023.

Under the Regulations, the responsible person for a high-rise residential building must prepare a plan for each floor of the building. This plan should show, alongside the layout of the relevant floor, the location of all lifts and main fire-fighting equipment for the building. Where the layout for two or more floors are identical, the responsible person can produce a single plan (as long as they clearly indicate the floors to which that plan relates). The responsible person must send these plans electronically to their local fire and rescue service.

In addition to this plan, the responsible person for a high-rise residential building must, under the Regulations, prepare an additional hard copy single page building plan to show the environs of the building, as well as the location of fire-fighting facilities and information useful to the fire and rescue service.  

Also under the Regulations, the responsible person for a high-rise residential building must install a secure information box in or on the premises. This secure information box should contain hard copies of the building floor plans, the single page building plan and the UK contact details of the responsible person and any other individual the responsible person considers appropriate.  

In addition to this, the then Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) (now Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)) consulted on the proposal to recommend secure information boxes in new blocks of flats through an update to Building Regulation guidance document Approved Document B (ADB). MHCLG announced on 1 June 2022 that it had amended ADB so that secure information boxes will now have to be installed in all new residential buildings over 11 metres.

Recommendation 33.12c

That all fire and rescue services be equipped to receive and store electronic plans and to make them available to incident commanders and control room managers.

Status for fire and rescue services: Complete

In October 2023, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against recommendation 33.12c. Every service reported they are equipped to receive and store electronic plans.

In terms of making these plans on high rise residential buildings (HRRBs) available to control room managers and to personnel on the incident ground, including the incident commanders, as well as ensuring that operational risk information for high-risk HRRBs is accurate, the NFCC has reported that all services have completed this recommendation.

To fully address this recommendation, the NFCC recommended that operational risk information for high-risk high-rise residential buildings is accurate and contains all the pertinent information.

Due to the number of buildings and other risks in a fire services response area it is challenging to ensure all relevant operational risk information, plans and other information remains accurate. The responsible person for the building must ensure fire risk assessments and all relevant actions including the provision of plans and other information is completed.

The changes in legislation (for recommendations 33.12a and 33.12b) support fire and rescue services ensuring that appropriate information is available to emergency responders.

Status for London Fire Brigade: Complete

The LFB report that recommendation 33.12c is now complete having been incorporated into the Brigade’s ongoing One Risk solution.

The completion of the One Risk project will contribute to the effective storage and dissemination of electronic plans and amalgamate all relevant building related risk information into a single system. The One Risk project is currently in Phase 2 (Procurement), although some workstreams from Phase 1 (Requirements Gathering) require completion.

Whilst this project is ongoing, the Brigade has in place an interim solution to improve how it gathers, records, and disseminates information on buildings provided by building owners and managers.

Lifts

Recommendation 33.13a

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to carry out regular inspections of any lifts that are designed to be used by firefighters in an emergency and to report the results of such inspections to their local fire and rescue service at monthly intervals.

Recommendation 33.13b

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to carry out regular tests of the mechanism which allows firefighters to take control of the lifts and to inform their local fire and rescue service at monthly intervals that they have done so.

Status: Complete

In 2020 the then Government consulted on its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation and responded to the consultation in 2021 (link).

On 18 May 2022 regulations were laid under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 to implement this recommendation. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 came into force on 23 January 2023.

Under the Regulations, the responsible person for a high-rise residential building must undertake monthly checks of lifts for use by fire-fighters, evacuation lifts and other essential fire-fighting equipment. Where a fault is identified which will take longer than 24 hours to fix, the responsible person must report this via electronic means to their local fire and rescue service.

Communication between the control room and the incident commander

Recommendation 33.14a

That the LFB review its policies on communications between the control room and the incident commander.

Status: Complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

For recommendation 33.14a, the LFB published the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) on 31 March 2021 following an extensive training programme for all operational and Control staff. The policy provides for enhancements to the gathering, recording and transfer of fire survival guidance information between the incident ground and Control.

Recommendation 33.14b

That all officers who may be expected to act as incident commanders (i.e. all those above the rank of Crew Manager) receive training directed to the specific requirements of communication with the control room.

Status: Complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

For recommendation 33.14b, as of 31 March 2021, the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) was published and 95% of Watch officers and senior officers have received face to face training on this policy. This learning is currently being embedded through a series of exercises involving residential high-rise fire scenarios.

Recommendation 33.14c

That all control room operators of Assistant Operations Manager rank and above receive training directed to the specific requirements of communication with the incident commander.

Status: Complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

For recommendation 33.14c, all of their Control staff have received training on the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) and the policy, including a specific appendix for Control staff, was published on 31 March 2021. Control staff are taking part in a series of residential high-rise exercises to further embed the learning.

Recommendation 33.14d

That a dedicated communication link be provided between the senior officer in the control room and the incident commander.

Status: Complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed. For recommendation 33.14d, the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) was published on 31 March 2021. The revised policy includes procedures to establish effective communication between the incident ground and Control, including a dedicated communication link between Control and the Fire Sector bridgehead to enable a more effective exchange of information relating to fire survival guidance situations.

Emergency calls

Recommendation 33.15a

That the LFB’s policies be amended to draw a clearer distinction between callers seeking advice and callers who believe they are trapped and need rescuing.

Status: Complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

The LFB has produced guidance on drawing a clearer distinction between callers seeking advice and callers who believe they are trapped and need rescuing, within Appendix 1 of Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance), published on 31 March 2021, following a Brigade wide training programme.

Recommendation 33.15b

That the LFB provide regular and more effective refresher training to control room operators at all levels, including supervisors.

Status: Complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

The LFB’s Control staff began their training on the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) in December 2020, with maintenance of competency requirements for staff set out within the Control element of the Brigade’s ‘Development and Maintenance of Operational Professionalism’ (DaMOP) framework, implemented in July 2020.

Recommendation 33.15c

Status for fire and rescue services: Complete

National Operational Guidance for Fire Survival Guidance calls was published in July 2021.

New technological solutions allow fire control rooms to share information about risk critical information, including fire survival guidance calls, simultaneously. All services now have access to this system.

The NFCC has surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against recommendation 33.15c.

All services have reported that they have completed this recommendation through reviewing training and policy and completing the necessary actions to manage multiple fire survival guidance calls.

Status for London Fire Brigade: Complete

The LFB has reported that recommendation 33.15c has been completed.

The training for the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) and the Broadcast National Talk Group has been completed. Policy Number 790 was published on the 31 March 2021 and the Broadcast National Talk Group went live in February 2021.

The Brigade’s Fire Survival Guidance (FSG) Policy has been shared as national learning and support a new project to establish National Operational Guidance (including FSG) for Control rooms. This guidance also includes the use of a National Talk Group for sharing risk critical information.

Recommendation 33.15d

That electronic systems be developed to record fire survival guidance information in the control room and display it simultaneously at the bridgehead and in any command units.

Status for fire and rescue services: In Progress

The National Fire Chiefs Council surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against recommendation 33.15d. 41 of 43 services have taken actions that allow information to be effectively captured and shared.

Two services - Buckinghamshire and Royal Berkshire - have completed the required actions but have not yet completed assurance and testing of their new systems. Both services expect to have completed this recommendation by end September 2024.

The LFB’s ‘sector leading’ technical initiative has been a matter of interest for many services who are considering how this could be incorporated into their own local arrangements.

Status for London Fire Brigade: Complete

The LFB has developed a technological solution which enables information from Fire Survival Guidance (FSG) calls to be displayed simultaneously at the incident and in Control. The introduction of the application was previously delayed due to technical issues which have now been resolved.

The Brigade consider this recommendation complete with the FSG application having gone live in March 2022.

Recommendation 33.15e

That policies be developed for managing a transition from “stay put” to “get out”.

Status for fire and rescue services: Complete

The National Fire Chiefs Council surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against recommendation 33.15e. All services have completed the necessary action.

Status for London Fire Brigade

The LFB has reported that recommendation 33.15e has been completed.

The guidance for managing the transition from ‘stay put’ to ‘get out’ is provided in the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) and the new Evacuation and Rescue policies, both of which were published in March 2021. All operational and Control staff have completed mandatory training on both policies.

Recommendation 33.15f

That control room staff receive training directed specifically to handling such a change of advice and conveying it effectively to callers.

Status for fire and rescue services: In Progress

The National Fire Chiefs Council surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against the recommendations. In relation to 33.15f (which is linked to recommendation 33.15e), 42 of 43 services have completed this action.

As with recommendation 33.15e, Northumberland FRS expects to have completed this by December 2024.

Status for London Fire Brigade: Complete

The LFB has reported that recommendation 33.15f has been completed. Training for all Control staff has been given and the learning embedded by participation in a series of high-rise firefighting exercises.

Recommendation 33.16

That steps be taken to investigate methods by which assisting control rooms can obtain access to the information available to the host control room.

Status for fire and rescue services: Complete

The previous Government worked with the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) to implement Infrastructure and strategic solutions for control rooms to improve the sharing of risk critical information between fire control rooms and, in the longer term, between fire and police/ambulance control rooms. This allows the transfer of information between control rooms to be electronic instead of a control room operator having to manually contact the other service by telephone. The system is called “Multi Agency Information Transfer” (MAIT) and allows information to be transferred between control rooms much more quickly. This project is progressing well. The system is now operational in 3 fire control rooms serving 8 FRSs and continues to be rolled out across England with an implementation plan of 3 fire control rooms per month. According to plans, all English fire control rooms should be connected to MAIT by the end of 2024.

New talk groups have been introduced to allow fire services to share information live between fire control rooms to ensure the information provided by anyone handling a call, wherever in the country the call may be received, reflects the current state of the fire. All FRSs have now embedded these talk groups in their control rooms.

There are two Airwave Talkgroups (radio channels), a “Fire Broadcast Talkgroup” and a “JESIP (Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles) Multi Agency Talkgroup” to improve the sharing of information between fire, police and ambulance.

The Broadcast Talkgroup went live in England and Scotland in October 2020 and in Wales in December 2020. This means that if a fire and rescue service becomes overwhelmed with emergency calls, the affected service can now make an announcement on their control room Airwave Radio, and it will be received in every control room across the country simultaneously. The system has gone through extensive testing with successful results and is now in operational use in England Scotland and Wales under “Business as Usual”. The JESIP Talk group is now live in all Fire Control Rooms and the NFCC has released guidance to support its use.

Funding for two Fire Control Managers to be seconded to assist with development of the National Operational Guidance for Fire Control staff has been provided. This included updating the current Fire Survival Guidance and training.

Survival Guidance for all incident types, emergency call management people at risk and Fire Control Command guidance have now been published. Fire and rescue services are now able to integrate this guidance into their own policies and procedures.

Guidance for fire control staff for handling multiple emergency calls and multiple emergency incidents has been published recently.

In efforts to address this recommendation, all 43 fire and rescue services have embedded the policies and training to support fire control room personnel in the use of the Airwave Talk Groups.

The Home Office and NFCC have worked with BT to establish a more robust way of dealing with fire control rooms becoming overwhelmed with emergency calls resulting from large or protracted incidents.

A procedure known as “Operation Willow Beck” has been developed and tested and is currently operational in England, Scotland, and Wales.

This means that BT now has a predetermined redistribution plan of how to distribute overflow calls efficiently between other fire and rescue services during periods when a single control room has become overwhelmed with 999 calls due to a large, protracted incident or spate conditions.

The system was used several times during the July/August 2022 wildfires with successful outcomes.

In relation to the Airwave Talk Groups, all 43 services have embedded technical changes to the way information is shared between fire control rooms and between fire, police and ambulance services. This ensures that accurate and timely information will be available to any service that handles a call for a major incident not in their area, based on the decisions being made in real time on the incident ground. This is currently in use by all fire and rescue services.

Status for London Fire Brigade: Complete

With the establishment of the Broadcast Talkgroup, the NFCC has provided guidance on the Talkgroup.

The LFB has reported that recommendation 33.16 has been completed as all Control officers have received training on the Talkgroup’s protocol.  London Fire Brigade are also in the process of implementing Multi Agency Incident Transfer (MAIT) as part of the national rollout and it is hoped they should be live with the rest of England by the end of 2024.

Recommendation 33.17

That the London Ambulance Service and Metropolitan Police Service review their protocols and policies to ensure that their operators can identify fire survival guidance calls (as defined by the LFB) and pass them to the LFB as soon as possible.

Status: Complete

The LFB has informed us that its revised Policy Note 790 ‘Fire Survival Guidance’, published in March 2021, has been shared with the Metropolitan Police Service and the London Ambulance Service, together with a briefing note to support an increased understanding of the policy revisions.

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and London Ambulance Service (LAS) have both reported to the Mayor of London that they have reviewed protocols on Fire Survival Guidance calls to ensure these are passed to the LFB. This recommendation is therefore considered to be complete.

Command and control

Recommendation 33.18a

That the LFB develop policies and training to ensure better control of deployments and the use of resources.

Status: Complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed. The implementation of the Brigade’s revised High-Rise Firefighting policy (PN 633) in June 2021 addresses this recommendation by including information on crew deployments, including on tasks relating to Fire Survival Guidance calls.

The initial training in the new procedures was completed in March 2021. The policy was implemented shortly after the Brigade had considered the findings of a health and safety advisory panel, which was convened as part of the consultation process to confirm the procedures contained within the policy to enable both the protection of residents and the safety of firefighters.

Recommendation 33.18b

That the LFB develop policies and training to ensure that better information is obtained from crews returning from deployments and that the information is recorded in a form that enables it to be made available immediately to the incident commander (and thereafter to the command units and the control room).

Status: Complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation is complete.

The LFB has developed a new structured briefing model which has been developed for crews and officers on the incident ground, for both briefing and debriefing purposes. This will ensure that information is both passed and received (and captured) in a consistent manner.

The new briefing model has also been incorporated into training for the High-Rise Firefighting, Fire Survival Guidance and Evacuation & Rescue policies. Furthermore, the new model is now integral in all Incident Command training courses and assessment centres.

Recommendation 33.19

That the LFB develop a communication system to enable direct communication between the control room and the incident commander and improve the means of communication between the incident commander and the bridgehead.

Status: Complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed via its revised Fire Survival Guidance policy.

The LFB has also issued guidance to firefighters on effective communication at incidents and implemented changes to the radio channels used by the Brigade during incidents. This is to allow for additional dedicated incident command channels. Drones have also been introduced and are now equipped to enable information to be live streamed to Brigade Control; drone pilots are also being trained to deliver smoke hoods and flotation devices at incidents.

Recommendation 33.20

That the LFB investigate the use of modern communication techniques to provide a direct line of communication between the control room and the bridgehead, allowing information to be transmitted directly between the control room and the bridgehead and providing an integrated system of recording fire survival guidance information and the results of deployments.

Status: Complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been addressed through the development of its sector leading Fire Survival Guidance (FSG) application, which enables information from FSG calls to be displayed simultaneously at the incident and in Control.

The FSG application went live in March 2022.

Equipment

Recommendation 32.21a

That the LFB urgently take steps to obtain equipment that enables firefighters wearing helmets and breathing apparatus to communicate with the bridgehead effectively, including when operating in high-rise buildings.

Status: Complete

LFB launched the new MSA Breathing Apparatus (BA) Sets at 10am on the 11th March 2024.  The transition was completed whilst successfully maintaining operational response standards and without impacting the service provided to communities of London.

The new equipment provides for improved communications across the incident ground, between BA wearers and the bridgehead.  This is because the BA facemask has integrated voice communications built in, enhancing clarity of speech.  This is coupled with the new fireground radios that have a greater power output and range, whilst still being intrinsically safe for use in flammable atmospheres.

The combined BA and Radio sets are in use upon average between 20-100 times per day.  Firefighters are supported by a network of ‘Super Users’ who are able to provide peer technical support.  Trade Unions have been directly involved in the design, implementation and communication of the additional support networks.

Recommendation 32.21b

That urgent steps be taken to ensure that the command support system is fully operative on all command units and that crews are trained in its use.

Status: Complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed. The LFB has installed new hardware servers on all its Command Units, and 4G connectivity has provided enhanced functionality and reliability of the command support system. The Command Units are also each provided with two 4G enabled laptops to provide resilience and support more flexible access to the command support system remote from the Command Unit.

All Command Unit staff have completed refresher training.

Evacuation

Recommendation 32.22a

That the government develop national guidelines for carrying out partial or total evacuations of high-rise residential buildings, such guidelines to include the means of protecting fire exit routes and procedures for evacuating persons who are unable to use the stairs in an emergency, or who may require assistance (such as disabled people, older people and young children).

Status: Complete

The Inquiry recommended in Phase 1 report that Government should develop national guidelines for carrying out partial or total evacuations of high-rise residential buildings. In December 2019, a joint Home Office and the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)) technical steering group was set up to support a research project to review means of escape provisions in blocks of flats including the use of the ‘stay put’ strategy and evacuation.

The work, including operational research has been undertaken and completed. The reports stemming from the research on operational, building and human behaviour include:

• A Home Office summary report of operational research carried out by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) was published on 5 February 2024.
• A report on human behaviour which has been published by OFR Consultants in May 2023.
• A report on building design which has been published by OFR Consultants in March 2024.
• The Evacuation from fire in high-rise residential buildings: a rapid evidence review was published by the Home Office in November 2022.

The evacuation guidelines have been drawn from the reports and research listed above as well as related work. The guidelines were passed to NFCC in December 2023 and were published on 5 February 2024.

Recommendation 33.22b

That fire and rescue services develop policies for partial and total evacuation of high-rise residential buildings and training to support them.

Status for fire and rescue services: Complete

In December 2019, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) published the reviewed guidance that provides information for fire and rescue services to change evacuation strategies and perform mass rescue, based on advice and information from fire and rescue service leads. This has undergone significant scrutiny and been subject to external review by health and safety consultants.

NFCC surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against the recommendations.  All services have completed the necessary action.

Status for London Fire Brigade: Complete

The LFB has reported that recommendation 33.22b has been completed.

The LFB has developed an Evacuation and Rescue policy (published on 31 March 2021), alongside the revised Fire Survival Guidance policy. The Evacuation and Rescue policy has been shared with the NFCC’s High Rise Firefighting working group to support sector wide learning.

Training on the new policy has been provided to all operational staff via computer-based training packages and face to face training for Watch and senior officers. This training is reinforced by guided learning exercises for station-based staff.

Recommendation 33.22c

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to draw up and keep under regular review evacuation plans, copies of which are to be provided in electronic and paper form to their local fire and rescue service and placed in an information box on the premises.

Status: In Progress

The Home Office will bring forward proposals in Autumn 2024 so that Responsible Persons under the scope of the Residential PEEPs proposals (see update on recs 33.22e and 33.22f) will be required to prepare a separate building level evacuation plan and share this with their local Fire and Rescue Service.

At a minimum, this plan should include the Instructions to Residents (required under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022), and if there are arrangements made for vulnerable residents via the Residential PEEPs proposals.

Recommendation 33.22d

That all high-rise residential buildings (both those already in existence and those built in the future) be equipped with facilities for use by the fire and rescue services enabling them to send an evacuation signal to the whole or a selected part of the building by means of sounders or similar devices.

Status: In Progress

The Government has delivered this recommendation for new builds, through amendment to statutory guidance to the building regulations in relation to high-rise residential building design (requiring sounders to be fitted in new buildings over 18 metres in height).

The Government will consider further the second part of the recommendation, relating to existing buildings, in light of further evidence or recommendations in the Phase 2 report. This will, like other work on fire safety improvements nationally, be part of the important task of reducing the likelihood and impact of future fires.

Recommendation 33.22e

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to prepare personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) for all residents whose ability to self-evacuate may be compromised (such as persons with reduced mobility or cognition).

Recommendation 33.22f

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to include up-to-date information about persons with reduced mobility and their associated personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) in the premises information box.

Status: In Progress

The Home Office will bring forward proposals in Autumn 2024 to improve the fire safety and evacuation of disabled/vulnerable residents in high-rise and higher-risk residential buildings in England in response to this recommendation. These proposals will be called ‘Residential PEEPs’.

Through them, residents with disabilities and impairments will be entitled to a person-centred risk assessment to identify appropriate equipment and adjustments to aid their fire safety / evacuation, as well as a ‘Residential PEEPs statement’ that records what vulnerable residents should do in the event of a fire.

The government has committed funding next year (2025-26) to begin this important work by supporting social housing providers to deliver Residential PEEPs for their renters. Future years’ funding will be confirmed at the upcoming Spending Review.

Recommendation: 32.22g

Status for fire and rescue services: Complete

In August 2022 National Fire Chiefs Council surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against the recommendations.

For this recommendation, all 43 services who responded to that survey reported that they have acquired smoke hoods and they are operationally available, and staff are trained in how to use them.

Status for London Fire Brigade

The LFB has reported that this recommendation is complete. The Brigade implemented smoke hoods on all its front-line appliances in November 2018.

Internal signage

Recommendation 33.27

That in all high-rise buildings floor numbers be clearly marked on each landing within the stairways and in a prominent place in all lobbies in such a way as to be visible both in normal conditions and in low lighting or smoky conditions.

Status: Complete

In 2020 the then Government consulted on its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation and its response to the consultation was published in 2021 (link).

On 18 May 2022 regulations were laid under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 to implement this recommendation. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 came into force on 23 January 2023.

Under the Regulations, the responsible person for a high-rise residential building must install wayfinding signage in line with the recommendations for new buildings as set out in Building Regulation guidance (Fire Safety: Approved Document B), on each landing within the stairways and in the lift lobbies of the floor level marked in such a way as to be visible both in low level lighting conditions or when illuminated with a torch.

On 26 November 2020, the amendments to Building Regulation guidance (Fire Safety: Approved Document B) was published and sets provisions for consistent wayfinding signage in new block of flats or new mixed-use buildings containing flats with a top floor more than 11 metres above ground level.

Information to residents

Recommendation 33.28

That the owner and manager of every residential building containing separate dwellings (whether or not it is a high-rise building) be required by law to provide fire safety instructions (including instructions for evacuation) in a form that the occupants of the building can reasonably be expected to understand, taking into account the nature of the building and their knowledge of the occupants.

Status: Complete

In 2020 the then Government consulted on its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation and its  response to the consultation was published in 2021 (link).

On 18 May 2022 regulations were laid under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 to implement this recommendation in part. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 came into force on 23 January 2023.

Under the Regulations, the responsible person for all multi-occupied residential buildings must, regardless of height, provide their residents on an annual basis with relevant fire safety instructions. These instructions must be comprehensible to all residents and give residents instructions on how to report a fire, instructions related to the building’s evacuation strategy and any other instruction that tells residents what they must do when a fire has occurred. 

Furthermore, whilst this recommendation has been partially addressed in the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, provision has also been made in Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 for a new requirement to be added to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requiring that responsible persons in buildings that contain two or more sets of domestic premises must provide residents with relevant and comprehensible fire safety information. Commencement regulations for this provision were laid in March 2023 and came into force on 1 October 2023.

Fire doors

Recommendation 33.29a

That the owner and manager of every residential building containing separate dwellings (whether or not they are high-rise buildings) carry out an urgent inspection of all fire doors to ensure that they comply with applicable legislative standards.

Recommendation 33.29b

That the owner and manager of every residential building containing separate dwellings (whether or not they are high-rise buildings) be required by law to carry out checks at not less than three-monthly intervals to ensure that all fire doors are fitted with effective self-closing devices in working order.

Recommendation 33.30

That all those who have responsibility in whatever capacity for the condition of the entrance doors to individual flats in high-rise residential buildings, whose external walls incorporate unsafe cladding, be required by law to ensure that such doors comply with current standards.

Status: Complete

In 2020 the then Government consulted on its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation and its response to the consultation was published in 2021 (link).

The Fire Safety Act (FSA) achieved Royal Assent on 29 April 2021, which clarified the scope of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (Fire Safety Order) as including the external walls (including cladding and balconies) and flat entrance doors for buildings containing two or more sets of domestic premises.

The Fire Safety Act commenced on 16 May 2022. This means new guidance has been published in support of the Fire Safety Act and the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT) has been launched.

This will now remove legal ambiguity and require responsible persons to update Fire Risk Assessments to take account of external walls and flat entrance doors. The FRAPT will help responsible persons identify which buildings should have their Fire Risk Assessments updated first.

Furthermore, on 18 May 2022 regulations were laid under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 to implement the fire door checks element of this recommendation. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 came into force on 23 January 2023.

Under the Regulations, the responsible person for all multi-occupied residential buildings over 11 metres and above must undertake quarterly checks on fire doors in common parts and annual checks, on a best endeavour basis, on all flat entrance doors.

Responsible persons must make a record of their attempts to check flat entrance doors.
In the consultation, views were sought on proposals for a reasonable and practicable level of checks proportionate to the risk. In line with the Inquiry’s additional recommendation on fire doors, (recommendation 33.30), where unsafe cladding is incorporated into external walls. Under the Fire Safety Order, responsible persons have a duty to take general fire precautions, which include ensuring that fire doors in their building are in good order. Following commencement of the Fire Safety Act it is clear that this duty extends to flat entrance doors.

Cooperation between emergency services

Recommendation 33.31a

That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that each emergency service must communicate the declaration of a Major Incident to all other Category 1 Responders as soon as possible.

Recommendation 33.31b

That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that on the declaration of a Major Incident, clear lines of communication must be established as soon as possible between the control rooms of the individual emergency services.

Recommendation 33.31c

That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that a single point of contact should be designated within each control room to facilitate such communication.

Recommendation 33.32d

That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that a “METHANE” message should be sent as soon as possible by the emergency service declaring a Major Incident.

Status: Complete

The members of the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP) Interoperability Board, including representatives from the previous Government, emergency services and other key stakeholders, committed to addressing, in full, these recommendations in the review of the JESIP Joint Doctrine.  These were incorporated into the JESIP Joint Doctrine published in October 2021.

The LFB has committed to incorporating any changes to the Joint Doctrine into its own policies and training. The Brigade is already making changes to its own operational procedures to address these recommendations. Specifically, the Brigade is in the process of revising its Major Incident Policy (PN 263), which will include a specific section regarding informing other category 1 responders, the initiation of a Major Incident for Incident Commanders, reinforced METHANE messaging, and the activation of a tri-service call at the declaration of a Major Incident.

London’s emergency services are also working together to address these issues at the city level. These recommendations are additionally being considered by the ‘Blue Lights’ panel of London Emergency Services Liaison Panel (LESLP). The Blue Lights panel is responsible for London’s Major Incidents Procedures Manual which has been reviewed and revised to address these issues. It is now reported as complete with the revised manual presented to the London Resilience Forum in October 2021 and published in November 2021.

Recommendation 33.32

That steps be taken to investigate the compatibility of the LFB systems with those of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and the London Ambulance Service (LAS) with a view to enabling all three emergency services’ systems to read each other’s messages.

Status: Complete

There are standing arrangements in London to use a pre-planned Airwave talk-group as an immediate means to share information across London’s emergency services for serious events.

Whilst the national implementation of the Multi Agency Incident Transfer (MAIT) system is being rolled out by other FRSs, LFB are MAIT-enabled and have now closed off this recommendation as complete. Furthermore, LFB continues to work with the NFCC who are leading on the introduction of the MAIT system. This system will allow information to be transferred much more quickly between control rooms of emergency services. This is because the system will allow for the transfer of information between control rooms to be electronic instead of a control room operator having to manually contact the other service by telephone.

The LFB’s Vision mobilising system is already MAIT-compliant. They have fully investigated the compatibility of their systems with those of MPS and LAS. They have also committed to continuing work with these partners to deliver full capability.

Recommendation 33.33

That steps be taken to ensure that the airborne datalink system on every National Police Air Service helicopter observing an incident which involves one of the other emergency services defaults to the National Emergency Service user encryption.

Status: Complete

The National Police Air Service (NPAS) mandated all operational crews complete refresher training in the use of Airborne data link equipment, writing to all 43 Home Office police forces (across England and Wales). Software upgrades to enable the Airborne data link system to automatically default to the National Emergency Services user encryption have now been completed for all operational NPAS aircraft.

Recommendation 33.34

That the LFB, the Metropolitan Police Service, the London Ambulance Service and the London local authorities all investigate ways of improving the collection of information about survivors and making it available more rapidly to those wishing to make contact with them.

Status: Complete

This recommendation is about improving the way information about the survivors of an incident is collected and shared by London’s emergency services and local authorities. Procedures for improving the way information about the survivors of an incident is collected and shared by London’s emergency services and local authorities are already set out in London’s Major Incidents Procedures Manual, which is produced by the ‘Blue Lights’ panel of London Emergency Services Liaison Panel (LESLP). The Blue Lights panel has worked with the Humanitarian Assistance Working Group to address this recommendation and it is now reported as complete with the revised manual presented to the London Resilience Forum in October 2021 and published in November 2021.

Intended timescales for implementing the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Recommendations

Summary

This section addresses the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 recommendations which have not yet been completed, outlining current estimates and key milestones to do so. This section has been divided into two parts. The first part examines the recommendations which require action on the part of Government to enable their completion. The second part examines the outstanding work to fully address the recommendations that have been directed to Fire and Rescue Services. This document will be updated to reflect progress and does not reflect finalised Government policy.

Recommendations directed to Government and building owners and managers

Recommendations that require a change in the law

Recommendation 33.22c

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to draw up and keep under regular review evacuation plans, copies of which are to be provided in electronic and paper form to their local fire and rescue service and placed in an information box on the premises.

Comments

The Home Office will bring forward proposals in the Autumn so that Responsible Persons under the scope of the Residential PEEPs proposals (see update on recs 33.22e and 33.22f) will be required to prepare a separate building level evacuation plan and share this with their local Fire and Rescue Service. At a minimum, this plan should include the Instructions to Residents (required under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022), and if there are arrangements made for vulnerable residents via the Residential PEEPs proposals.

Recommendation 33.22d

That all high-rise residential buildings (both those already in existence and those built in the future) be equipped with facilities for use by the fire and rescue services enabling them to send an evacuation signal to the whole or a selected part of the building by means of sounders or similar devices.

Comments

The Government has delivered this recommendation for new builds, through amendment to statutory guidance to the building regulations in relation to high-rise residential building design (requiring sounders to be fitted in new buildings over 18 metres in height). We will consider further the second part of the recommendation, relating to existing buildings, in light of further evidence or recommendations in the Phase 2 report. This will, like other work on fire safety improvements nationally, be part of the important task of reducing the likelihood and impact of future fires.

Recommendation 33.22e

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to prepare personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) for all residents whose ability to self-evacuate may be compromised (such as persons with reduced mobility or cognition).

Recommendation 33.22f

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to include up-to-date information about persons with reduced mobility and their associated personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) in the premises information box

Comments

The Home Office will bring forward proposals in the Autumn to improve the fire safety and evacuation of disabled/vulnerable residents in high-rise and higher-risk residential buildings in England in response to this recommendation. These proposals will be called ‘Residential PEEPs’. Through them, residents with disabilities and impairments will be entitled to a person-centred risk assessment to identify appropriate equipment and adjustments to aid their fire safety / evacuation, as well as a ‘Residential PEEPs statement’ that records what vulnerable residents should do in the event of a fire. The government has committed funding next year to begin this important work by supporting social housing providers to deliver Residential PEEPs for their renters. Future years’ funding will be confirmed at the upcoming Spending Review.

Recommendations directed to fire and rescue services

There are three recommendations which have yet to be addressed in full: action against each of these remains to be completed by either one or two fire and rescue services. In total, four fire and rescue services have yet to complete all their recommendations. The projected completion dates of these recommendations have been self-reported by these fire and rescue services. These dates represent when these fire and rescue services will have actioned the recommendations directed to them and take into account both the approach and timescales that they are working towards.

The NFCC view is that change has only been achieved if all relevant staff are trained and outcomes have been assured, therefore recommendations are not considered complete until the ‘double-loop’ learning method has been applied.

Recommendation 33.10b

Updated projected completion date (as reported by service to NFCC in June 2024)

42 out of 43 fire and rescue services (excluding the LFB) have completed this recommendation.

We expect the final service to have completed this by October 2024.

Service still to complete this recommendation

Gloucestershire

Context provided from FRS

This is being built into the tall buildings awareness package as well as a 2-day training course delivered face to face with all staff that sit on the Pre Determined Attendance (PDA) for a high rise building. These courses are built using the National Operational Guidance training specifications. The assurance will be completed in Exercises run by Operational Assurance, currently programmed for Autumn 2024.

Recommendation 33.15d

That electronic systems be developed to record fire survival guidance (FSG) information in the control room and display it simultaneously at the bridgehead and in any command units.

Updated projected completion date (as reported by service to NFCC in June 2024)

41 of 43 fire and rescue services (excluding the LFB) have completed this recommendation.

Of the final two services, both have confirmed that they expect to complete by September 2024.

Service still to complete this recommendation

• Buckinghamshire
• Royal Berkshire

Context provided from FRS

Buckinghamshire:

The service has reported that an electronic solution has been adopted and anticipates that this recommendation will be completed in September 2024 once a joint testing and assurance exercise hosted by Royal Berkshire has been carried out.

Royal Berkshire:

The service has reported that an electronic solution has been adopted and anticipates that this recommendation will be completed in September 2024 once a testing and assurance exercise has been carried out.

Recommendation 33.15f

That control room staff receive training directed specifically to handling such a change of advice and conveying it effectively to callers.

Updated projected completion date (as reported by service to NFCC in June 2024)

42 of 43 fire and rescue services (excluding the LFB) have completed this recommendation.

We expect the final service to have completed this by Dec 2024.

Service still to complete this recommendation

Northumberland

Context provided from FRS

The service continues to review policy and implement change where necessary. The service has established a High-Rise Working Group which will continue to embed local and national guidance within service, alongside new high-rise structure being built within the county.