§ 11. Mr. Sainsburyasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will now introduce an order extending the operation of the Fire Precautions Act 1971 to nursing homes registered under the Nursing Homes Act 1975 and to disabled or old persons' homes registered under the National Assistance Act 1948.
§ Mr. BrittanThe consultation to which I referred in my reply to my hon. Friend's question of 28 June is proceeding, but I am not yet in a position to make a statement.
§ Mr. SainsburyI hope that my hon. and learned Friend appreciates that there are about 5,000 homes and about 200,000 residents involved. Surely he would accept that, now that the inspection and certification of hotel premises has been either completed or very largely completed in most areas, it would be right to extend the protection afforded by the Fire Protection Act to those 200,000 residents?
§ Mr. BrittanI accept that there is a need to bring about a phased improvement in fire precautions in premises in the health and social services sector. But the question we have still to consider is 1489 exactly what steps we should take to identify the particular institutions which need further fire protection measures, and what measures are best designed to achieve a greater increase in safety in those institutions.