§ Mr. Hannamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment when the British Standards Institute began its work on a code of practice for egress.
§ Mr. GowThere is no comprehensive British standard code of practice for means of escape from buildings of all types, but there is a series of codes which deal separately with different building uses. At first, these codes made no reference to the particular needs of disabled people, but in 1978 the British Standards Institution decided that such advice should be included in any new means of escape codes, and in revisions of the existing ones. The first code to contain guidance on the needs of disabled people was the revised code for office buildings published in July 1983. A revised shops code has now been agreed, and will be published later this year. A new code dealing with assembly buildings is in preparation.
§ Mr. Hannamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment why he is making building regulations on access dependent on a code of practice for egress; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. GowLocal authorities are obliged under section 59 of the Public Health Act 1936, to consider whether plans of proposed public buildings deposited under the building regulations show satisfactory means of ingress and egress. They must reject the plans unless they consider that provisions for both ingress and egress (and for passages and gangways) are satisfactory. This section is disapplied in those cases where building regulations impose means of escape requirements, but such regulations can readily be made only where codes of practice are available. It is an important principle, and the main purpose of the building regulations, that buildings should be designed to avoid putting those who use them at risk. Fire is a major hazard. Disabled people, as well as their able-bodied fellow citizens, are entitled to a reasonable standard of safety.