§ Ross CranstonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he has made a cost-benefit assessment of fire services making smoke alarms available free to households in their area. [15329]
§ Dr. WhiteheadNo specific work has been done to assess the cost-benefit of fire services providing smoke alarms free of charge to householders.
However, we do encourage the fire service to adopt a policy of smoke alarm installation work rather than give-away initiatives when offering free smoke alarms to the public as part of community fire safety activities. This is based on part-Government funded research work undertaken by the Institute of Child Health (now known as the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), which sought to determine whether door-to-door distribution of free smoke alarms to householders was effective in reducing the risk of residential fires, fire related casualties, and serious fire-related injuries.
The evaluation of the work concluded that simply giving smoke alarms to households does not increase ownership of fully operational smoke alarms, nor reduce fire-related deaths and injuries. The research suggested that, in addition, correct installation and positioning is crucial to the effectiveness of initiatives to provide free smoke alarms to householders.