§ The Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Rooker)My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
I am announcing today £25 million in capital grants to all English fire and rescue authorities over four years. The grants will total £5 million annually in the first three years, rising to £10 million in the final year (2007–08). The funding is provided to establish a programme of home fire risk checks (HFRCs)—home visits to provide advice on fire risks and how to prevent fire, tailored to the circumstances of the household. The visits will be combined with installation of free 10-year smoke alarms.
The initiative will be targeted on the most vulnerable households—particularly the elderly, but also deprived households and areas, young families and black and minority ethnic communities. Grants will be allocated on the basis of regional smoke alarm ownership, and within each region on the basis of the fire index (mainly measures of deprivation) weighted by population. The regional allocations will be announced in due course.