§ Mr. Martenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps he is taking to improve the standard of fire precautions in the hospitals of the National Health Service in England.
§ Sir K. JosephFire precautions are primarily the responsibility of the individual hospital authorities. My Department gives them general guidance and, mainly through the regional hospital boards, exercises a general oversight of their performance in this field. The Department has instituted a comprehensive annual survey which requires hospital authorities to report on such matters as the results of fire authority inspections of their premises, the state of their fire drill and their administrative arrangements. The conclusion from the first of these surveys is that, while there is always scope for improvement, hospital authorities generally are making a sustained effort to reduce the risk of fire.
The survey also shows that some £5.75 million is needed to bring all hospitals up to fire authority standards and that of this amount £2.5 million was spent in the financial year 1971–72.