§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he proposes to take to reduce the present heavy levels of property loss through fire.
§ Mr. Whitelaw:The Green Paper on future fire policy, published in June this year, proposes that action to reduce property losses from fire should intitially be directed towards the problem of deliberate ignition. Pending the outcome of the consultation process, the police and fire services, and where appropriate the insurance industry, have been invited to consider what steps might be taken to counter vandalism by fire. The national network of fire liaison panels, comprising representatives of insurers, the fire service and industry, have already taken steps to persuade the occupiers of industrial, commercial and public properties to improve their security against fire raisers. The panels will be running a national fire safety week from 27 October to 1 November, on the theme of "Be prepared for fire", during which they will seek to emphasise the responsibility of individual business concerns to control fire by keeping fires to small proportions. I greatly welcome this initiative by the panels and wish national fire safety week every success.