§ Mr. Terry Davisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the cost of the damage to property in fires started by cigarettes during the latest year for which figures are available.
§ Mr. MellorInformation on the cost of damage to property by fires is compiled by the British Insurance Association and published inFire Prevention. The latest available data, for 1981, is not yet published.
The information relates to losses of £50,000 or more which in 1981 accounted for only an estimated 60 per cent. of all fire losses. Out of 642 fires resulting in losses of £50,000 or more, recorded in the United Kingdom in 1981, 67 were ignited by smokers' materials and were estimated to have cost some £20.1 million, some 13 per cent. of the total recorded cost.