§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has on the total number of business premises that have been damaged by fires caused by(a) arson, (b) accident and (c) unknown causes during each of the past 10 years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. John Patten[holding answer 3 February 1992]: The available information relates to fires attended by local authority fire brigades and is shown in the following table.
Fires in business premises1 attended by local authority fire brigades by supposed cause of fire, 1981–90 United Kingdom Year Number of fires in business premises1 attended by local authority fire brigades Total (a) (b) (c) Deliberate or possibly deliberate3 Accidental Unknown 1981 18,077 3,018 13,614 1,445 1982 18,282 3,196 13,926 1,160 1983 18,310 3,505 13,784 1,021 1984 19,317 4,044 14,283 990 1985 19,316 3,971 14,559 786 1986 18,970 4,002 14,214 754 1987 18,542 3,608 14,297 637 P Provisional.
21987 20,228 3,866 15,663 699 21988 20,717 4,027 16,008 682 21989 21,145 4,004 16,578 563 P1990 20,800 4,270 16,030 500 Source: Home Office Fire Statistics.
1 Defined as buildings used for industrial, distribution, hotels, catering, transport, communication and financial trades.2 Definition of business premises from 1988 includes repair of consumer goods and services, accountancy, legal and other professional and technical services, 1987 also shown on an approximately comparable basis.