§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action his Department is taking in respect of fire safety levels in hotels within the EU. [12982]
§ Mr. George HowarthMy officials have written to their counterparts in other interested Departments and will shortly meet representatives of the tourist industry to discuss further the concerns they and others have raised with us about fire safety in hotel accommodation in some member states. In the light of those and other ongoing discussions, I intend to consult Ministerial colleagues to determine whether there is a need for us to press for an improvement in compliance with European Community recommendation 86/666/EEC—on fire safety in existing hotels—by other member states.
Within the United Kingdom, we consider fire safety levels in hotels to be high, and our domestic legislation in this area already meets the principles of European Community recommendation 86/666/EEC on fire safety in existing hotels. We must therefore carefully weigh any perceived shortcomings in hotel fire safety in other member states against not only public safety but the possibility of unnecessarily imposing further legislation burdens on our own domestic tourist industry which would probably have no tangible safety benefit for hotel guests in the United Kingdom.