Correspondence

Progress against the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Recommendations, September 2021 (accessible version)

Updated 14 March 2024

Applies to England

Introduction

The purpose of this document is to provide an update on the Government’s current progress on making regulations to implement the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 recommendations requiring a change in the law. It also outlines the current position on areas in which we are working jointly with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and assurances we have received from relevant public authorities, including the London Fire Brigade, National Fire Chiefs Council and relevant emergency services, on their current progress to address and implement the Phase 1 recommendations directed to them.

Please note that this document will be updated quarterly to reflect progress and does not reflect finalised Government policy.

Summary of thematic update

In December 2020, the Government published its first quarterly thematic update on its progress and actions to implement the recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report. A further update was published in April 2021 and more will follow.

This update includes information on the different workstreams the Government is progressing such as the enactment of the Fire Safety Act 2021 (not yet commenced) and steps taken following the publication of the Government’s response to the Fire Safety Consultation in March 2021.The update also includes information on the review of the evacuation and ‘stay put’ strategy and the implementation of technical solutions to enhance communications and emergency call handling.

The update also provides an overview of Government support and funding to fire and rescue services and sets out how the Government will seek assurance in relation to what further progress is made.

The present update goes beyond previous iterations which focused primarily on the Government’s response to the Phase 1 recommendations. It has now been revised to also include and report on progress made by fire and rescue services. This includes detail by the London Fire Brigade and the National Fire Chiefs Council - on behalf of fire and rescue services - of progress made on the operational recommendations directed to the Brigade and services more broadly. Furthermore, the update now includes a ‘status rating’ against each of the 46 recommendations. This provides a general indication as to whether a recommendation is complete or is currently being actioned by its respective owner. We hope to expand this in further iterations.

This update also includes a section on intended timescales for implementation of the recommendations where practicable.

The format of these updates, which clearly links activity to the recommendations, and our commitment to update it quarterly, should bring greater transparency to our work in this important area.

Third Iteration Update

This update reflects progress over the past quarter, this includes:

Having completed all stages in both Houses of Parliament, the Fire Safety Act received Royal Assent on 29 April 2021.

The Government published its response to the Fire Safety Consultation on 17 March 2021. The Government is currently drafting regulations intended to be made under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO) to implement the majority of recommendations that require a change in law and is intending to lay these regulations during the Autumn.

The consultation on proposals to implement the Phase 1 recommendations relating to Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) concluded on 19th July 2021.

The progress of the London Fire Brigade (LFB), including improving operational response and handling of incidents, as well as the introduction of revised policies on Fire Survival Guidance, High Rise Firefighting and Mass Evacuation and Rescue policies. LFB have also confirmed that their staff have completed all of the associated training of these policies, including computer based and face-to-face training.

The progress of fire and rescue services, as reported from information provided by the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), on implementing the recommendations that are directed to them. This includes to improving the sharing of risk critical information during an incident between fire control rooms, and between fire, police and ambulance control rooms.

Fire and rescue services: knowledge and understanding of materials used in high-rise buildings

Recommendation 33.10a

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to provide their local fire and rescue service with information about the design of its external walls together with details of the materials of which they are constructed and to inform the fire and rescue service of any material changes made to them.

Status: in progress

The Government has consulted on proposals to require Responsible Persons (RPs), including building owners / managers, to provide their local fire and rescue services with information about the design of the building’s external walls and details of the materials they are constructed from, as well as any material changes made. The Government’s proposals go further than the Inquiry’s recommendation by requiring that RPs also provide information relating to the level of risk arising from the design and materials of the external wall structure and the associated mitigating steps that have been taken. The Fire Safety Act, that achieved Royal Assent on 29 April 2021, clarifies the scope of the Fire Safety Order as including the external walls (including cladding and balconies) and flat entrance doors for premises containing two or more sets of domestic premises.

The Government published its response to its consultation on the measures on 17 March 2021

The Government intends to make regulations under Article 24 of the Fire Safety Order to implement these recommendations. The Government intends to lay these Regulations this autumn.

Recommendation 33.10b

That all fire and rescue services ensure that their personnel at all levels understand the risk of fire taking hold in the external walls of high-rise buildings and know how to recognise it when it occurs.

Status for fire and rescue services: in progress

The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) report that to fully address recommendation 33.10b, fire and rescue services should review all training products to ensure that the hazards associated with external wall system failures are identified, including those related to Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding, are covered, and then carry out training and assessment of all staff on how to identify control measures to respond to the hazard of fire spread in external wall systems.

In June 2021, the NFCC surveyed all fire and rescue services in England about their progress against recommendation 33.10b:

• 23% of services (10 services) have completed this recommendation and have trained all relevant staff using NFCC products. This includes updated NFCC guidance and a suite of building information sheets to help services embed the lessons associated with fire spread on external walls of high-rise buildings.
• 70% of services (31 services) reported they will have completed training and assessment by April 2022.
• 7% of services (3 services) have not yet reviewed existing training. One service has no risk associated with high-rise residential building risk in their area, and follow neighbouring service procedure, their inspection teams have appropriate training. The other services consider the existing training products to be suitable, so have focused on making changes to other areas, but intend on reviewing training when capacity allows.

The NFCC has produced a number of guidance documents and training materials to support services. These cover:

• High rise residential buildings and building failures o Impact of fire or firefighting on structural elements or structural frames
• Impact of fire or firefighting on structural materials
• Partial or structural collapse: Fires in buildings
• External fire spread
• Undetected fire spread
• Fire spread breaching a compartment
• Fires in buildings greater than 18m

Further information on how the government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to fire and rescue services.

Status for London Fire Brigade: complete

London Fire Brigade has reported that it has completed recommendation 33.10b. All of the Brigade’s operational and control staff have received training to recognise and understand the risks involved in fires taking hold in the external walls of high-rise buildings and how such risks may be mitigated to enhance the safety of the public and firefighters.

Further information on how the Government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to the London Fire Brigade.

Section 7(2)(d) of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004

Recommendation 33.11a

That the London Fire Brigade review, and revise as appropriate, Appendix 1 to Policy Number (PN) 633 to ensure that it fully reflects the principles in Generic Risk Assessment (GRA) 3.2.

Status: complete

London Fire Brigade (LFB) has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

The guidance previously contained in Policy Number 633 (High Rise Firefighting) has been reviewed and is now incorporated into the Brigade’s Policy Number 800 (Management of Operational Risk Information) and all operational staff have undertaken mandatory training on the revised policy. This improved guidance has assisted operational staff to understand the risks within their station areas and is supporting the Building Risk Review implemented by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. This was clearly demonstrated at the recent residential high-rise fire at New Providence Wharf where operational risk information supported an effective response to, and the resolution of this major incident.

The Government have worked with the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) to produce updated guidance that has superseded GRA 3.2 which is no longer extant. This has been replaced with National Operational Guidance. A rigorous assurance process has confirmed all relevant areas captured in Generic Risk Assessment 3.2 have been appropriately replaced. As well as having been updated based on changes in legislation, technology and from information provided by fire and rescue services on the incidents they attend, National Operational Guidance offers a more comprehensive product, covering greater detail and provides tools for services to self-assess their adoption of guidance. It is maintained by the NFCC based on National Operational Learning, a system that reviews incidents and makes recommendations based on their findings. This has included comprehensive assessment of the Grenfell Tower Incident in conjunction with LFB.

LFB and the NFCC have collaborated to ensure new policies address National Operational Guidance, using a bowtie risk visualisation tool to assure work completed so far and to consider further improvements to both LFB and NFCC guidance. The Bowtie method creates diagrams that visualise the risks into a single clear picture to allow effective analysis, and identify the effectiveness, of controls.

Recommendation 33.11b

That the London Fire Brigade ensure that all officers of the rank of Crew Manager and above are trained in carrying out the requirements of Policy Number (PN) 633 relating to the inspection of high-rise buildings.

Status: complete

London Fire Brigade (LFB) has reported that this recommendation has been completed. They report that all their operational staff have undertaken mandatory training on the revised Policy Number 800 (Management of Operational Risk Information) and are applying this learning to enable a greater understanding of the significant risks within London’s built environment, whilst also supporting the ongoing Building Risk Review implemented by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).

Further information on how the Government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to the London Fire Brigade.

Plans

Recommendation 33.12a

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to provide their local fire and rescue services with up-to-date plans in both paper and electronic form of every floor of the building identifying the location of key fire safety systems.

Recommendation 33.12b

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to ensure that the building contains a premises information box, the contents of which must include a copy of the up-to-date floor plans and information about the nature of any lift intended for use by the fire and rescue services.

Status: in progress

The Government consulted on proposals to require Responsible Persons (RPs) to provide their local fire and rescue service with up-to-date floor plans which identify the location of key firefighting systems. We also proposed that these are shared electronically and not in paper form, and that plans should be kept up to date. These proposals go further than the Inquiry’s recommendation by also requiring RPs to provide services with a single page building plan which should include the location of all important firefighting equipment.

The Government consulted on its proposal to impose a requirement that RPs have a Premises Information Box (PIB) in all high-rise multi-occupied residential premises. In addition to this, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities consulted on the proposal to recommend PIBs in new blocks of flats through an update to Building Regulation guidance document Approved Document B (ADB). In our response to the Fire Safety Consultation, we announced the intention to amend building regulations fire safety guidance (ADB) to recommend PIBs in all new buildings over 11m, as measured by the guidance in ADB. Furthermore, the proposals for existing high rise multi-occupied residential premises require for PIBs to hold copies of those documents identified for this purpose within the Inquiry’s recommendations (including plans). In addition, we also proposed that a copy of the fire risk assessment and contact details for the relevant RP be held in the PIB.

The Government published its response to the consultation on 17 March 2021.

The Government intends to implement these recommendations through regulations made under Article 24 of the Fire Safety Order (FSO). The Government intends s to lay these Regulations this autumn.

Recommendation 33.12c

That all fire and rescue services be equipped to receive and store electronic plans and to make them available to incident commanders and control room managers.

Status for fire and rescue services: in progress

The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) surveyed all fire and rescue services in England about their progress against recommendation 33.12c. Every service reported they are equipped to receive and store electronic plans, and to make them available to the incident commander and control room managers when required.

To fully address this recommendation, the NFCC recommend that operational risk information for high-risk high-rise residential buildings are accurate and contain all the pertinent information.

In June 2021, the NFCC surveyed all fire and rescue services in England in about their progress against recommendation 33.12c:

• 52% of services (23 services) said they have reviewed all high risk high-rise residential buildings in their area
• 43% of services (19 services) have reported they will have completed this by the end of March 2022
• The remaining 5% of services (2 services) will have completed this recommendation within 24 months.

Due to the number of buildings and other risks in a fire services response area it is challenging to ensure all relevant operational risk information, plans and other information remains accurate. The responsible person for the building must ensure fire risk assessments and all relevant actions including the provision of plans and other information is completed. The proposed changes in legislation (for recommendations 33.12a and 33.12b) support fire and rescue services ensuring that appropriate information is available to emergency responders.

All fire and rescue services have the appropriate technology to support the recommendation made.

Further information on how the government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to fire and rescue services.

Status for London Fire Brigade: in progress

London Fire Brigade report that the completion of recommendation 33.12c is likely to be incorporated into the Brigade’s OneRisk solution.

The completion of the OneRisk project will contribute to the effective storage and dissemination of electronic plans and amalgamate all relevant building related risk information into a single system.

The OneRisk project is currently in Phase 1 – Requirements Gathering.

Further information on how the Government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to the London Fire Brigade.

Lifts

Recommendation 33.13a

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to carry out regular inspections of any lifts that are designed to be used by firefighters in an emergency and to report the results of such inspections to their local fire and rescue service at monthly intervals.

Recommendation 33.13b

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to carry out regular tests of the mechanism which allows firefighters to take control of the lifts and to inform their local fire and rescue service at monthly intervals that they have done so.

Status: in progress

The Government has consulted on proposals for real-time exception reporting of failures of relevant lifts and the mechanism which allows fire-fighters to take control of the lifts. Under our proposals, Responsible Persons would be required to undertake monthly checks of these lifts, and where they identify that a relevant lift or mechanism has failed, they must report it to their local fire and rescue service. The application of this requirement includes lifts within a relevant building designed for use by firefighters as well as lifts used for evacuation.

We proposed to enhance this proposal to maximise the safety of residents through:

• requiring that other critical pieces of fire-fighting equipment are also tested monthly and any failures reported to fire and rescue services; and
• ensuring transparency for residents who will be able to access the results of the monthly checks.

The Government published its response to the consultation on 17 March 2021.

The Government intends to implement these recommendations through regulations made under Article 24 of the Fire Safety Order (FSO). The Government intends to lay these Regulations this autumn.

Communication between the control room and the incident commander

Recommendation 33.14a

That the London Fire Brigade review its policies on communications between the control room and the incident commander.

Status: complete

London Fire Brigade has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

For recommendation 33.14a, the London Fire Brigade published the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) on 31st March 2021 following an extensive training programme for all operational and Control staff. The policy provides for enhancements to the gathering, recording and transfer of fire survival guidance information between the incident ground and Control. The Brigade state that these new procedures were used to good effect during the recent residential high-rise fire at New Providence Wharf to support the handling of multiple fire survival guidance situations during the course of the incident.

Recommendation 33.14b

That all officers who may be expected to act as incident commanders (i.e. all those above the rank of Crew Manager) receive training directed to the specific requirements of communication with the control room.

Status: complete

London Fire Brigade has reported that this recommendation has been completed. For recommendation 33.14b, as of 31st March 2021, the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) was published and 95% of Watch officers and senior officers have received face to face training on this policy. This learning is currently being embedded through a series of exercises involving residential high-rise fire scenarios.

Recommendation 33.14c

That all control room operators of Assistant Operations Manager rank and above receive training directed to the specific requirements of communication with the incident commander.

Status: complete

London Fire Brigade has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

For recommendation 33.14c, all of their Control staff have received training on the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) and the policy, including a specific appendix for Control staff, was published on 31 March 2021. Control staff are taking part in a series of residential high-rise exercises to further embed the learning.

Recommendation 33.14d

That a dedicated communication link be provided between the senior officer in the control room and the incident commander.

Status: complete

London Fire Brigade has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

For recommendation 33.14d, the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) was published on 31 March 2021. The revised policy includes procedures to establish effective communication between the incident ground and Control, including a dedicated communication link between Control and the Fire Sector bridgehead to enable a more effective exchange of information relating to fire survival guidance situations.

Further information on how the Government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to the London Fire Brigade.

Emergency calls

Recommendation 33.15a

That the London Fire Brigade’s policies be amended to draw a clearer distinction between callers seeking advice and callers who believe they are trapped and need rescuing.

Status: complete

London Fire Brigade has reported that this recommendation has been completed. The London Fire Brigade has produced guidance on drawing a clearer distinction between callers seeking advice and callers who believe they are trapped and need rescuing, within Appendix 1 of Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance), published on 31 March 2021, following a Brigade wide training programme.

Recommendation 33.15b

That the London Fire Brigade provide regular and more effective refresher training to control room operators at all levels, including supervisors

Status: complete

London Fire Brigade has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

The London Fire Brigade’s Control staff began their training on the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) in December 2020, with maintenance of competency requirements for staff set out within the Control element of the Brigade’s ‘Development and Maintenance of Operational Professionalism’ (DaMOP) framework, implemented in July 2020.

Further information on how the Government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to the London Fire Brigade.

Recommendation 33.15c

Status for fire and rescue services: in progress

National Operational Guidance for Fire survival calls was updated in May 2021. The Government and the NFCC, collaborated to produce technological solutions to allow fire control rooms to share information about risk critical information, including fire survival guidance calls, simultaneously. All services now have access to this system.

In June 2021, the National Fire Chiefs Council surveyed all fire and rescue services in England about their progress against recommendation 33.15c:

• 23% of services (10 services) reported they have completed this recommendation
• A further 18% (8 services) have completed the necessary changes but are still training their staff

By April 2022, 82% of fire and rescue services (36 services) will have completed this recommendation.

Status for London Fire Brigade: complete

London Fire Brigade has reported that recommendation 33.15c has been completed. The training for the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) and the Broadcast National Talk Group has been completed. Policy Number 790 was published on the 31st March 2021 and the Broadcast National Talk Group went live in February 2021.

The Brigade’s Fire Survival Guidance (FSG) Policy has been shared as national learning and support a new project to establish National Operational Guidance (including FSG) for Control rooms. This guidance also includes the use of a National Talk Group for sharing risk critical information.

Recommendation 33.15d

That electronic systems be developed to record fire survival guidance information in the control room and display it simultaneously at the bridgehead and in any command units.

Status for fire and rescue services: in progress

The National Fire Chiefs Council surveyed all fire and rescue services in England about their progress against recommendation 33.15d:

• 73% of services (32 services) have taken actions that allow information to be effectively captured and shared.
• 27% of services (12 services) are currently exploring available solutions.

London Fire Brigade’s ‘sector leading’ technical initiative has been a matter of interest for many services who are considering how this could be incorporated into local arrangements.

Status for London Fire Brigade: in progress

On implementing recommendation 33.15d, the London Fire Brigade state the development of its innovative Fire Survival Guidance (FSG) technology solution is a ‘sector leading’ initiative by the Brigade, which will enable information from FSG calls to be displayed simultaneously at the incident and in Control. The introduction of the application has been delayed due to technical issues relating to the interface between the completed FSG application and the LFB mobilising system, which require additional testing.

As such, the original completion date for implementation is at risk but it is expected to be complete by the end of December 2021.

Recommendation 33.15e

That policies be developed for managing a transition from “stay put” to “get out”.

Status for fire and rescue services: in progress

In June 2021, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) surveyed all fire and rescue services in England about their progress against recommendation 33.15e:

• 14% of services (6 services) have reported that they had completed this recommendation including training and assessing staff
• 63% of services (27 services) will have completed this by April 2022

Services will continue to update their policies as research being carried out by Government and revised National Operational Guidance become available.

In 2017, the NFCC convened a group of industry professionals to produce a technical guide on arrangements to support a temporary change to the evacuation strategy (now known as the Simultaneous Evacuation Guidance for the person responsible for high rise buildings. This is guidance to support a temporary change to a simultaneous evacuation strategy in purpose-built block of flats.

Status for London Fire Brigade: complete

London Fire Brigade has reported that recommendation 33.15e has been completed. The guidance for managing the transition from ‘stay put’ to ‘get out’ is provided in the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) and the new Evacuation and Rescue policies, both of which were published on 31st March 2021.

All operational and Control staff have undertaken mandatory training on both policies. The Brigade state that this was used to good effect during the recent New Providence Wharf fire in Tower Hamlets to support the rescue of 34 residents who were unable to self-evacuate.

Recommendation 33.15f

That control room staff receive training directed specifically to handling such a change of advice and conveying it effectively to callers.

Status for fire and rescue services: in progress

In June 2021, the National Fire Chiefs Council surveyed all fire and rescue services in England about their progress against the recommendations. In relation to 33.15f (which is linked to recommendation 33.15e):

• 23% of services (9 services) said they have completed this recommendation
• 84% of services (34 services) will have completed required actions by April 2022

Status for London Fire Brigade: complete

London Fire Brigade has reported that recommendation 33.15f has been completed as training for all Control staff has been completed and the learning embedded by participation in a series of high-rise firefighting exercises.

Recommendation 33.16

That steps be taken to investigate methods by which assisting control rooms can obtain access to the information available to the host control room.

Status for fire and rescue services: in progress

The Government is working in partnership with the National Fire Chiefs Council to implement infrastructure and strategic solutions for control rooms to improve the sharing of risk critical information between fire control rooms, and fire and police/ambulance control rooms. This will allow the transfer of information between control rooms to be electronic instead of a control room operator having to manually contact the other service by telephone. The system is called “Multi Agency Information Transfer” (MAIT) and will allow information to be transferred between control rooms much quicker.

The Government has worked with the NFCC to establish a separate Broadcast Talkgroup to improve information sharing between control rooms. This will be achieved by introducing two new Airwave Talkgroups (radio channels), a “Fire Broadcast Talkgroup” and a “JESIP (Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles) Multi Agency Talkgroup” to improve the sharing of information between fire, police and ambulance.

The Broadcast Talkgroup went live in England and Scotland on 1 October 2020 and in Wales in December 2020. This means that if a fire and rescue service becomes overwhelmed with emergency calls, the affected service can now make an announcement on their control room Airwave Radio and it will be received in every control room across the county simultaneously. Weekly testing has taken place involving all Fire Control Rooms, so far the testing has shown that Talkgroup is working effectively. The final test will be completed in October 2021 after which, the Talkgroup will be used by the Fire and Rescue Services under ‘Business as Usual’. This Talkgroup has also successfully been used several times during live incidents.

The JESIP Talkgroup is now live in all Fire Control Rooms and the NFCC has released guidance to support its use.

In conjunction with the NFCC Central Programme Office, the Government has provided funding for two Fire Control Managers to be seconded to assist with development of the National Operational Guidance for Fire Control staff. This will include updating the current Fire Survival Guidance and training.

The Fire Survival Guidance in buildings has now been published. Fire and rescue services are now able to integrate this guidance into their own policies and procedures.

The two secondees have produced guidance for Fire Control Command. This document is currently going through the final governance process for approval prior to being published.

The two secondees have also developed guidance for Emergency Call Management (People at Risk) which is due to go for peer review in October 2021.

Work is in progress to produce guidance for fire control staff for handling multiple emergency calls and multiple emergency incidents.

To fully address this recommendation, fire and rescue services must embed the policies and training to support fire control room personnel in the use of the Airwave Talk Groups.

The Home Office and NFCC are working with BT to establish a more robust way of dealing with Fire Control Rooms becoming overwhelmed with emergency calls resulting from large or protracted incidents. Once implemented, BT will have a predetermined plan of how to distribute overflow calls efficiently between other Fire and Rescue Services.

In June 2021, the NFCC surveyed all fire and rescue services in England about their progress against recommendations. For this recommendation:

• 93% of services (41 services) have completed this recommendation and embedded all changes.
• The remaining 7% of services (3 services) will have completed this recommendation and embedded all changes by April 2022.

Further information on how the government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to fire and rescue services.

Status for London Fire Brigade: complete

With the establishment of the Broadcast Talkgroup, the National Fire Chiefs Council have provided guidance on the Talkgroup.

London Fire Brigade have reported that recommendation 33.16 has been completed as all Control officers have received training on the Talkgroup’s protocol. It is further reported that the Brigade’s Vision mobilising system is Multi Agency Incident Transfer (MAIT) enabled in preparation for the implementation of MAIT in 2021.

Further information on how the Government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to the London Fire Brigade.

Recommendation 33.17

That the London Ambulance Service and Metropolitan Police Service review their protocols and policies to ensure that their operators can identify fire survival guidance calls (as defined by the London Fire Brigade) and pass them to the London Fire Brigade as soon as possible.

Status: complete

London Fire Brigade has informed us that its revised Policy Note 790 ‘Fire Survival Guidance’, published on 31 March 2021, has been shared with the Metropolitan Police Service and the London Ambulance Service, together with a briefing note to support an increased understanding of the policy revisions.

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and London Ambulance Service (LAS) have both reported to the Mayor of London that they have reviewed protocols on Fire Survival Guidance calls to ensure these are passed to the London Fire Brigade, therefore this recommendation is considered to be completed.

Command and control

Recommendation 33.18a

That the London Fire Brigade develop policies and training to ensure better control of deployments and the use of resources.

Status: complete

London Fire Brigade has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

The implementation of the Brigade’s revised High-Rise Firefighting policy (PN 633) in June 2021 addresses this recommendation by including information on crew deployments, including on tasks relating to Fire Survival Guidance calls.

The initial training in the new procedures was completed in March 2021. The policy was implemented shortly after the Brigade had considered the findings of a health and safety advisory panel, which was convened as part of the consultation process to confirm the procedures contained within the policy to enable both the protection of residents and the safety of firefighters.

Recommendation 33.18b

That the London Fire Brigade develop policies and training to ensure that better information is obtained from crews returning from deployments and that the information is recorded in a form that enables it to be made available immediately to the incident commander (and thereafter to the command units and the control room).

Status: in progress

London Fire Brigade has reported that this recommendation is in progress.

London Fire Brigade has developed a new structured briefing model which is incorporated within its new incident command policies. Training on the new briefing model was incorporated into the recent training for the high-rise firefighting, fire survival guidance and evacuation policies.

Consultation on the final version of the model is taking place, but has been delayed due to the volume of ongoing Brigade work that requires staff side consultation; it is scheduled for completion by September 2021 but is currently considered at risk of further delay.

Recommendation 33.19

That the London Fire Brigade develop a communication system to enable direct communication between the control room and the incident commander and improve the means of communication between the incident commander and the bridgehead.

Status: complete

London Fire Brigade has reported that this recommendation has been completed via its revised Fire Survival Guidance policy.

London Fire Brigade has also issued guidance to firefighters on effective communication at incidents and implemented changes to the radio channels used by the Brigade during incidents. This is to allow for additional dedicated incident command channels. Drones have also been introduced and are now equipped to enable information to be live streamed to Brigade Control; drone pilots are also being trained to deliver smoke hoods and flotation devices at incidents.

Recommendation 33.20

That the London Fire Brigade investigate the use of modern communication techniques to provide a direct line of communication between the control room and the bridgehead, allowing information to be transmitted directly between the control room and the bridgehead and providing an integrated system of recording fire survival guidance information and the results of deployments.

Status: in progress

London Fire Brigade has reported that this recommendation is in progress through the development of its sector leading Fire Survival Guidance (FSG) application.

The introduction of the application has been delayed due to technical issues relating to the interface between the completed FSG application and the LFB mobilising system, which require additional testing. As such, the original completion date for implementation is at risk but it is expected to be complete by the end of December 2021.

Further information on how the Government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to the London Fire Brigade.

Equipment

Recommendation 33.21a

That the London Fire Brigade urgently take steps to obtain equipment that enables firefighters wearing helmets and breathing apparatus to communicate with the bridgehead effectively, including when operating in high-rise buildings.

Status: in progress

London Fire Brigade has reported that this recommendation is in progress.

London Fire Brigade is working on four workstreams to improve radio communications between the breathing apparatus crews and the bridgehead, including when operating in high rise buildings.

These are: the Radio Replacement Workstream, Radio Repeaters Replacement Workstream, Training Workstream and RPE Replacement Workstream.

Recommendation 33.21b

That urgent steps be taken to ensure that the command support system is fully operative on all command units and that crews are trained in its use.

Status: complete

London Fire Brigade has reported that this recommendation has been completed. The London Fire Brigade has installed new hardware servers on all its Command Units, and 4G connectivity has provided enhanced functionality and reliability of the command support system. The Command Units are also each provided with two 4G enabled laptops to provide resilience and support more flexible access to the command support system remote from the Command Unit.

All Command Unit staff have undertaken refresher training.

Further information on how the Government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to the London Fire Brigade.

Evacuation

Recommendation 33.22a

That the government develop national guidelines for carrying out partial or total evacuations of high-rise residential buildings, such guidelines to include the means of protecting fire exit routes and procedures for evacuating persons who are unable to use the stairs in an emergency, or who may require assistance (such as disabled people, older people and young children).

Status: in progress

The Inquiry recommended that the Government develops national guidelines for carrying out partial or total evacuations of high-rise residential buildings. In December 2019, a joint Home Office and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities technical steering group was set up to support a research project which aims to review means of escape provisions in blocks of flats including the use of the ‘stay put’ strategy and evacuation.

The steering group has identified four strands to this work: an evidence review which assesses academic evidence on methods of evacuation; operational research to test evacuation strategies; building design research to evaluate fire safety provisions in buildings; and human behaviour and public confidence, to better understand public perception and understanding of evacuation strategies. Having been through a final policy and quality assurance review, the report for the first stage of work is now being finalised.

Successful suppliers have now been appointed for the building design, human behaviour and evacuation operational research strands and the work on all three strands has now started.

The supplier is currently conducting Phase 1 of the evacuation operational research. This includes gathering evidence using a mixture of both interviews and surveys of staff from fire and rescue services and building occupants. The supplier will then conduct an analysis of the evidence and identify the most appropriate strategies to be live tested in Phase 2 of the evacuation operational research strand.

On the building design and human behaviour research strands, the supplier has currently conducted a literature review and devised methodologies for interviewing both staff at fire and rescue services and building occupants which focus on the behaviour of firefighters and occupants.

Recommendation 33.22b

That fire and rescue services develop policies for partial and total evacuation of high-rise residential buildings and training to support them.

Status: in progress

The full implementation of this policy is dependent on the completion of recommendation 33.22a, that the government develop national guidelines for carrying out partial or total evacuations of high-rise residential buildings. The guidelines should include the means of protecting fire exit routes and procedures for evacuating persons who are unable to use the stairs in an emergency, or who may require assistance (such as disabled people, older people and young children), which is in progress.

In December 2019, the National Fire Chiefs Council published the reviewed guidance that provides information for fire and rescue services to change evacuation strategies and perform mass rescue, based on advice and information from fire and rescue service leads.

In June 2021, the NFCC surveyed all fire and rescue services in England about their progress against recommendations. In response to recommendation 33.22b:

• 14% of services (6 services) have completed the recommendation and have reported that they have reviewed their policies relating to evacuation, instigated changes, and trained personnel
• 45% of services (20 services) reported they have made the necessary policy changes but are still training its staff. Training will be completed before April 2022.

Further information on how the government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to fire and rescue services.

Status for London Fire Brigade: complete

London Fire Brigade has reported that recommendation 33.22b has been completed.

The London Fire Brigade has developed an Evacuation and Rescue policy, which was published on 31st March 2021, alongside the revised Fire Survival Guidance policy. The Evacuation and Rescue policy has been shared with the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) High Rise Firefighting working group to support sector wide learning.

Training on the new policy has been provided to all operational staff via computer-based training packages and face to face training for Watch and senior officers. This training is reinforced by guided learning exercises for station-based staff.

Further information on how the Government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to the London Fire Brigade.

Recommendation 33.22c

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to draw up and keep under regular review evacuation plans, copies of which are to be provided in electronic and paper form to their local fire and rescue service and placed in an information box on the premises.

Status: in progress

The Government has consulted on proposals to require Responsible Persons (which includes Building Owners and Managers) to draw up and keep under regular review evacuation plans. We proposed that these are shared electronically with their local fire and rescue services, and not in paper form, with a paper copy being placed in the Premises Information Box (PIB). The Government also wanted to test whether this proposal should be extended to cover all multi-occupied residential buildings of 11m and above, which would go further than the Inquiry’s recommendation.

The Government’s response to the Fire Safety consultation was published on 17 March 2021.

The Government intends to implement these recommendations through regulations made under Article 24 of the Fire Safety Order (FSO). The Government intends to lay these Regulations this autumn.

Recommendation 33.22d

That all high-rise residential buildings (both those already in existence and those built in the future) be equipped with facilities for use by the fire and rescue services enabling them to send an evacuation signal to the whole or a selected part of the building by means of sounders or similar devices.

Status: in progress

The Government agrees that these three measures identified by the Phase 1 report - wayfinding signage, evacuation alert systems and sprinklers - need additional consideration. In May 2020, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities published amendments to Approved Document B to recommend sprinkler systems and consistent wayfinding signage in all new blocks of flats with storeys over 11 metres tall. Also, it was announced that the Government would work with the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) on a series of tests of evacuation alert systems, with a view to including guidance in a later update to Approved Document B.

The NFCC has developed guidance and training packages to support the introduction and use of British Standard (BS) 8629 compliant Evacuation alert systems.

The London Fire Brigade has implemented training for relevant operational staff relating to evacuation alert systems and considers this action complete from a Brigade perspective.

Recommendation 33.22e

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to prepare personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) for all residents whose ability to self-evacuate may be compromised (such as persons with reduced mobility or cognition).

Recommendation 33.22f

That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to include up-to-date information about persons with reduced mobility and their associated personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) in the premises information box.

Status: in progress

The Government originally consulted on proposals to implement these recommendations in the Fire Safety Consultation. However, the issue of personal emergency evacuation plans is complex, and it is important that we get this right and ensure that the views of residents and those most likely to be impacted by the proposals is heard. That is why we decided to seek further views on personal emergency evacuation plans in high-rise residential buildings through a new public consultation.

The consultation opened on 8 June and closed on 19 July 2021. The consultation is available here. We are considering the responses to the consultation and will publish the outcome on GOV.UK.

Recommendation 33.22g

That all fire and rescue services be equipped with smoke hoods to assist in the evacuation of occupants through smoke-filled exit routes.

Status for fire and rescue services: in progress

In June 2021, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) surveyed all fire and rescue services in England about their progress against the recommendations. For this recommendation:

• 66% of services (29 services) have acquired smoke hoods
• 32% of services (14 services) have acquired smoke hoods. The training and role out of smoke hoods will be complete by the end of December 2021.
• 2% of services (1 service) has made an agreement to a purchase arrangement to acquire smoke hoods allowing them to be used at emergencies by March 2022.

Further information on how the government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to fire and rescue services.

Status for London Fire Brigade: complete

London Fire Brigade has reported that this recommendation is complete. The Brigade implemented smoke hoods on all its front-line appliances in November 2018.

To date, the Brigade state they have been used on numerous occasions, including at the recent residential high-rise fire at New Providence Wharf where they were used to rescue 22 of the 34 residents rescued by the Brigade

Further information on how the Government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to the London Fire Brigade.

Internal signage

Recommendation 33.27

That in all high-rise buildings floor numbers be clearly marked on each landing within the stairways and in a prominent place in all lobbies in such a way as to be visible both in normal conditions and in low lighting or smoky conditions.

Status: in progress

On 26 November 2020, the amendments to Building Regulation guidance (Fire Safety: Approved Document B) was published and sets provisions for consistent wayfinding signage in new block of flats or new mixed-use buildings containing flats with a top floor more than 11 metres above ground level.

The Government has consulted on proposals to require that wayfinding signage be present in all existing high-rise residential buildings. We proposed going beyond the Inquiry’s recommendation and introduce a requirement for it in all multi-occupied residential buildings 11 metres and above.

The Government’s response to the Fire Safety consultation was published on 17 March 2021.

The Government intends to implement these recommendations through regulations made under Article 24 of the Fire Safety Order (FSO). The Government intends to lay these Regulations this autumn.

Information to residents

Recommendation 33.28

That the owner and manager of every residential building containing separate dwellings (whether or not it is a high-rise building) be required by law to provide fire safety instructions (including instructions for evacuation) in a form that the occupants of the building can reasonably be expected to understand, taking into account the nature of the building and their knowledge of the occupants.

Status: in progress

The Fire Safety consultation included proposals to require the Responsible Person to provide fire safety information (including instructions for evacuation) to residents in an accessible manner. The Government also sought views on whether other information should be provided to residents.

The Government’s response to the Fire Safety consultation was published on 17 March 2021.

Furthermore, the Building Safety Bill, introduced into Parliament on 5 July, includes a provision to the effect that Responsible Persons in buildings that contain two or more sets of domestic premises must provide residents with relevant and comprehensible information about fire safety matters.

The Government intends to implement the recommendation to provide fire safety instructions through regulations made under Article 24 of the Fire Safety Order (FSO). The Government intends to lay these Regulations this autumn.

Fire doors

Recommendation 33.29a

That the owner and manager of every residential building containing separate dwellings (whether or not they are high-rise buildings) carry out an urgent inspection of all fire doors to ensure that they comply with applicable legislative standards.

Recommendation 33.29b

That the owner and manager of every residential building containing separate dwellings (whether or not they are high-rise buildings) be required by law to carry out checks at not less than three-monthly intervals to ensure that all fire doors are fitted with effective self-closing devices in working order.

Recommendation 33.30

That all those who have responsibility in whatever capacity for the condition of the entrance doors to individual flats in high-rise residential buildings, whose external walls incorporate unsafe cladding, be required by law to ensure that such doors comply with current standards.

Status: in progress

The Government has consulted on proposals to require Responsible Persons to undertake checks of the self-closing devices on fire doors in multi-occupied residential buildings over 11 metres and above:

• For buildings of 18 metres and above, all fire doors in the non-domestic parts (the common parts) should be checked at not less than three-monthly intervals and all flat entrance fire doors at not less than six-monthly.
• For buildings of 11-18 metres, all fire doors in the non-domestic parts (the common parts) should be checked at not less than six-monthly and all flat entrance fire doors at not less than yearly intervals.
• For buildings under 11 metres, we sought views on the role of guidance to promote checks of the self-closing devices on all fire doors in these buildings at a frequency which would take account of the age of a building, its height and risk profile.

In its consultation, the Government sought views on proposals for a reasonable and practicable level of checks proportionate to the risk. In line with the Inquiry’s additional recommendation on fire doors, (recommendation 33.30), where unsafe cladding is incorporated into external walls, we proposed that those that have ‘control’ of the relevant door in high-rise residential buildings are placed under an obligation to ensure that the door complies with current standards and if necessary, replace the door. The Fire Safety Act achieved Royal Assent on 29 April 2021, which clarifies the scope of the Fire Safety Order as including the external walls (including cladding and balconies) and flat entrance doors for premises containing two or more sets of domestic premises.

The Government’s response to the Fire Safety consultation was published on 17 March 2021.

The Government intends to implement these recommendations 33.29a and 33.29b through regulations introduced under Article 24 of the Fire Safety Order (FSO). The Government intends to make these regulations this autumn.

Cooperation between emergency services

Recommendation 33.31a

That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that each emergency service must communicate the declaration of a Major Incident to all other Category 1 Responders as soon as possible.

Recommendation 33.31b

That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that on the declaration of a Major Incident, clear lines of communication must be established as soon as possible between the control rooms of the individual emergency services.

Recommendation 33.31c

That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that a single point of contact should be designated within each control room to facilitate such communication.

Recommendation 33.31d

That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that a “METHANE” message should be sent as soon as possible by the emergency service declaring a Major Incident.

Status: in progress

The members of the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP) Interoperability Board, including representatives from Government, emergency services and other key stakeholders, have committed to addressing, in full, these recommendations in the review of the JESIP Joint Doctrine which is currently underway. This work is forecast to be completed later this year so that it can also reflect lessons learnt from the ongoing Manchester Arena Inquiry.

The London Fire Brigade has committed to incorporating any changes to the Joint Doctrine into its own policies and training. The Brigade is already making changes to its own operational procedures to address these recommendations. Specifically, the Brigade is in the process of revising its Major Incident Policy (PN 263), which will include a specific section regarding informing other category 1 responders, the initiation of a Major Incident for Incident Commanders, reinforced METHANE messaging, and the activation of a tri-service call at the declaration of a Major Incident.

London’s emergency services are also working together to address these issues at the city level. These recommendations are also being considered by the ‘Blue Lights’ panel of London Emergency Services Liaison Panel (LESLP). The Blue Lights panel is responsible for London’s Major Incidents Procedures Manual which has been reviewed and revised to address these issues. The latest revised LESLP Major Incidents Procedures Manual is scheduled to be presented to the London Resilience Forum (LRF) on 14 October 2021 for approval.

Recommendation: 33.32

That steps be taken to investigate the compatibility of the London Fire Brigade (LFB) systems with those of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and the London Ambulance Service (LAS) with a view to enabling all three emergency services’ systems to read each other’s messages.

Status: in progress

In February 2020, London trialled the co-location of the three emergency services (Metropolitan Police Service, London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service) aimed at improving the coordination of incident information.

There are standing arrangements in London to use a pre-planned Airwave talk-group as an immediate means to share information across London’s emergency services for serious events.

Recommendation 33.33

That steps be taken to ensure that the airborne datalink system on every National Police Air Service helicopter observing an incident which involves one of the other emergency services defaults to the National Emergency Service user encryption.

Status: complete

The National Police Air Service (NPAS) mandated all operational crews complete refresher training in the use of Airborne data link equipment, writing to all 43 Home Office police forces. Software upgrades to enable the Airborne data link system to automatically default to the National Emergency Services user encryption have now been completed for all operational NPAS aircraft.

Recommendation 33.34

That the London Fire Brigade, the Metropolitan Police Service, the London Ambulance Service and the London local authorities all investigate ways of improving the collection of information about survivors and making it available more rapidly to those wishing to make contact with them

Status: in progress

Recommendation 33.34 is about improving the way information about the survivors of an incident is collected and shared by London’s emergency services and local authorities. Procedures for improving the way information about the survivors of an incident is collected and shared by London’s emergency services and local authorities are already set out in London’s Major Incidents Procedures Manual, which is produced by the ‘Blue Lights’ panel of London Emergency Services Liaison Panel (LESLP). The Blue Lights panel is working with the Humanitarian Assistance Working Group to address this recommendation and it is expected to be complete by the end of September 2021.

Read how the Government is seeking assurance on recommendations directed to the emergency services.

London Fire Brigade

It is for the London Fire Brigade (LFB) to formally respond to the recommendations directed to them and fire and rescue services more broadly.

The Home Secretary wrote to LFB in November 2019, using her powers in section 26 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, to require regular reporting on LFB’s progress on implementing the Phase 1 Grenfell report recommendations directed at them. We are encouraged that LFB continues to focus on implementing all the recommendations directed to them as well as those targeting services more broadly. The Home Office continues to receive regular reports which have shown steady and concerted progress, even against a backdrop of the pandemic.

To ensure the lessons from Grenfell are learned and change is implemented at pace, we provided £10 million in additional funding in 2020/21 to drive change nationally and in local services. Of the £10 million, the Grenfell Infrastructure grant funding totalling £7m is helping to support all fire and rescue services (FRSs) to respond to the recommendations, including ensuring smoke hoods are appropriately available on front line appliances, as well as supporting FRSs to improve collaborative communications during major incidents. LFB was allocated £1.3m from the £7m Grenfell Infrastructure grant.

In addition, we made available £20 million in additional funding in 2020/21 to increase the strategic leadership of fire protection work in England and uplift the capability and capacity of FRSs in this area. Of the £20 million, £6m was given to FRSs, of which the LFB received £2.3m, to support delivery of the Government’s commitment to inspect or review all high rise residential buildings of 18m and above by the end of December 2021. A further £10 million has been allocated to FRSs, of which LFB have been allocated £3.2m, to uplift protection capability and capacity in order to bolster work targeting other high-risk buildings.

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services’ (HMICFRS) LFB Report

The Home Secretary commissioned HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) to carry out a review of the governance and progress of LFB’s action plan to implement the recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report.

This review, published in February 2021, affirms the steady progress the Brigade has made to implement the recommendations and provides assurance that London’s transformation programme has begun to have a positive effect. This includes the appointment of a Transformation Director from outside the service, the appointment of an Independent Operational Assurance Adviser and the establishment of an independent Audit Committee tasked with providing assurance to the London Fire Commissioner that the Brigade’s governance, risk and internal control framework is effective.

The review also found the Brigade is strengthening its operational response to fires in high rise residential buildings through the scheduled implementation of new and revised operational policies for April 2021 including Fire Survival Guidance, High Rise Firefighting and Evacuation and Rescue policies. The increased emphasis on Fire Survival Guidance training and of placing fire control room staff in the centre of operational response appears to be a positive step. Furthermore, increasing knowledge of building materials and risks relating to them, particularly in external high-rise walls, of both incident commanders and firefighters has improved with the provision of information and training.

However, the review emphasises that the Brigade still has a significant amount of work to do. This includes the service focusing on and improving the robustness of their governance and assurance processes to monitor the implementation of the recommendations and ensuring that both incident command competence and completion of training exercises in line with new policies introduced is improved. In March 2021, HMICFRS began inspecting every service in England for a third time. LFB will be inspected later this year, with their report published in summer 2022.

Mayor of London

The Government also welcomes the Mayor of London’s commitment to ensure the Inquiry’s recommendations are implemented. Further information about LFB’s implementation of the recommendations can be found on the Mayor of London’s website

Table of completed Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Recommendations

The table on the following page lists the recommendations that have been completed to date by LFB. This includes recommendations directed to LFB and fire and rescue services more broadly.

Table of completed Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Recommendations

Reference	Recommendation	Directed to:	Additional notes
33.10b	That all fire and rescue services ensure that their personnel at all levels understand the risk of fire taking hold in the external walls of high-rise buildings and know how to recognise it when it occurs.	Fire and Rescue Services	This recommendation is currently being addressed across fire and rescue services. A quarter of fire and rescue services have completed all necessary work, and over 90% will have done so by April 2022. but has been completed by the London Fire Brigade. This recommendation has been completed by the London Fire Brigade. All London Fire Brigade staff have received training to recognise and understand the risks involved in fires taking hold in the external walls of high-rise buildings.
33.11a	That the London Fire Brigade (LFB) review, and revise as appropriate, Appendix 1 to Policy Number (PN) 633 to ensure that it fully reflects the principles in Generic Risk Assessment (GRA) 3.2.	London Fire Brigade	This information was removed from Appendix 1 of Policy Number 633 (High Rise Firefighting) and subsumed in the revised Policy Number 800 – Management of Operational Risk Information.
33.11b	That the London Fire Brigade (LFB) ensure that all officers of the rank of Crew Manager and above are trained in carrying out the requirements of Policy Number (PN) 633 relating to the inspection of high-rise buildings	London Fire Brigade	All operational staff undertook mandatory training on the revised Policy Number 800 (Management of Operational Risk Information).
33.14a	That the London Fire Brigade (LFB) review its policies on communications between the control room and the incident commander	London Fire Brigade	The revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) was published on 31st March 2021 following an extensive training programme for all operational and Control staff.
33.14b	That all officers who may be expected to act as incident commanders (i.e. all those above the rank of Crew Manager) receive training directed to the specific requirements of communication with the control room.	London Fire Brigade	95% of Watch officers and senior officers have received face to face training on the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) and the policy was published on 31st March 2021.
33.14c	That all control room operators (CROs) of Assistant Operations Manager rank and above receive training directed to the specific requirements of communication with the incident commander.	London Fire Brigade	All Control staff have received training on the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) and the policy, including a specific appendix for Control staff, was published on 31st March 2021.
33.14d	That a dedicated communication link be provided between the senior officer in the control room and the incident commander.	London Fire Brigade	The revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) was published on 31st March 2021.
33.15a	That the London Fire Brigade’s policies be amended to draw a clearer distinction between callers seeking advice and callers who believe they are trapped and need rescuing	London Fire Brigade	This information is now provided within Appendix 1 of Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance), published on 31st March 2021 following a Brigade wide training programme.
33.15b	That the London Fire Brigade (LFB) provide regular and more effective refresher training to control room operators (CROs) at all levels, including supervisors	London Fire Brigade	Control staff began their training on Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) in December 2020 (with input in November on the new Fire Survival Guidance/High Rise layout on the mobilising system). In addition, staff have also received input on the use of the Broadcast National Talk Group as an additional tool to be used when dealing with large numbers of Fire Survival Guidance calls. DaMOP (Development and Maintenance of Operational Professionalism project) for Control went live in July 2020, which means Fire Survival Guidance Refresher Training is captured within a cyclical Framework for risk, critical competencies all relevant Control Officers need to receive. The system is robust and ensures officers are not ‘missed.’
33.15c	That all fire and rescue services develop policies for handling a large number of fire survival guidance (FSG) calls simultaneously	Fire and Rescue Services	This recommendation is currently being addressed across fire and rescue services. For the London Fire Brigade (LFB), this recommendation has been marked as complete. LFB report that the training for the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) and the Broadcast National Talk Group has been completed. Policy Number 790 was published on the 31st March 2021 and the Broadcast National Talk Group went live in February 2021. The Fire Survival Guidance (FSG) Policy has been shared as part of national learning and as part of the new project to establish Control National Operational Guidance (including FSG). This includes the use of a National Talk Group for sharing risk critical information.
33.15e	That policies be developed for managing a transition from “stay put” to “get out”	Fire and Rescue Services	This recommendation is currently being addressed across fire and rescue services. For the London Fire Brigade (LFB), this recommendation has been marked as complete. LFB report that the guidance for managing the transition from ‘stay put’ to ‘get out’ is provided in the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) and the new Evacuation and Rescue policies, which were both published on 31st March 2021.
33.15f	That control room staff receive training directed specifically to handling such a change of advice and conveying it effectively to callers	Fire and Rescue Services	This recommendation is currently being addressed across fire and rescue services. For the London Fire Brigade (LFB), this recommendation has been marked as complete. LFB report that the training for all Control staff has been completed.
33.16	That steps be taken to investigate methods by which assisting control rooms can obtain access to the information available to the host control room.	Fire and Rescue Services	This recommendation has been completed by 93% of fire and rescue services including the London Fire Brigade and is currently being addressed by the remaining three services and will be complete by April 2022. With the establishment of the Broadcast Talkgroup, the National Fire Chiefs Council have provided guidance on the Talkgroup. London Fire Brigade have reported that this recommendation been completed as all Control officers have received training on the National Broadcast Talkgroup’s protocol.
33.17	That the London Ambulance Service (LAS) and Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) review their protocols and policies to ensure that their operators can identify fire survival guidance (FSG) calls (as defined by the London Fire Brigade (LFB)) and pass them to the LFB as soon as possible	London Ambulance Service and Metropolitan Police Service	The London Fire Brigade has shared its revised Fire Survival Guidance policy, published on 31 March 2021 with the MPS and LAS, and provided briefing materials to accompany the policy.
33.18a	That the London Fire Brigade develop policies and training to ensure better control of deployments and the use of resources.	London Fire Brigade	The implementation of the Brigade’s revised High-Rise Firefighting policy (PN 633) in June 2021 fully addresses this recommendation by including information on crew deployments, including on tasks relating to Fire Survival Guidance calls. The initial training in the new procedures was completed in March 2021.
33.19	That the London Fire Brigade (LFB) develop a communication system to enable direct communication between the control room and the incident commander and improve the means of communication between the incident commander and the bridgehead	London Fire Brigade	This recommendation has been marked as complete with the implementation of the Brigade’s revised Fire Survival Guidance policy. This recommendation has also been addressed through various other actions. This includes guidance issued to firefighters on effective communication at incidents, and changes to the radio channels used by the Brigade during incidents to allow for dedicated incident command channels. Drones have been introduced, with information able to be live streamed at Brigade Control; drone pilots are also being trained to deliver smoke hoods and flotation devices at incidents.
33.21b	That urgent steps be taken to ensure that the command support system is fully operative on all command units and that crews are trained in its use	London Fire Brigade	Installation of new hardware servers on all Command Units and 4G connectivity has provided increased functionality, and all Command Unit staff have undertaken refresher training. All Command Units are also equipped with two 4G enabled laptops to provide resilience and enable access to the command support system remote from the Command Unit.
33.22b	That fire and rescue services develop policies for partial and total evacuation of high-rise residential buildings and training to support them	Fire and Rescue Services	This recommendation is currently being addressed across fire and rescue services. For the London Fire Brigade (LFB), this recommendation has been marked as complete. LFB report that they have published the new Evacuation and Rescue policy on 31st March 2021. Training has been delivered to all operational staff in the London Fire Brigade via Computer Based Training packages, and via face to face training for Watch and senior officers. This training is reinforced by guided learning exercises for station-based staff.
33.22g	That all fire and rescue services be equipped with smoke hoods to assist in the evacuation of occupants through smoke-filled exit routes.	Fire and Rescue Services	This recommendation is currently being addressed across fire and rescue services. For the London Fire Brigade (LFB), this recommendation has been marked as complete. The Brigade has acquired and made live the operational use of smoke hoods.

Fire and Rescue Services

The Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government wrote to every Chief Fire Officer and Fire and Rescue Authority Chair in England to ask that they work together, and through the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), to implement the Inquiry’s recommendations including considering those addressed specifically to the London Fire Brigade.

The NFCC is reflecting the Inquiry’s recommendations in its ongoing review of National Operational Guidance and development of supporting learning materials, including those to help firefighters use evacuation alert systems. This guidance is published on UKFRS.com. The NFCC also surveyed services in June 2021 to review and ensure they are supported in implementing the Inquiry’s recommendations. The NFCC is committed to work with the government to drive future improvements across the sector as part of its Fit for the Future programme, addressing underlying issues from the Inquiry’s recommendations.

The Fire Standards Board is an independently chaired body with members from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, the Local Government Association, the National Fire Chiefs Council, and the Home Office. Fire standards for Operational Competence, Operational Learning, Operational Preparedness, Emergency Response Driving, Code of Ethics and Community Risk Management Planning have been published. These standards build on best practice that already exists in the sector, whilst providing flexibility in how services achieve those standards in line with local community needs. The Fire Standards are designed to encourage services to regularly evaluate their performance and strive to continually improve what they do and deliver excellence for the public.

In response to a recommendation from HMICFRS, the Local Government Association (LGA), the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) and NFCC have developed and published a Core Code of Ethics. The Core Code identifies five ethical principles specifically applicable to fire and rescue services. It is supported by a Code of Ethics Fire Standard.

The Government has worked closely with the NFCC, through the Fire Protection Board, to help ensure appropriate interim measures remain in place for buildings with dangerous cladding, such as Aluminium Composite Material (ACM). In December 2020, the Government announced a new £30 million Waking Watch Relief Fund to pay for the costs of installing an alarm system in buildings with unsafe cladding and where leaseholders are paying the costs of Waking Watch. This fund will replace costly Waking Watch measures in buildings waiting to have unsafe cladding removed and replaced. The fund further builds on recently updated guidance published by the National Fire Chief’s Council (NFCC) on buildings that change from a ‘Stay Put’ to a ‘Simultaneous Evacuation’ fire safety strategy.

The guidance maintains that ‘stay put’ remains an appropriate strategy in most blocks of flats where compartmentation works to stop the spread of fire, and there are suitably protected means of escape; and strongly recommends that where a change to a simultaneous evacuation is deemed necessary and will be required beyond a short-term period, that a temporary common fire alarm system is installed.

The fund was opened to all eligible private sector buildings and to all eligible social sector buildings in England. Applications are currently being assessed and further data and information about the fund will be published shortly.

To ensure that the lessons from Grenfell are learned and change is implemented at pace, £10 million in additional funding was made available in 2020/21 to drive change nationally and in local services. Of the £10 million, the Grenfell Infrastructure grant funding totalling £7m is helping to support all fire and rescue services (FRSs) to respond to the recommendations, including ensuring smoke hoods are appropriately available on front line appliances, as well as supporting FRSs to improve collaborative communications during major incidents. The remaining £3 million is to drive investment in building the central capability of the NFCC.

Early information received back from fire and rescue services on the use of Grenfell infrastructure grant shows that services are ensuring smoke hoods are appropriately available, with over half of services having these in place with many others in the process of purchasing smoke hoods. Services have also invested in other technical equipment, examples of which include smoke curtains, thermal imaging cameras, gas detection monitors and breathing apparatus equipment. Many services are also looking to invest in appliances and training for high rise risks and in dealing with evacuations. The funding has also helped to put in place support for a local Grenfell recommendations co-ordination function. This allows the NFCC and fire and rescue services to track and evidence progress being made against the recommendations. Many services have identified individuals to coordinate the services response and also set up project or working management groups/committees. Services are also looking to upskill staff and improve their training regimes including computer-based training.

The Government is committed to ensure that all high-rise residential buildings are inspected or reviewed by the end of 2021. In addition to the £1.6bn that the Government has made available to accelerate the pace of remediation, in February 2021, the Government announced that £3.5bn will be allocated to remediate unsafe cladding in high rise residential buildings over 18 metres. Furthermore, the Government has been informed through HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) reports that the protection teams in many Fire and Rescue Services need improvement and this activity has not always been appropriately prioritised. As a result, the Government provided £20m in additional funding in 2020/21 for fire protection. Of the £20m, £6m has been provided to FRSs to deliver the Government’s commitment to review or inspect all high-rise residential buildings; £4m to create a new central strategic leadership function in NFCC; and £10m funding for FRSs to have the capability and capacity to respond to risks in other potentially higher risk buildings, including residential buildings under 18 metres, care homes and hospitals.

In 2021/22, a total of £14 million will be available to Fire and Rescue Services to continue the increase in capacity and capability of their protection teams. Furthermore, the NFCC will be provided with £5 million to continue its work on building a central strategic leadership function and protection hub and £1.5 million to continue delivering on the work of the Fire Standards Board.

The Government has been working with services and the NFCC, through the Fire Protection Board, to help ensure appropriate interim measures remain in place for buildings with dangerous cladding, such as Aluminium Composite Material (ACM). The revised NFCC Simultaneous Evacuation Guidance, published on 1 October following extensive consultation with a large stakeholder group, including leaseholders and industry experts, provides clearer advice which supports the Fire and Rescue Services and responsible persons. The updated guidance now advises responsible persons to explore cost benefit options with leaseholders and residents. It also encourages the installation of Common Fire alarms systems which means reducing the dependency on waking watch wherever possible. The guidance also reiterates that interim measures should only ever be short term and are not a substitute for remediation.

HMICFRS has now begun its second full round of inspections of all 44 fire and rescue services. These inspections will consider the progress every individual fire and rescue has made in implementing relevant recommendations. The findings for the inspections will be published in three tranches over the course of 2021 and 2022.

Emergency Services

The members of the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP) Interoperability Board, including representatives from Government, emergency services and other key stakeholders, have committed to addressing, in full, the recommendations from the Phase 1 report in its review of the JESIP Joint Doctrine which is currently underway. This work is forecast to be completed later this year, following the identification of learning from the Manchester Arena Inquiry.

The London Emergency Services Liaison Panel (LESLP), which is made up of representatives from the emergency services, is in the process of revising the Major Incident Manual (produced by LESLP) and the panel are considering the recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Report. All of London’s blue lights agencies have committed to share the declaration of a ‘Major Incident’ in a timely manner with partners as required.

Annex A of the LESLP Major Incident Manual sets out the roles and responsibilities of the emergency services in relation to survivors, casualties and evacuees. Annex B sets out requirements in relation to fatalities arising from a major incident and the roles and responsibilities of relevant agencies including HM Coroner and the emergency services.

In relation to the sharing of risk of critical information between emergency services, there is an implemented agreement for control rooms with regards to a tri-service conference call following the declaration of a Major Incident.

There are standing arrangements in London to use a pre-planned Airwave talk-group as an immediate means to share information across London’s emergency services for serious events.

The National Police Air Service (NPAS) mandated all operational crews to undertake refresher training in use of the Airborne data link equipment, writing to all 43 Home Office police forces. Software upgrades to enable the Airborne data link system to automatically default to the National Emergency Services user encryption have now been completed for all operational NPAS aircraft.

Intended timescales for implementing the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Recommendations

Summary

This section outlines current estimates and key milestone for implementing the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 recommendations. This section has been divided into two parts.

The first part examines the recommendations that require a change in the law and non-legislative recommendations. Many of these recommendations are directed to building owners and managers. In response, the Government has considered and developed proposals to implement these recommendations. Please see page 55 for further information on how the Government is seeking to implement these recommendations.

The second part examines the recommendations that have been directed to services. This includes recommendations directed to the London Fire Brigade, fire and rescue services and emergency services more broadly. Please see page 60 for projected completion dates of these recommendations.

Please note that this document will be updated quarterly to reflect progress and does not reflect finalised Government policy.

Recommendations directed to Government and building owners and managers

This section focuses on recommendations which require action on Government to enable their completion. These includes recommendations which require a change in the law and those that are non-legislative. The recommendations that require a change in law recommend imposing requirements on building owners and managers. In response, the Government considered and developed proposals to implement these recommendations in the Fire Safety Consultation which has now concluded. The Government has also decided to take forward select non-legislative recommendations, 33.27 and 33.29a, as part of the proposals and is seeking further views on new Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPS) proposals in a separate consultation which now concluded on 19 July. The Government is now drafting regulations intended to be made under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO) and is intending to lay these regulations by Autumn 2021 (as stated in the table below).

Recommendations that require a change in the law

Reference	Recommendation	Key milestones
33.10a	That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to provide their local fire and rescue service with information about the design of its external walls together with details of the materials of which they are constructed and to inform the fire and rescue service of any material changes made to them.	Autumn 2021
33.12a	That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to provide their local fire and rescue services with up-to-date plans in both paper and electronic form of every floor of the building identifying the location of key fire safety systems.	Autumn 2021
33.12b	That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to ensure that the building contains a premises information box, the contents of which must include a copy of the up-to-date floor plans and information about the nature of any lift intended for use by the fire and rescue services.	Autumn 2021
33.13a	That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to carry out regular inspections of any lifts that are designed to be used by firefighters in an emergency and to report the results of such inspections to their local fire and rescue service at monthly intervals	Autumn 2021
33.13b	That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to carry out regular tests of the mechanism which allows firefighters to take control of the lifts and to inform their local fire and rescue service at monthly intervals that they have done so.	Autumn 2021
33.22c	That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to draw up and keep under regular review evacuation plans, copies of which are to be provided in electronic and paper form to their local fire and rescue service and placed in an information box on the premises	Autumn 2021
33.22e	That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to prepare personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) for all residents whose ability to self-evacuate may be compromised (such as persons with reduced mobility or cognition)	PEEPs Consultation completed 19 July
33.22f	That the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to include up-to-date information about persons with reduced mobility and their associated personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) in the premises information box	PEEPs Consultation completed 19 July
33.28	That the owner and manager of every residential building containing separate dwellings (whether or not it is a high-rise building) be required by law to provide fire safety instructions (including instructions for evacuation) in a form that the occupants of the building can reasonably be expected to understand, taking into account the nature of the building and their knowledge of the occupants	Autumn 2021
33.29b	That the owner and manager of every residential building containing separate dwellings (whether or not they are high-rise buildings) be required by law to carry out checks at not less than three-monthly intervals to ensure that all fire doors are fitted with effective self-closing devices in working order	Autumn 2021
33.30	That all those who have responsibility in whatever capacity for the condition of the entrance doors to individual flats in high-rise residential buildings, whose external walls incorporate unsafe cladding, be required by law to ensure that such doors comply with current standards	Autumn 2021

Non-legislative recommendations

Reference	Recommendation	Key milestones
33.22a	That the government develop national guidelines for carrying out partial or total evacuations of high-rise residential buildings, such guidelines to include the means of protecting fire exit routes and procedures for evacuating persons who are unable to use the stairs in an emergency, or who may require assistance (such as disabled people, older people and young children)	TBC
33.22d	That all high-rise residential buildings (both those already in existence and those built in the future) be equipped with facilities for use by the fire and rescue services enabling them to send an evacuation signal to the whole or a selected part of the building by means of sounders or similar devices	TBC
33.27	That in all high-rise buildings floor numbers be clearly marked on each landing within the stairways and in a prominent place in all lobbies in such a way as to be visible both in normal conditions and in low lighting or smoky conditions	Autumn 2021
33.29a	That the owner and manager of every residential building containing separate dwellings (whether or not they are high-rise buildings) carry out an urgent inspection of all fire doors to ensure that they comply with applicable legislative standards	Autumn 2021

Recommendations directed to services

Reference	Recommendation	Directed to:	Projected completion date
33.10b	That all fire and rescue services ensure that their personnel at all levels understand the risk of fire taking hold in the external walls of high-rise buildings and know how to recognise it when it occurs.	Fire and Rescue Services	April 2022 93% of fire and rescue services will have completed this recommendation by this date. This recommendation has been marked as complete by the London Fire Brigade. All London Fire Brigade staff have received training to recognise and understand the risks involved in fires taking hold in the external walls of high-rise buildings.
33.12c	That all fire and rescue services be equipped to receive and store electronic plans and to make them available to incident commanders and control room managers.	Fire and Rescue Services	March 2022 95% of fire and rescue services will have completed this recommendation by this date.
33.15c	That all fire and rescue services develop policies for handling a large number of fire survival guidance (FSG) calls simultaneously	Fire and Rescue Services	April 2022 82% of fire and rescue services will have completed this recommendation by this date. This recommendation has been marked as complete by the London Fire Brigade. For the London Fire Brigade, the training for the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) and the Broadcast National Talk Group has been completed. Policy Number 790 was published on the 31st March 2021 and the Broadcast National Talk Group went live in February 2021. The Fire Survival Guidance (FSG) Policy has been shared as part of national learning and as part of the new project to establish Control National Operational Guidance (including FSG). This includes the use of a National Talk Group for sharing risk critical information.
33.15d	That electronic systems be developed to record fire survival guidance (FSG) information in the control room and display it simultaneously at the bridgehead and in any command units	Fire and Rescue Services	April 2022 82% of fire and rescue services will have completed this recommendation by this date.
33.15e	That policies be developed for managing a transition from “stay put” to “get out”	Fire and Rescue Services	April 2022 63% of services will have completed this recommendation by this date. This recommendation has been marked as complete from the London Fire Brigade. For the London Fire Brigade, the guidance for managing the transition from ‘stay put’ to ‘get out’ is provided in the revised Policy Number 790 (Fire Survival Guidance) and the new Evacuation and Rescue policies, which were both published on 31st March 2021.
33.15f	That control room staff receive training directed specifically to handling such a change of advice and conveying it effectively to callers	Fire and Rescue Services	April 2022 84% of services will have completed this recommendation by this date This recommendation has been marked as complete by the London Fire Brigade. For the London Fire Brigade, training for all Control staff has been completed.
33.16	That steps be taken to investigate methods by which assisting control rooms can obtain access to the information available to the host control room.	Fire and Rescue Services	April 2022 This recommendation has been completed by 93% of fire services including London Fire Brigade. It is currently being addressed by the remaining three services and will be complete by April 2022. With the establishment of the Broadcast Talkgroup, the National Fire Chiefs Council have provided guidance on the Talkgroup. London Fire Brigade have reported that this recommendation been completed as all Control officers have received training on the Talkgroup’s protocol.
33.18b	That the London Fire Brigade (LFB) develop policies and training to ensure that better information is obtained from crews returning from deployments and that the information is recorded in a form that enables it to be made available immediately to the incident commander (and thereafter to the command units and the control room)	London Fire Brigade	Spring 2021
33.20	That the London Fire Brigade (LFB) investigate the use of modern communication techniques to provide a direct line of communication between the control room and the bridgehead, allowing information to be transmitted directly between the control room and the bridgehead and providing an integrated system of recording fire survival guidance (FSG) information and the results of deployments	London Fire Brigade	December 2021
33.21a	That the London Fire Brigade (LFB) urgently take steps to obtain equipment that enables firefighters wearing helmets and breathing apparatus to communicate with the bridgehead effectively, including when operating in high-rise buildings	London Fire Brigade	August 2022
33.22b	That fire and rescue services develop policies for partial and total evacuation of high-rise residential buildings and training to support them	Fire and Rescue Services	April 2022 60% of services will have marked this recommendation as complete by this date. This recommendation has been marked as complete from the London Fire Brigade. The London Fire Brigade have published the new Evacuation and Rescue policy on 31st March 2021. Training has been delivered to all operational staff in the London Fire Brigade via Computer Based Training packages, and via face to face training for Watch and senior officers. This training is reinforced by guided learning exercises for station-based staff.
33.22g	That all fire and rescue services be equipped with smoke hoods to assist in the evacuation of occupants through smoke-filled exit routes.	Fire and Rescue Services	December 2021 98% of services will have purchased and made live the operational use of smoke hoods This recommendation has been completed by the London Fire Brigade. London Fire Brigade has reported that this recommendation is complete. The Brigade has acquired and made live the operational use of smoke hoods.
33.31a	That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that each emergency service must communicate the declaration of a Major Incident to all other Category 1 Responders as soon as possible	Emergency Services	October 2021
33.31b	That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that on the declaration of a Major Incident clear lines of communication must be established as soon as possible between the control rooms of the individual emergency services	Emergency Services	October 2021
33.31c	That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that a single point of contact should be designated within each control room to facilitate such communication	Emergency Services	October 2021
33.31d	That the Joint Doctrine be amended to make it clear that a “METHANE” message should be sent as soon as possible by the emergency service declaring a Major Incident	Emergency Services	October 2021
33.32	That steps be taken to investigate the compatibility of the London Fire Brigade (LFB) systems with those of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and the London Ambulance Service (LAS) with a view to enabling all three emergency services’ systems to read each other’s messages	Emergency Services	TBC
33.34	That the London Fire Brigade (LFB), the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), the London Ambulance Service (LAS) and the London local authorities all investigate ways of improving the collection of information about survivors and making it available more rapidly to those wishing to make contact with them	Emergency Services	September 2021