Correspondence

Progress against the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 recommendations, May 2022 (accessible version)

Updated 14 March 2024

Applies to England

Thematic update on progress against the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 recommendations

May 2022

Introduction

The document provides an update on the progress that has been made to implement the recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report. It includes updates from the relevant government departments and assurances received from relevant public authorities - including the London Fire Brigade (LFB), National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and other emergency services - on their progress to address and implement the Phase 1 recommendations directed to them.

This update, and the government’s commitment to update it regularly, will bring considerable transparency to what is a vitally important area of work. An accessible version of this update can also be found on the Fire England website.

This document does not reflect finalised government policy.

Summary of thematic update

This is the fourth thematic update on the progress that has been made to implement the recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report.

This update includes information on each different workstream the government is progressing including the commencement of the Fire Safety Act 2021, the laying of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and the publication of the government’s response to the Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) consultation. The update also includes information on the review of the evacuation and ‘stay put’ strategy, and the implementation of technical solutions to improve communications and emergency call handling.

To produce this report, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) surveyed each fire and rescue service in England. This survey questioned the progress that fire and rescue services have made against each of the recommendations directed to them. While more work still needs to be done, progress continues to be made across the country.

Where possible, proposed timescales for completion have been given. We have provided reasons where these have changed since the last update.

Fourth iteration update

Of the Inquiry’s 46 recommendations, 21 have now been completed. These include:

• Of the 14 recommendations given to the LFB, 13 have been completed. In addition, the LFB is required to address a further 9 recommendations which apply to all fire and rescue services (FRSs), of which they have completed 8, and 6 recommendations for emergency services more broadly, of which LFB has completed 5. In total, the LFB has completed 26 out of 29 recommendations given to the Brigade.

• Of the 9 recommendations directed to all FRSs, according to the NFCC survey, one has been completed in its entirety. Work continues across every service to implement the remainder with recommendations being prioritised based on local risk profile.

• Of the 6 recommendations directed to all emergency services, 5 have been completed.

• A recommendation was given to the Metropolitan Police Service and London Ambulance Service. This has been completed.

• Finally, a recommendation was given to the National Police Air Service. This has also been completed.

Government progress on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 recommendations

Of the 15 recommendations given to government, building owners and managers, 9 are scheduled to be implemented with the laying of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 on 18 May.

The Regulations will become law after a period of 40 days from 18 May subject to parliamentary approval. This will happen on 8 July 2022.

In order to allow responsible persons and the Fire and Rescue Service time to prepare and for supporting guidance to be published on the new duties imposed by the regulations, the new duties will commence on 23 January 2023.

Since the last update in September 2021, particular progress includes:

• The commencement of the Fire Safety Act 2021 and launch of the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT).
• The laying of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 which implements the majority of the Phase 1 recommendations that require a change in the law.
• The publication of the government’s response to the PEEPs consultation which closed last year. The responses received have enabled the government to design an alternative package of initiatives. This package forms part of a new public consultation in which the government will seek further views on the implementation of the PEEPs recommendations (33.22e and 33.22f) and also picks up the closely linked recommendation 33.22c on evacuation plans.
• Further progress by the LFB, including designing and implementing a new structured briefing and debriefing model for use by crews and officers on the incident ground. This will enable better information to be obtained from crews returning from deployments. The LFB has also launched their Fire Survival Guidance (FSG) application, which enables information from FSG calls to be displayed simultaneously at the incident ground and in the control room.
• The continued progress of FRSs, as reported from information provided by the NFCC, on implementing the recommendations that are directed to them. This includes improvements made in the sharing of risk critical information during an incident between fire and other emergency services control rooms. Furthermore, every fire and rescue service has acquired smoke hoods which are now widely available and trained their staff in how to use them.

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 consulted on its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation (carried out in 2020). The government responded to the consultation last year.

The Fire Safety Act (FSA) achieved Royal Assent on 29 April 2021. The Act clarified the scope of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (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 commenced the Fire Safety Act on 16 May 2022. This provides new guidance in support of the Fire Safety Act and launched the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT).

This will now remove legal ambiguity and require responsible persons to update Fire Risk Assessments to take account of external walls and flat entrance doors. The FRAPT will help responsible persons identify which buildings should have their Fire Risk Assessments updated first.

In the last thematic update (published in September 2021), we reported that the government intended to lay regulations under article 24 of the Fire Safety Order in Autumn 2021 to implement this recommendation. Ahead of laying these regulations, Section One of the Fire Safety Act 2021 needed to be commenced. Commencement of the Fire Safety Act has allowed the government to lay The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (available on legislation.gov.uk).

Under the Regulations, the responsible person of a high-rise residential building must prepare a record of the design of the external walls of the building including the materials from which the walls are constructed. The Regulations also require the record to contain details of the level of risk which has been identified by the fire risk assessment and the mitigations have been taken in relation to that risk. The responsible person must send this record electronically to their local fire and rescue service. A template will be provided to assist the responsible person in preparing this record.

The Regulations will become law after a period of 40 days from 18 May subject to parliamentary approval. This will happen on 8 July 2022.

In order to allow responsible persons and the Fire and Rescue Service time to prepare and for supporting guidance to be published on the new duties imposed by the regulations, the new duties do not commence until 23 January 2023.

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 March 2022, the NFCC surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against this recommendation:

• 40% of services (17 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. This represents a 17% increase from the previous NFCC survey completed in July 2021.
• 55% of services (24 services) reported they will have completed training and assessment by the end of April 2022.
• 5% of services (2 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 service considers 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

• 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

The 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

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

The guidance previously contained in their High Rise Firefighting policy (number 633) has been reviewed and is now incorporated into their Management of Operational Risk Information policy (number 800). All operational staff have completed mandatory training on this revised policy. This improved guidance has assisted operational staff to understand the risks within their station areas and has supported the government’s Building Risk Review.

The government has worked with the NFCC to produce updated guidance -as part of the National Operational Guidance - to supersede GRA 3.2. This new guidance reflects changes in legislation and technology and incorporates operational learning from fire services. It provides greater detail and tools for services to self-assess their adoption of guidance. The guidance will be maintained by the NFCC and will be based on National Operational Learning, a system that reviews incidents and makes recommendations based on their findings.

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

The 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 government’s Building Risk Review.

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 its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation (carried out in 2020). The government responded to the consultation last year.

In the last thematic update (published in September 2021), we reported that the government had intended at the time to lay regulations under article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 later that year to implement this recommendation. Ahead of laying these regulations, Section One of the Fire Safety Act 2021 had to be commenced. The Fire Safety Act was commenced in full on 16 May 2022. Commencement of the Act has allowed the government to lay The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (available on legislation.gov.uk).

Under the Regulations, the responsible person for a high-rise residential building must prepare a plan for each floor of the building. This plan should show, alongside the layout of the relevant floor, the location of all lifts and main fire-fighting equipment for the building. Where the layout for two or more floors are identical, the responsible person can produce a single plan (as long as they clearly indicate the floors to which that plan relates). The responsible person must send these plans electronically to their local fire and rescue service.

In addition to this plan, the responsible person for a high-rise residential building must, under the Regulations, prepare an additional hard copy single page building plan to show the environs of the building, as well as the location of fire-fighting facilities and information useful to the fire and rescue service.

Under the Regulations, the responsible person for a high-rise residential building must install a secure information box in or on the premises. This secure information box should contain hard copies of the building floor plans, the single page building plan and the UK contact details of the responsible person and any other individual the responsible person considers appropriate.

In addition to this, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) consulted on the proposal to recommend secure information boxes in new blocks of flats through an update to Building Regulation guidance document Approved Document B (ADB). DLUHC intend to amend ADB to recommend that secure information boxes be installed in all new high-rise residential buildings.

The Regulations will become law after a period of 40 days from 18 May subject to parliamentary approval. This will happen on 8 July 2022.

In order to allow responsible persons and the Fire and Rescue Service time to prepare and for supporting guidance to be published on the new duties imposed by the regulations, the new duties do not commence until 23 January 2023.

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

In March 2022, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against recommendation 33.12c. Every service reported they are equipped to receive and store electronic plans.

In terms of making these plans on high-rise residential buildings (HRRBs) available to control room managers and to personnel on the incident ground, including the incident commanders, as well as ensuring that operational risk information for high-risk HRRBs is accurate, the NFCC survey found:

• 77% of services (33 services) said that risk information for high-rise residential buildings in their service areas were available to personnel on the incident ground. These services also report that they have reviewed all high-risk HRRB information in their service area. This represents a 25% increase from the previous NFCC survey completed in July 2021.

• 21% of services (9 services) said that risk information for high-rise residential buildings in their service areas were available to personnel on the incident ground. These services also report that they have reviewed all high-risk HRRB information in their service area but not all have appropriate plans. Actions are underway to address this, and these services report they will have completed this recommendation by the end of April 2022.

• The remaining service (2%) has stated that some high risk HRRBs do not have risk information, but an action plan is in place and this recommendation will be completed within 24 months.

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

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 changes in legislation (for recommendations 33.12a and 33.12b) support fire and rescue services ensuring that appropriate information is available to emergency responders.

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

Status for London Fire Brigade: in progress

The London Fire Brigade report that the completion of recommendation 33.12c will 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 2 (Procurement), although some workstreams from Phase 1 (Requirements Gathering) require completion.

Whilst this project is ongoing, the Brigade has in place an interim solution to improve how it gathers, records and disseminates information on buildings provided by building owners and managers.

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 consulted on its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation (carried out in 2020). The government responded to the consultation last year.

In the last thematic update (published in September 2021), we reported that the government had intended at the time to lay regulations under article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 later that year to implement this recommendation. Ahead of laying these regulations, Section One of the Fire Safety Act 2021 had to be commenced. The Fire Safety Act was commenced in full on 16 May 2022. Commencement of the Act has allowed the government to lay The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (available on legislation.gov.uk).

Under the Regulations, the responsible person for a high-rise residential building must undertake monthly checks of lifts for use by fire-fighters, evacuation lifts and other essential fire-fighting equipment. Where a fault is identified which will take longer than 24 hours to fix, the responsible person must report this via electronic means to their local fire and rescue service.

The Regulations will become law after a period of 40 days from 18 May subject to parliamentary approval. This will happen on 8 July 2022.

In order to allow responsible persons and the Fire and Rescue Service time to prepare and for supporting guidance to be published on the new duties imposed by the regulations, the new duties do not commence until 23 January 2023.

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

The LFB 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 31 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.

Recommendation 33.14b

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

Status: complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

For recommendation 33.14b, as of 31 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

The LFB 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

The LFB 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

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

The LFB 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

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

The LFB’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.

Recommendation 33.15c

That all fire and rescue services develop policies for handling a large number of fire survival guidance calls simultaneously.

Status for fire and rescue services: in progress

National Operational Guidance for Fire survival calls was published in July 2021.

The government and the National Fire Chiefs Council (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 March 2022, the NFCC surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against recommendation 33.15c:

• 51% of services (22 services) reported they have completed this recommendation. This represents a 28% increase from the previous NFCC survey completed in July 2021.
• 49% (21 services) have reviewed their policies but are still in process of making the necessary changes to complete this recommendation.

By April 2022, 88% of services will have completed this recommendation. This represents a slight improvement from the previous NFCC survey (July 2021) where it was reported that 82% of services will have completed this recommendation.

To explain this progress for the 49% of services yet to complete this recommendation, the majority are either still in the process of training their staff or are in the process of instigating changes to relevant policies that have been reviewed.

By April 2023, every fire and rescue service expects to have completed this recommendation.

Status for London Fire Brigade: complete

The LFB 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 31 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

In March 2022, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against recommendation 33.15d:

• 72% of services (31 services) have taken actions that allow information to be effectively captured and shared
• 28% of services (12 services) are yet to action this recommendation

This represents no change from the previous NFCC survey completed in July 2021. To explain this progress, the 28% of services yet to action this recommendation are still in the process of exploring available solutions to allow information to be effectively captured and shared.

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

Status for London Fire Brigade: complete

The LFB has developed a technological solution which enables information from Fire Survival Guidance (FSG) calls to be displayed simultaneously at the incident and in Control. The introduction of the application was previously delayed due to technical issues which have now been resolved.

The Brigade considers this recommendation complete with the FSG application having gone live in March 2022.

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 March 2022, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against recommendation 33.15e:

• 30% of services (13 services) have reported that they had completed this recommendation including training and assessing staff. This represents a 16% increase from the previous NFCC survey completed in July 2021.
• 58% of services (25 services) will have completed this by April 2022.
• 12% of services (5 services) are yet to make the necessary changes to action this recommendation.

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

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 in March 2021. All operational and Control staff have undertaken mandatory training on both policies.

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 March 2022, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against the recommendations. In relation to 33.15f (which is linked to recommendation 33.15e):

• 23% of services (10 services) said they have completed this recommendation
• 18% of services (8 services) have made the necessary changes but are still training their staff
• 82% of services reported they will have completed the required actions by April 2022

This represents a minimal change in progress from the previous NFCC survey completed in July 2021. This can be explained by the interdependency of this recommendation to recommendation 33.15e. Services who are yet to make the necessary changes to their evacuation policies need to do this issue first before being able to train their staff on these policies.

• 93% of services (40 services) report they will have completed required actions to address this recommendation by April 2023

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. This project is progressing well and market engagement with suppliers of the MAIT system took place in March 2022.

Whilst the MAIT project is under way, in the meantime, the government has worked with the NFCC to establish a separate Broadcast Talkgroup to improve information sharing between control rooms. This has been 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 in 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. The system has gone through extensive testing with successful results and is now in operational use in England Scotland and Wales under “Business as Usual”. The JESIP Talk group is now live in all Fire Control Rooms and the NFCC has released guidance to support its use.

In conjunction with the NFCC’s 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 included updating the current Fire Survival Guidance and training.

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

The secondees have also been working alongside the NFCC Central Programme team to develop guidance for Emergency Call Management (People at Risk) which went through a peer review prior to going into full consultation in February 2022.

Work is in progress to produce guidance for fire control staff for handling multiple emergency calls and multiple emergency incidents. This guidance has undergone peer review prior to going into full consultation in March 2022.

To 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 have worked 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.

A procedure has been developed and tested and is currently operational in England, Scotland and Wales on a six-month pilot. This means that BT now has a predetermined redistribution plan of how to distribute overflow calls efficiently between other fire and rescue services during periods when a single control room has become overwhelmed with 999 calls due to a large, protracted incident or spate conditions.

In March 2022, the NFCC surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against recommendation 33.16.

For this recommendation, 100% of services (43 services) have, in relation to the Airwave Talk Groups, embedded technical changes to the way information is shared between fire control rooms and between fire, police and ambulance services. This will ensure that accurate and timely information will be available to any service that handles a call for a major incident not in their area, based on the decisions being made in real time on the incident ground. This is currently in use by all fire and rescue services.

The full completion of this recommendation is dependent on the rollout of MAIT. Procurement of the platform is currently underway supported by the NFCC, to make this system available to all fire and rescue services. Procurement is expected to be completed in Autumn 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 2022.

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

The LFB 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

The LFB 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: complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation is complete.

The LFB has developed a new structured briefing model which has been developed for crews and officers on the incident ground, for both briefing and debriefing purposes. This will ensure that information is both passed and received (and captured) in a consistent manner.

The new briefing model has also been incorporated into training for the High-Rise Firefighting, Fire Survival Guidance and Evacuation & Rescue policies. Furthermore, the new model is now integral in all Incident Command training courses and assessment centres.

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

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed via its revised Fire Survival Guidance policy.

The LFB 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: complete

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been addressed through the development of its sector leading Fire Survival Guidance (FSG) application, which enables information from FSG calls to be displayed simultaneously at the incident and in Control.

The introduction of the application was previously delayed due to technical issues, which have now been resolved. The Brigade has marked this recommendation as complete with the FSG application having gone live in March 2022.

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

The LFB has reported that this recommendation is in progress.

The LFB 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 four are: the Radio Replacement Workstream, Radio Repeaters Replacement Workstream, Training Workstream and Respiratory Protective Equipment (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

The LFB has reported that this recommendation has been completed.

The LFB 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 to review means of escape provisions in blocks of flats including the use of the ‘stay put’ strategy and evacuation.

The steering group identified four strands to this work: an evidence review to assess 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, a rapid evidence review on evacuation from fire in high-rise residential buildings, 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 begun.

The supplier for the evacuation operational research strand has now developed the draft live testing plan. This will involve testing of several different scenarios to identify and present recommendations on the most appropriate evacuation strategies. This has been independently scrutinised by the Technical Steering Group and approved based on minor revisions being made. Live testing is now being taken forward.

On the building design and human behaviour research strands, the supplier has conducted a literature review and interviews were conducted to:

1. Examine resident and FRS understanding of building evacuation guidance and the confidence they have in following that guidance in the event of a fire.

2. Understand future developments in high-rise residential buildings that may impact fire safety designs in the future.

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 (NFCC) 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 March 2022, the NFCC surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against the recommendations. In response to recommendation 33.22b:

• 30% of services (13 services) have completed the recommendation and have reported that they have reviewed their policies relating to evacuation, instigated changes, and trained personnel. This represents a 16% increase from previous NFCC survey completed in July 2021.
• 28% of services (12 services) have made the necessary policy changes but are still training its staff. Training will be completed by April 2022.
• 42% of services (18 services) reported they are currently making progress to implement the necessary policy changes.

On performing training exercises relating to evacuation:

• 28% of services (12 services) have trained and assessed all staff in evacuation policies since the Grenfell Tower fire and have conducted training exercises to embed learning from these policies
• 65% of services (28 services) are currently in progress to conduct training exercise to embed learning from evacuation policies
• 7% of services (3 services) have not planned to train staff in evacuation at this stage

By April 2023, 91% of services (39 services) report they will have completed the necessary actions to address this recommendation.

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

Status for London Fire Brigade: complete

The LFB has reported that recommendation 33.22b has been completed.

The LFB has developed an Evacuation and Rescue policy, which was published on 31 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 consulted on its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation (carried out in 2020). The government responded to the consultation last year.

The consultation on Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) which ran from 8 June to 19 July 2021 made clear that this recommendation is closely linked to those on PEEPs (33.22e & 33.22f) and in order to make sure that we deliver a policy solution on evacuation that is practical, proportionate and safe, we are seeking further views on implementing this recommendation as part of a new consultation.

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 LFB 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, and in the PEEPs consultation which ran from 8 June to 19 July 2021. The government’s response to that consultation shows that, despite widespread support for PEEPs and the proposals outlined, there remains significant issues with implementing them with regard to proportionality, practicality and safety.

We remain committed to implement proposals that will enhance the safety of residents in high-rise residential buildings whose ability to self-evacuate may be compromised in a way that is proportional, practical and safe. The government has used the consultation responses to design an alternative package of initiatives. This package forms part of a new public consultation in which we will seek further views on the implementation of the PEEPs recommendations and also picks up the closely linked recommendation 33.22c on evacuation plans.

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: complete

In March 2022, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) surveyed all fire and rescue services (with the exception of the LFB) in England about their progress against the recommendations.

For this recommendation, all 43 services who responded to the survey reported that they have acquired smoke hoods and they are operationally available, as well as staff are trained in how to use them.

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

Status for London Fire Brigade: complete

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

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

The government consulted on its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation (carried out in 2020). The government responded to the consultation last year.

In the last thematic update (published in September 2021), we reported that the government had intended at the time to lay regulations under article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 later that year to implement this recommendation. Ahead of laying these regulations, Section One of the Fire Safety Act 2021 had to be commenced. The Fire Safety Act was commenced in full on 16 May 2022. Commencement of the Act has allowed the government to lay The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (available on legislation.gov.uk).

Under the Regulations, the responsible person for a high-rise residential building must install wayfinding signage in line with the recommendations for new buildings as set out in Building Regulation guidance (Fire Safety: Approved Document B), on each landing within the stairways and in the lift lobbies of the floor level marked in such a way as to be visible both in low level lighting conditions or when illuminated with a torch.

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 Regulations will become law after a period of 40 days from 18 May subject to parliamentary approval. This will happen on 8 July 2022.

In order to allow responsible persons and the Fire and Rescue Service time to prepare and for supporting guidance to be published on the new duties imposed by the regulations, the new duties do not commence until 23 January 2023.

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 government consulted on its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation (carried out in 2020). The government responded to the consultation last year.

In the last thematic update (published in September 2021), we reported that the government had intended at the time to lay regulations under article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 later that year to implement this recommendation. Ahead of laying these regulations, Section One of the Fire Safety Act 2021 had to be commenced. The Fire Safety Act was commenced in full on 16 May 2022. Commencement of the Act has allowed the government to lay The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (available on legislation.gov.uk).

Under the Regulations, the responsible person for all multi-occupied residential buildings must, regardless of height, provide their residents on an annual basis with relevant fire safety instructions. These instructions must be comprehensible to all residents and give residents instructions on how to report a fire, instructions related to the building’s evacuation strategy and any other instruction that tells residents what they must do when a fire has occurred.

The Regulations will become law after a period of 40 days from 18 May subject to parliamentary approval. This will happen on 8 July 2022.

In order to allow responsible persons and the Fire and Rescue Service time to prepare and for supporting guidance to be published on the new duties imposed by the regulations, the new duties do not commence until 23 January 2023.

Furthermore, whilst this recommendation has been partially addressed in the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, it remains in progress until the commencement of provisions in the Building Safety Act 2022 requiring that responsible persons in buildings that contain two or more sets of domestic premises must provide residents with relevant and comprehensible fire safety information.

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 consulted on its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation (carried out in 2020). The government responded to the consultation last year.

The Fire Safety Act (FSA) achieved Royal Assent on 29 April 2021, which clarified the scope of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (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 has now commenced the Fire Safety Act on 16 May 2022. This means we have published new guidance in support of the Fire Safety Act and launched the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT).

This will now remove legal ambiguity and require responsible persons to update Fire Risk Assessments to take account of external walls and flat entrance doors. The FRAPT will help responsible persons identify which buildings should have their Fire Risk Assessments updated first.

The September 2021 edition of the thematic update stated that government intended to lay regulations under article 24 of the Fire Safety Order in Autumn 2021 which would implement this recommendation. Ahead of laying these regulations, Section 1 of the Fire Safety Act 2021 needed to be commenced. Commencement of the Fire Safety Act has allowed the government to lay the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (available on legislation.gov.uk).

Under the Regulations, the responsible person for all multi-occupied residential buildings over 11 metres and above must undertake quarterly checks on fire doors in common parts and annual checks, on a best endeavour basis, on all flat entrance doors.

Responsible persons must make a record of their attempts to check flat entrance doors.

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. Under the Fire Safety Order, responsible persons have a duty to take general fire precautions, which include ensuring that fire doors in their building are in good order. Following commencement of the Fire Safety Act it is clear that this duty extends to flat entrance doors.

The Regulations will become law after a period of 40 days from 18 May subject to parliamentary approval. This will happen on 8 July 2022.

In order to allow responsible persons and the Fire and Rescue Service time to prepare and for supporting guidance to be published on the new duties imposed by the regulations, the new duties do not commence until 23 January 2023.

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: complete

The members of the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP) Interoperability Board, including representatives from government, emergency services and other key stakeholders, committed to addressing, in full, these recommendations in the review of the JESIP Joint Doctrine. These were incorporated into the JESIP Joint Doctrine published in October 2021.

The LFB 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 was presented for approval to the London Resilience Forum (LRF) on 14 October 2021.

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

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 completion of this recommendation is dependent on the implementation of the Multi Agency Incident Transfer (MAIT) system which is currently underway. LFB continues to work with the NFCC who are leading on the introduction of MAIT system. This system will allow information to be transferred much more quickly between control rooms of emergency services. This is because the system will allow for 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 LFB’s Vision mobilising system is already MAIT-compliant. The LFB is working with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and London Ambulance Service (LAS) who have reported that they are currently adding the MAIT capability to their systems and are awaiting the national rollout of the MAIT system.

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: complete

This recommendation 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 has worked with the Humanitarian Assistance Working Group to address this recommendation and it is now reported as complete with the revised manual presented to the London Resilience Forum in October 2021.

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

The 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. Since the last update, the LFB has completed an additional 8 recommendations. This takes the total number of recommendations completed by the LFB to 26, with 3 still outstanding.

The Home Secretary, using her powers under Section 26 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, wrote to LFB in November 2019 to require the Commissioner to regularly report on the progress they are making to implement the relevant recommendations. 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 from the LFB 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, the government has provided services additional funding to support this work. In 2020/21, services were given £10 million of additional funding to support such activity as ensuring smoke hoods are appropriately available on front line appliances and improving communications during a major incident. In addition, the government gave a further £20 million in 2020/21 to increase the strategic leadership of fire protection work in England and improve the capability and capacity of FRSs in this area. This funded work to meet the government’s commitment to inspect or review all high-rise residential buildings of 18m and above by the end of December 2021. Furthermore, of this £20 million, £10 million was given to FRSs, of which LFB were allocated £3.2m, to increase protection capability and capacity to bolster work targeting other high-risk buildings.

In 2021/22, £14 million was given to fire services - of which LFB were given £3.8 million - to continue the increase in capacity and capability of their protection teams.

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. Further information can be found in the previous update.

In March 2021, HMICFRS began inspecting every service in England for a third time. LFB’s inspection report will be published in July 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.

Fire and rescue services

In November 2019, the Home Secretary and the then 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 (LFB).

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 March 2022 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 NFCC and the Home Office. Fire Standards for Operational Competence, Operational Learning, Operational Preparedness, Emergency Response Driving, Fire Investigation, Code of Ethics, Community Risk Management Planning, Prevention, Protection, and Safeguarding have now 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.

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). The government has made over £60m available to fund the installation of fire alarms and end the misuse of costly Waking Watch measures.

Last year the government made available £35 million in grant funding - The Waking Watch Relief Fund - to pay for the costs of installing an alarm system to replace the need for costly waking watch measures in buildings with unsafe cladding awaiting remediation. In January 2022, the government launched the Waking Watch Replacement Fund with an additional £27 million to pay for the installation of fire alarm systems in all buildings with a waking watch regardless of height or the reason for the waking watch being in place.

As of 31 March 2022, data on the progress of the Waking Watch Relief Fund shows that £27.5 million funding has already been provided or has been approved covering 323 buildings. In total, 224 buildings have completed their alarm installation. The data currently shows that, by fitting an alarm, leaseholders are expected to save on average £166 per month.

The fund builds on guidance published by the 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.

The information received back from fire and rescue services on the use of the Grenfell Infrastructure Grant shows that services are ensuring smoke hoods are appropriately available, with all services now having acquired 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.

For all residential buildings over 18m, fire and rescue services have now carried out a building risk review. In addition to the £1.6 billion that the government has made available to accelerate the pace of remediation, in February 2021, the government announced that £3.5 billion will be allocated to remediate unsafe cladding in high-rise residential buildings over 18 metres.

In recent years, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) found that the protection teams in many fire and rescue services needed improvement and that protection has not always been appropriately prioritised. As a result, the government provided £20 million in additional funding in 2020/21 for fire protection. Of this, £6 million was provided to services to meet the government’s commitment to review or inspect all high-rise residential buildings; £4 million to create a new central strategic leadership function in the NFCC; and £10 million 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 and 2022/23, a total of £26 million has been made available to fire and rescue services to continue the increase in capacity and capability of their protection teams.

Furthermore, in 2021/22, the NFCC was provided with up to £4 million to continue its work on building a central strategic leadership function and the creation of Fire Standards, and up to £2.5 million to continue the work of the Protection Policy and Reform Unit (PPRU). In 2022/23, the government intends to provide the NFCC with an additional £6.5 million to continue delivering on these important areas of work.

HMICFRS is carrying out its second full round of inspections of all 44 fire and rescue services in England. These inspections will consider the progress each fire and rescue service has made to implement relevant recommendations, as well as grading them on their effectiveness, efficiency and how well they look after their people. Reports on every service will be published by the end of 2022. The first set of reports were published in December 2021. HMICFRS found that in most services protection has improved and recognised the contribution Home Office funding has made to support this work.

Other emergency services

The members of the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP) Interoperability Board, including representatives from government, emergency services and other key stakeholders, committed to addressing - in full - these recommendations in the review of the JESIP Joint Doctrine. These were incorporated into the revised JESIP Joint Doctrine published in October 2021.

The London Emergency Services Liaison Panel (LESLP), which is made up of representatives from the emergency services, are considering the recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Report and have revised the Major Incidents Procedures Manual (produced by LESLP) to address the recommendations. The revised Major Incidents Procedures Manual was presented to the London Resilience Forum in October 2021. In addition, 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 implementation of the Multi Agency Incident Transfer System (MAIT) which is currently underway will significantly improve the sharing of information between emergency services. The introduction of the system which is being led by the NFCC and is funded by the Home Office will allow for 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, thereby improving the transfer of information between emergency services.

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.

On improving the way information about the survivors of an incident is collected and shared by London’s emergency services and local authorities, the procedures for this 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 has worked with the Humanitarian Assistance Working Group to address this recommendation and it is now reported as complete with the revised manual presented to the London Resilience Forum in October 2021.

Table of completed Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Recommendations

Reference	Recommendation	Directed to:	Additional notes
33.11a	That the 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	Please refer to Section 7(2)(d) of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 for further information on this completed recommendation.
33.11b	That the 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	Please refer to Section 7(2)(d) of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 for further information on this completed recommendation.
33.14a	That the LFB review its policies on communications between the control room and the incident commander	London Fire Brigade	Please refer to Communication between the control room and the incident commander for further information on this completed recommendation.
33.14b	That all officers who may be expected to act as incident commanders (that is all those above the rank of Crew Manager) receive training directed to the specific requirements of communication with the control room.	London Fire Brigade	Please refer to Communication between the control room and the incident commander for further information on this completed recommendation.
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	Please refer to Communication between the control room and the incident commander for further information on this completed recommendation.
33.14d	That a dedicated communication link be provided between the senior officer in the control room and the incident commander.	London Fire Brigade	Please refer to Communication between the control room and the incident commander for further information on this completed recommendation.
33.15a	That the LFB’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	Please refer to Emergency calls for further information on this completed recommendation.
33.15b	That the LFB provide regular and more effective refresher training to control room operators (CROs) at all levels, including supervisors	London Fire Brigade	Please refer to Emergency calls for further information on this completed recommendation.
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	Please refer to Emergency calls for further information on this completed recommendation.
33.18a	That the LFB develop policies and training to ensure better control of deployments and the use of resources.	London Fire Brigade	Please refer to Command and control for further information on this completed recommendation.
33.18b	That the 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	Please refer to Command and control for further information on this completed recommendation.
33.19	That the 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	That the 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).
33.20	That the 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	Please refer to Command and control for further information on this completed 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	London Fire Brigade	Please refer to Equipment for further information on this completed 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.	Emergency services	Please refer to Cooperation between emergency services for further information on this completed 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.	Emergency services	Please refer to Cooperation between emergency services for further information on this completed 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.	Emergency services	Please refer to Cooperation between emergency services for further information on this completed 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.	Emergency services	Please refer to Cooperation between emergency services for further information on this completed recommendation.
33.33	That steps be taken to ensure that the airborne datalink system on every National Police Air Service (NPAS) helicopter observing an incident which involves one of the other emergency services defaults to the National Emergency Service user encryption.	National Police Air Service	Please refer to Cooperation between emergency services for further information on this completed recommendation.
33.34	That the LFB, 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.	Emergency services	Please refer to Cooperation between emergency services for further information on this completed recommendation.

Recommendations for fire and rescue services that have been completed by the London Fire Brigade

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	Status for fire and rescue services: in progress Status for London Fire Brigade: complete.
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	Status for fire and rescue services: in progress Status for London Fire Brigade: complete.
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	Status for fire and rescue services: in progress Status for London Fire Brigade: complete.
33.15e	That policies be developed for managing a transition from “stay put” to “get out”.	Fire and rescue services	Status for fire and rescue services: in progress Status for London Fire Brigade: complete.
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	Status for fire and rescue services: in progress Status for London Fire Brigade: complete.
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	Status for fire and rescue services: in progress. All services have actioned changes in relation to Airwave Talkgroups but the full completion of this recommendation is dependent on the rollout of the ‘Multi-Agency Incident Transfer’ system. Status for London Fire Brigade: complete.
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	Status for fire and rescue services: in progress Status for London Fire Brigade: complete.
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	Status for fire and rescue services: complete. Status for the London Fire Brigade: complete.

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 that are yet to be completed.

This section has been divided into two parts.

The first part examines the outstanding recommendations that require a change in the law and non-legislative recommendations. Many of these recommendations are directed to building owners and managers and require government action in order to enable their completion. Please see page 63 for further information on how the government is seeking to implement these recommendations.

The second part examines the recommendations that have been directed to emergency services. This includes recommendations directed to the LFB, fire and rescue services and emergency services more broadly. Please see page 71 for projected completion dates of these recommendations.

Please note that this document will be updated on a regular basis to reflect progress and does not reflect finalised government policy.

Recommendations directed to government and building owners and managers

This section focuses on the 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.

On 18 May 2022, the government laid the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 to address the majority of the Phase 1 recommendations that require a change in the law.

The Regulations will become law after a period of 40 days from 18 May subject to parliamentary approval. This will happen on 8 July 2022.

In order to allow responsible persons and the Fire and Rescue Service time to prepare and for supporting guidance to be published on the new duties imposed by the regulations, the new duties do not commence until 23 January 2023.

Furthermore, in consideration of recommendations 33.22e and 33.22f relating to Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs), the government sought further views on new PEEPS proposals in a separate consultation which concluded on 19 July 2021. The government has now published its response to the PEEPs consultation which showed that, despite widespread support for PEEPs, there remains significant barriers to implementing them, on the grounds of proportionality, practicality and safety. The government has used the consultation responses to design an alternative package of initiatives. This package forms part of a new public consultation in which the government will seek further views on the implementation of the PEEPs recommendations (33.22e and 33.22f) and also picks up the closely linked recommendation 33.22c on evacuation plans.

The government continues to address recommendation 33.22a through the operational research to test evacuation strategies.

The government also continues to work with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the National Fire Chiefs Council in addressing recommendation 33.22d on evacuation alert systems by reviewing and considering the use of evacuation alert systems in high-rise residential buildings.

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.	18 May 2022 This recommendation has been addressed with the laying of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Please refer to Fire and rescue services: knowledge and understanding of materials used in high-rise buildings for further information on timings for when the Regulations will become law.
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.	18 May 2022 This recommendation has been addressed with the laying of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Please refer to Plans for further information on timings for when the Regulations will become law.
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.	18 May 2022 This recommendation has been addressed with the laying of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Please refer to Plans for further information on timings for when the Regulations will become law.
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	18 May 2022 This recommendation has been addressed with the laying of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Please refer to Lifts for further information on timings for when the Regulations will become law.
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.	18 May 2022 This recommendation has been addressed with the laying of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Please refer to Lifts for further information on timings for when the Regulations will become law.
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.	18 May 2022 Publication of government response to the PEEPs consultation. Please refer to Evacuation on next steps to address this 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).	18 May 2022 Publication of government response to the PEEPs consultation. Please refer to Evacuation on next steps to address this 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.	18 May 2022 Publication of government response to the PEEPs consultation. Please refer to Evacuation on next steps to address this 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.	18 May 2022 This recommendation has been partially addressed in the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. It remains in progress until the commencement of provisions in the Building Safety Act 2022, requiring that responsible persons in buildings that contain two or more sets of domestic premises must provide residents with relevant and comprehensible fire safety information.
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	18 May 2022 This recommendation has been addressed with the laying of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Please refer to Fire doors for further information on timings for when the Regulations will become law.
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.	18 May 2022 This recommendation has been addressed with the laying of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Please refer to Fire doors for further information on timings for when the Regulations will become law.

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.	18 May 2022 This recommendation has been addressed with the laying of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Please refer to Internal signage for further information on timings for when the Regulations will become law.
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	18 May 2022 This recommendation has been addressed with the laying of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Please refer to Fire doors for further information on timings for when the Regulations will become law.

Recommendations directed to services

The following recommendations are directed to the LFB, fire and rescue services and emergency services more broadly.

For the recommendations that are only directed to fire and rescue services, the projected completion dates of these recommendations has been obtained from information self-reported from fire and rescue services. These dates represent when the majority of fire and rescue services, shown as a percentage, will have actioned the recommendations directed to them and takes into account both the approach and timescales that different fire and rescue services are working towards in completing the recommendations.

In addition, the projected completion for recommendations only directed to the LFB has been obtained from information self-reported by the brigade.

An additional column has been created in the following table which allows comparison between the updated projected completion dates and those previously reported in the September 2021 thematic update.

Reference	Recommendation	Directed to:	Previous projected completion date	Updated 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	93% of fire and rescue services reported they were due to complete this recommendation by April 2022. In March 2022, 40% of services reported they have completed this recommendation and a further 55% of services were aiming for completion by April 2022. This recommendation has been marked as complete by the London Fire Brigade.	April 2023 95% of fire and rescue services (excluding the LFB) will have completed this recommendation by this date. This recommendation has been marked as complete by the London Fire Brigade.
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	95% of fire and rescue services reported they were due to complete this recommendation by March 2022. 77% of fire and rescue services reported they have completed this recommendation in March 2022.	April 2023 98% of fire and rescue services (excluding the LFB) will have completed this recommendation by this date. For the LFB, this recommendation will be completed in March 2025. This completion date is based on the Brigade’s timescale to implement their ‘One Risk’ solution. This solution will consolidate building risk information the Brigade receives into one database.
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	82% of fire and rescue services reported they were due to complete this recommendation by April 2022. In March 2022, 51% of services reported they have completed this recommendation and a further 37% of services were aiming for completion by April 2022. This recommendation has been marked as complete by the LFB.	April 2023 100% of fire and rescue services (excluding the LFB) will have completed this recommendation by this date. This recommendation has been marked as complete by the London Fire Brigade.
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	82% of fire and rescue services reported they were due to complete this recommendation by April 2022. In March 2022, 72% of services reported they have completed this recommendation and 28% of services are yet to action this recommendation beyond April 2022. For the LFB, this recommendation has been marked as complete.	April 2023 100% of fire and rescue services (excluding the LFB) will have completed this recommendation by this date. For the LFB, this recommendation has been marked as complete.
33.15e	That policies be developed for managing a transition from “stay put” to “get out”	Fire and rescue services	63% of services reported they were due to complete this recommendation by April 2022. In March 2022, 30% of services reported they have completed this recommendation and a further 58% of services were aiming for completion by April 2022. This recommendation has been marked as complete from the LFB.	April 2023 91% of fire and rescue services (excluding the LFB) will have completed this recommendation by this date. This recommendation has been marked as complete from the LFB.
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	84% of services reported they were due to complete this recommendation by April 2022. In March 2022, 23% of services reported they have completed this recommendation and a further 59% of services were aiming for completion by April 2022. This recommendation has been marked as complete by the LFB.	April 2023 93% of fire and rescue services (excluding the LFB) will have completed this recommendation by this date This recommendation has been marked as complete by the London Fire Brigade.
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 services including the LFB. 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 NFCC has provided guidance on the Talkgroup. The LFB have reported that this recommendation been completed as all Control officers have received training on the Talkgroup’s protocol.	April 2022 This recommendation has been addressed by 100% of fire and rescue services who have, in relation to the Airwave Talk Groups, embedded technical changes to the way information is shared between fire control rooms and between fire, police and ambulance services. With the establishment of the Broadcast Talkgroup, the NFCC have provided guidance on the Talkgroup. For the LFB, they have reported that this recommendation been completed as all Control officers have received training on the Talkgroup’s protocol. To fully address this recommendation, it is dependent on the rollout of the ‘Multi-Agency Incident Transfer’ system. 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.
33.21a	That the 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	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	60% of services reported they were due to complete this recommendation by April 2022. In March 2022, 30% of services reported they have completed this recommendation and a further 28% of services were aiming for completion by April 2022. This recommendation has been marked as complete from the LFB.	April 2023 91% of fire and rescue services (excluding the LFB) will have marked this recommendation as complete by this date. This recommendation has been marked as complete from the LFB.
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	TBC