Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 6:00 pm on 1 March 2007.
I entirely agree with my hon. Friend, and that is why this debate is so timely. Not surprisingly, given what I have said, there is wide-ranging consensus in favour of installing sprinklers in our schools, and last year the Select Committee on Communities and Local Government strongly recommended it. I understand that every chief fire officer in the country has written to the Minister for Schools to press him to introduce sprinklers throughout our schools. The insurance industry is lobbying hard for that change, too. Thus far, the Department for Education and Skills has maintained that decisions to fit sprinklers are best made locally, by local education authorities, but as I said, local education authorities are, to a great extent, failing to make those decisions.
I know that the Department intends to include further information on sprinklers in its new guide, building bulletin 100, "Designing and Managing Against the Risk of Fire in Schools". There has not been any indication from Ministers that they intend to make the installation of sprinklers a requirement, and the Government have repeatedly delayed publication of the guide. I understand that the latest date for publication is April. I understand, too, that on Monday, the Minister for Schools told the all-party fire safety parliamentary group seminar that the Department will issue a risk assessment tool and supporting documentation to ensure that, of new build and substantially refurbished schools,
"all but a few low risk schools will be fitted with sprinkler systems."
Will he repeat publicly to the House the private assurances that he gave on Monday? Are those involved in the design of schools required to use the risk assessment tool or not? Will it be compulsory, or is it just an optional ready reckoner that developers are free to ignore? How will the tool categorise a school as low risk? Will the judgment be based purely on the level of probability that it will be the subject of an arson attack? If that is the case, schools such as Lympne in my constituency are likely not to be judged high risk. A rural location may reduce the risk of arson, but it does nothing to reduce the risk of an electrical fault, which was what caused the fire at Lympne school.
Will the risk assessment tool apply to all new builds, to major refurbishments, or to both? If the risk assessment states that a school should have sprinklers installed, will installation be required, or just recommended? Would it not be much simpler to make the installation of sprinklers mandatory for new build and substantial refurbishments? Today, with so few sprinklers installed in schools, the lives and education of our children are at risk. By not introducing sprinklers in new and refurbished schools, and by not phasing them in throughout the school infrastructure, we are living on our luck. It is simply not good enough to hope that, in the event of a school fire, drills will be implemented smoothly and everything will go without a hitch. It is simply not good enough to leave our children's lives to chance. I urge the Government to make mandatory the installation of sprinklers in new and refurbished schools, and to phase in their introduction throughout the rest of the nation's school buildings. I hope that the Minister will have encouraging and reassuring news to report this evening.