Fire safety information regarding your social housing stock.

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Poole Borough Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Gareth Thomas Jones

Dear Poole Borough Council,

I am currently studying a BSC in Property Development at the University of Portsmouth. My course requires me to write a research paper on a specific question. The following questions have been prepared to help assess the extent to which the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 has affected fire safety in blocks of flats in the last 10 years.
As a local authority with a social housing stock you have been selected as a potential candidate to answer questions that will assist me in answering my problem.
I understand the Freedom of Information requests can be time consuming and if to time consuming they will be refused. I have written the questions below so they can easily be answered.

Before responding please read the information at the end of this email below the questions.
Responses if requested will be kept confidential and any names will be removed. If you would prefer to respond via email please send responses to [email address].

Questions:

1. How many properties do you have in your housing stock?

2. How many of these properties are located in blocks of flats?

3. How many blocks of flats do you have in your housing stock that are governed by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005?

4. How many of these blocks of flats have had a fire risk assessment conducted since the 1st of October 2006?

5. How many of these blocks of flats currently have a valid fire risk assessment?

6. If you do not have valid FRA’s on all of your blocks of flats that are bound by the FSO 2005 please can you provide a brief justification as to why this is not the case?

7. Does your fire safety policy require reviews of existing fire risk assessments? And if so how regularly and are they actually reviewed?

8. Do you currently have an on-going refurbishment programme or policy that includes fire safety upgrades in your blocks of flats?

9. In 2015-2016 what was the approximate yearly spend on repairs and maintenance, including major refurbishment schemes on your social housing stock?

10. In 2015 -2016 what was your approximate yearly spend on fire safety upgrades in communal areas of blocks of flats?

11. What fire safety improvement is your main focus?

12. In the last year how many of the following have been served by your local Fire Authority:
a. Notice of Deficiency
b. Alterations Notice
c. Enforcement Notice
d. Prohibition Notice

13. How many properties currently have a in date smoke detector installed?

14. In the last 5 years how many fires have you had in properties or communal areas of blocks of flats? How many of these have caused death or serious injury.

A review of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the impact on fire safety within tenanted purpose built blocks of flats constructed prior to the adoption of current legislation.

You are being invited to take part in a research study. Before you take part it is important for you to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully.

Dissertation Aim

The aim of the Dissertation is to assess the extent to which the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 has affected fire safety in blocks of flats in the last 10 years.

A number of councils have been sent Freedom of Information Requests containing a number of questions that when answered will assist me with completing the aim. Approximately 87 councils will be initially sent FOI requests.

When taking part:
Please answer the questions to the best of your ability.

The disadvantages or ‘costs’ involved in taking part in the study are:
The costs associated with retrieval of the information.

The benefits furthering our understanding of the topic involved in taking part in the study are:…

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 was introduced 10 years ago, there has not been a review regarding its impact since 2009. This assessed its initial effectiveness. The study will review whether the requirements of the Act are being implemented by building owners.

Confidentiality or Anonymisation

The responses you provide if requested will be kept anonymous.

If you wish for your responses from the FOI request to be kept anonymous please email the response to [email address] and instruct that this is the case.

The results of the research study
The results of the Freedom of Information Requests will form part of a dissertation for the degree of BSc in Property Development a degree of the University of Portsmouth. A copy of the published material can be obtained from the author and the University of Portsmouth.

Who is organising the research?
I am conducting this research as a student of the University of Portsmouth through the School of Civil Engineering and Surveying in the Faculty of Technology.

Who has reviewed the study?
The Faculty of Technology Research Ethics Committee of the University of Portsmouth has approved the research.

Contact for further information
Please contact for further information:
Gareth Jones
Email: [email address]
or
Phone: 07593335901
at any time for further information.
A copy of the dissertation can be obtained from the University
Thank you for taking the time to read this important information sheet.

Yours faithfully,

Gareth Thomas Jones

Strategy Team - Information, Poole Borough Council

Link: [1]File-List

Thank you for your message.

 

This mailbox is monitored daily and is used to deal with the following
requests:

 

-     [2]Freedom of information requests which we aim to respond to within
20 working days of receipt

-     [3]Subject Access requests which we aim to complete within 40
calendar days of validating

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with differently so please visit our website to find out the process to
follow.

 

If we are unable to provide responses within these timescales, we will
contact you as soon as possible to advise you.

 

Kind regards

 

Legal, Democratic & Strategy Services

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Strategy Team - Information, Poole Borough Council

Dear Gareth

Thank you for your request submitted under the Freedom of Information Act.

Unfortunately due to staff holidays our response will be delayed over the 20 day deadline and we apologise for this.

We hope to be in a position to respond by 25 January 2016.

Kind regards

Legal Democratic and Strategy Services

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