John Penrose

Conservative Party | Weston-super-Mare

Fire precautions

John Penrose: It is reassuring to know that some heavyweight fire professionals have been involved in developing the risk tool, but could the Minister help further by providing a rough estimate of the number of low-risk schools that he expects to find in the total population of UK schools, which would help us to understand how few will not be eligible for sprinkler systems?

Jim Knight: I cannot provide an exact figure, though I can repeat the phrase that there will be very few. I am coming on to say that we will write to MPs who signed the early-day motion. In many ways it will be a repeat of what I am telling the House now, but we will send a copy of the risk assessment tool on a CD, so that hon. Members can use it for themselves if they choose to and see what risk assessment would apply to the schools in their own constituencies.

That tool will help a school to establish whether it is at high, medium or low risk, to decide on the action that it needs to take and to establish whether a fire sprinkler system is necessary. Similarly, a cost-benefit analysis tool will help schools to decide whether a sprinkler represents good value. In private finance projects, where it is easier to account for the whole-life cost of a building, lower insurance premiums mean that the cost of fire sprinklers is recouped within 10 to 12 years.