It is deeply disappointing that the concepts of ‘responsible’ and ‘competent’ persons under the Fire Safety Order appear not to be understood in CLG premises. This is especially surprising given the number of people in CLG’s Eland House who are heavily involved with the Fire Safety Order. Indeed on paper a good number of the Eland House team are arguably capable of carrying out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment.

One has to ask if CLG can’t apparently comprehend its own fire legislation, then how can they expect the average commercial business to understand and discharge its duties with regard to the Fire Safety Order?

Perhaps it’s time for government to step aside and let the fire professionals in the trade and fire and rescue services come together to respectively educate/encourage and enforce fire legislation?

After all, the UK has a new coalition government which is looking to save money and increase efficiency. So where better to start than to let the fire trade – who know how to run operations efficiently and who have trimmed their costs significantly already – co-operate with their professional fire and rescue colleagues in order to raise the levels of fire safety in buildings, while at the same time driving down deaths and property losses due to fire?

So Mr Pickles and Mr Osborne – when would you like us to start?