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Written question asked by Geraint Davies (Labour) on Monday, 13 July 2020, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 16 July 2020 (named day). It was answered by Paul Scully (Conservative) on Thursday, 16 July 2020 on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Fire Prevention: Furniture

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps is his Department taking to ensure that it appoints a wide range of (a) stakeholders, (b) representative organisations (c) experts and (d) professionals to the British Standards Institute (i) Expert Advisory Group and (ii) Working Group FW/6 on flammability performance and fire tests for furniture.

Answer

The British Standards Institution (BSI) is appointed by government as the UK’s National Standards Body. Standards are voluntary and BSI is independent from government. The BSI are responsible for ensuring their standards committees are balanced and broadly represent the views of all interested stakeholders. This is formally set out in the British Standard, “BS 0: A standard for standards: principles of standardization”. Section 7 of this standard makes it clear that “committee membership is at the discretion of BSI”.

The Government announced in July 2019 that it would developing a new approach to the Furniture and Fire Safety Regulations and it will seek appropriate expert advice to inform the policy development.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
72753
Session
2019-21
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Fire prevention Furniture Standards Safety Testing Standards specifications Fire hazards
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk