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Written question asked by Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party) on Thursday, 18 June 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 22 June 2026. It was answered by Kate Dearden (Labour) on Friday, 26 June 2026 on behalf of the Department for Business and Trade.

Fires: Death

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changing from open flame standards to smoulder only test on the number of (a) deaths caused by fire and (b) home fires per year.

Answer

The ‘Product regulation: fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture’ consultation sets out proposals to reform the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 (FFRs), which set flammability requirements for domestic upholstered furniture. Proposals include ending mandatory open-flame testing, moving to a smoulder-based test consistent with the approaches adopted internationally.

In developing these proposals, the Government considered a wide range of evidence, including comparative international fire data. This shows that while UK fire deaths have declined since the 1980s, this trend has also occurred in other European countries that did not adopt the same flammability testing as the UK.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
11337
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Death Fires
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk