(2) what the cost was of (a) repairing and (b) rebuilding school buildings damaged by fire in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
[holding answer 16 October2006]: Because we do not have reliable figures for the cost of installing sprinklers in schools, we commissioned consultants to carry out a study to establish them. Their survey covers a minimum of 20 primary and secondary schools, and is analysing both installation costs and maintenance costs. It commenced in July and should be completed later this month. We will include data from the study in the final draft of our new guide on fire safety, building bulletin 100 (BB 100), “Designing and Managing Against the Risk of Fire in Schools”, which we expect to publish early next year. The most recent figures we have on school fires from the Department for Communities and Local Government are for 2000 to 2004. These cover school fires in England and Wales.
Number of fires Total cost (£ million) 2000 1,275 45 2001 1,529 67 2002 1,332 67 2003 1,313 61 2004 1,291 52
The costs are rounded to the nearest million and are derived from the (then) ODPM publication “Economic Cost of Fire, estimates for 2004”. They cover property damage and the costs of the fire and rescue services attending the fires.