Interlinked fire and smoke alarms and military planes landing at Prestwick airport: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
1. How many Scottish properties have interlinked fire and smoke alarms, as needed through new regulations from February 2022?
- How many do not have interlinked fire and smoke alarms, and how many properties have an unknown status?
2. All correspondence, including internal, sent and received by the Scottish Government, briefings prepared, and minutes/notes from meetings and analysis held by the government regarding Israel military planes landing at Prestwick airport, from between October 1 2024 and the date of this FOI.
Response
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) gives everyone the right to ask Scottish public authorities for the information they hold, subject to various provisions and exemptions. It's important to note that the right applies to information, not to documents.
Where there are duplicate documents included within correspondence, we may have only provided one copy of that document.
The answer to part one of your request is:
As part of the 2022 Scottish House Condition Survey, we asked the following new question on fire alarms: Has the dwelling satisfactory equipment for detecting fire and giving warning in the event of fire or suspected fire? Responses were recorded as a yes or no answer, and in order to be recorded as ‘yes’ a dwelling must have interlinked fire alarms installed meeting a number of criteria:
- one smoke alarm installed in the room most frequently used for general daytime living purposes (normally the living room/lounge); and
- one smoke alarm in every circulation space on each storey, such as hallways and landings; and
- one heat alarm installed in every kitchen (standards for electricians advise that smoke alarms should not be installed in kitchens, or anywhere else where there is a risk of false alarms from smoke. However, if a smoke alarm is in place in a kitchen, and not causing any problems, then this would not constitute a failure of the tolerable standard); and
- all smoke and heat alarms to be ceiling mounted; and
- all smoke and heat alarms to be interlinked; and
- all smoke and heat alarms to be mains wired or tamper proof long-life lithium battery (i.e. not PP3 type or user-replaceable) powered.
The survey results show that in 2022 around 1.91 million homes in Scotland (75%) have fully compliant interlinked fire alarms, while 25% (around 638,000) were recorded as not having satisfactory equipment for detecting and warning in the event of fire.
In the social rented sector in 2022 around 6% of social dwellings (38,000) were recorded as not having satisfactory equipment for detecting and warning in the event of fire.
While all dwellings meeting the fire alarm criteria have interlinked fire alarms, there may be some dwellings recorded as having insufficient fire detection equipment that do have interlinked fire alarms but failed the fire alarm criteria due to other factors such as insufficient number of alarms, improperly powered alarms, or improper locations of alarms. However, due to the yes/no mode of question this number cannot be quantified from 2022 SHCS data.
From 2023 the SHCS question on fire alarms will provide details as to why a dwelling’s equipment for detecting a fire is unsatisfactory which will allow analysis in this area from 2025.
These statistics are based on fieldwork undertaken mostly during 2022. Physical surveys in homes took place between April 2022 and March 2023 with 30% of the surveys taking place in the first quarter of 2023.
This means that many of the physical surveys were undertaken immediately after the introduction of this legislation. We would therefore expect that compliance numbers would increase in future iterations of the survey, as the changes to the legislation continue to bed in.
The Scottish House Condition Survey was most recently published on 29 February 2024 and the information on fire alarms is in the Housing Standards section 5.2.1: Introduction - Scottish House Condition Survey: 2022 Key Findings - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).
No one will be criminalised if they need more time, however we encourage everyone to install these alarms which can help save lives. The legislation provides flexibility for people to fit the necessary alarms if they were unable to do so by the February 2022 deadline.
The duty rests with the local authority to ensure that homes in their area are up to standard. The Scottish Government published a statement in partnership with COSLA on 21 January 2022 https://www.gov.scot/publications/fire-alarm-legislation-joint-statement-with-cosla/ confirming that local authorities will be taking a proportionate and measured approach to compliance. Individual circumstances such as difficulty meeting the cost or obtaining the alarms, will be taken into account.
In relation to part two of your request, I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. While our aim is to provide information wherever possible; on this occasion, after reviewing the information on a line-by-line basis, we are unable to provide some of the information requested. This is due to statutory exemptions applying under FOISA. Details on what exemptions apply and why can be found in Annex A.
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Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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