(APG0034)

 

Written evidence submitted by Ronnie King

ALL- PARTY PARLIAMENTARY FIRE SAFETY & RESCUE GROUP

Ronnie King OBE, O.St.J, QFSM, F.I.Fire E

 

History

My father was a fireman in London during the Blitz and later moved as a Fireman to Keighley in West Yorkshire.  As a child I watched the Keighley Mill Fire burn down in 1956 with the loss of eight lives of millworkers trapped in ‘dead-end’ conditions at that fire.  My father attended that fire, which subsequently resulted in the Factories Act Legislation of 1961 and the ‘means of escape’ provisions therein.  I have closely followed every legislative change relating to fire since that time.

I subsequently followed in my father’s footsteps and joined the Service and from 1975 to 1977 I served for a two year period in the Home Office Fire Inspectorate, working out of Horseferry House, having previously served in West Yorkshire and London, where I served as a station Officer at North Kensington Fire Station, the scene of the Grenfell Tower Fire Disaster.

I also served in Scotland before moving to Wales in 1979 and subsequently was appointed Chief Fire Officer in 1983, where I served for twenty years as its Chief Fire Officer.

 

Involvement with APPG:

Since 1993 whilst serving as the Chief Fire Officer of the Mid & West Wales Fire & Rescue Service, covering a geographical area of two thirds of Wales, I assisted the then All-Party Parliamentary Group Secretary Douglas Smith, in arranging Fire related Seminars, and Launches of Research findings held inside the Palace of Westminster including attending meetings of the All-Party Parliamentary Fire Safety & Rescue Group.

My motivation has always been to make Members of Parliament aware of the current fire related issues facing the service at any given time, and the regulatory impact which decisions taken in Westminster might have.  It also enabled me to take back to the Chief Fire Officers’ Association (where I was a Board Member) some of the difficult choices Members of Parliament face in making decisions on safety issues involving significant financial considerations.   So it was a ‘two-way’ process and about saving lives and property from the effects of fire, and I was never motivated by financial benefit or gain to myself.

Appointment to APPG

In 2012 and on the recommendation of Douglas Smith on his retirement, I was appointed to the post of Honorary Administrative Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (Fire Safety & Rescue), a post which I have held since, combining it with the role of FIRE Adviser to the Group.  I have now held this UNPAID post for the past (almost) nine years, during which time the Group has gone from strength to strength in its attendance and quality of outside speakers attending its meetings.    I have held a Parliamentary PASS during this period, which has been used solely and exclusively for professional purposes in bringing ‘balanced’ discussion and debate to the House for the benefit of Members in having as wide as possible understanding of all sides of and argument when giving consideration to DECISION making.

In 2013 I sat through most of the fifty day Coroner’s Inquest into the Lakanal House fire tragedy where six lives were lost, and where the families of the deceased were represented by John Hendy QC (now Lord Hendy) whom I now know well and respect as a Member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group.

Following that Inquest the Coroner sent numerous Rule 43 letters to the Secretary of State CLG, Southwark Borough Council, London Fire Brigade and the Fire Sector Federation, copies of all of which I hold, together with the respective replies to those rule 43 letters.

APPG involvement with Ministers

These letters and the responses to them resulted in the All-Party Group initiating urgent letters and arranging meetings with Ministers, in order to follow up on Government’s failure to act quickly on the recommendations from the Coroner; and four years later, we had the tragic Grenfell Tower Fire disaster, which resulted in a Public Inquiry, an Independent Review of Building Regulations (Hackitt), a Metropolitan Police Criminal Investigation, the establishment of an Expert Panel to advise Government.

I was subsequently nominated to represent the Group in providing eight years of correspondence and minutes of meetings between the Group and Ministers, for both the Public Inquiry and the Metropolitan Police criminal Investigation.  I subsequently arranged a formal four hour interview with the Metropolitan Police ‘UNDER CAUTION’ in a Room in Westminster Parliament, and provided a STATEMENT with 115 exhibits.

I undertook a similar interview and provided the same information during a four Hour interview with Kate Grange QC, Counsel to the Public Inquiry, together with Barristers and Solicitors.   I did all this on behalf of the APPG.              My next calling will be to the Public Inquiry Phase 2 itself, and access to the Commons Library will again be extremely helpful towards my preparation and sourcing of suitable briefing papers and reports.

The Grenfell Public Inquiry itself, and the subsequent ‘calls for evidence’, Government consultations and DRAFT Bills has resulted in a substantial volume of work for myself, and without the access to the Commons Library and to Members of Parliament and staff, in order to clarify matters quickly, I would not properly fulfil my current role so adequately as hitherto.

I have arranged to meet dozens of organisations wishing an audience with key Parliamentarians on the Group to propose solutions to various fire safety issues arising from Grenfell;  and I have been able to quickly discern whether the All-Party Group would benefit from hearing what they have to say; or whether for example they are just seeking to promote a product or a system.  Thus I feel I am saving hours of MP’s and Peers’ time.

I have spent time researching a company who had a new fire alarm system passed on to me by Felicity Buchan MP which claimed to be the answer to a ‘stay put’ policy, and following meetings I held in Parliament with the National Fire Chiefs Council, I was able to direct them towards compliance with the new British Standard as the route to follow, rather than ‘tie up’ MP’s time

Margaret Ferrier MP had a constituent who had a major fire in a domestic dwelling who was without insurance, as a result of an electrical white goods fire, and I was able to meet in Westminster with Whirlpool, on Margaret’s behalf and steer them towards helping her constituent with a solution.

Jonathan Gullis MP sought my assistance with a company in his constituency which produce glazed balconies, and which are caught up in the combustible materials ban on external walls of buildings.  I have been able to meet them along with those who have been allocated the Government’s research project into this issue, without involving Jonathan, or him being drawn in to this technical area of toughened fire resisting glazing!!

On behalf of Sir David, I have met with companies like Kingspan and Celotex and Rockwool in order to be seen to be listening, without giving a commitment to any of them, which has proved particularly sensible, given the latest revelations at the Public Inquiry.

I have met separately the Structural Timber Association and the Concrete Centre and facilitated presentations to the All-Party Group where they both spoke from different perspectives and we resolved to note the points which each were making without any commitment or favouritism.

I met with Terry Edge, a former BEIS official who continues to challenge the Office for Product Safety & Standards in relation to the use of flame retardants in furniture & furnishings and then met separately with BEIS and their officials to ascertain their understanding of the issues.  As a consequence we arranged for the then Minister, Kelly Tolhurst MP to come along and speak to the Group, whilst Terry Edge was present at the meeting.     I was able to speak with Kelly Tolhurst outside before the meeting, which assisted me in understanding the problem.  Then I was able to call a former Deputy Fire Chief from Greater Manchester (Bob Graham) who attended the Woolworths fire and we held a pre-meeting in Westminster, before the APPG meeting, where we developed a strategy for giving his advice.

I have also met WHICH magazine and Electrical Safety First, and a host of other electricity related organisations in rooms in Parliament, which would otherwise have necessitated my being accompanied by a pass holder throughout.

Last year and this year up to about March, we held a number of APPG supported events chaired by Baroness Brinton, Lord Hunt, Lord McKenzie, Lord Brookman and sometimes yourself, Mary Glindon or Jim Fitzpatrick, whereby we had Seminars on key Fire and Building Safety issues, with each APPG member chairing a one hour session, then handing over to someone else.  These have been extremely important events in raising debate on a range of subjects, and influencing Ministers and Department officials in relation to taking decisions of importance.

I have been Privileged to have attended meetings formal and informal with the Following Ministers and Secretaries of State since my involvement with the All-Party Parliamentary Group:

Rt. Hon. James Brokenshire – Former Sec. of State MHCLG and Minister for Security.

Lord Eric Pickles - DCLG

Rt. Hon. Michael Howard – former Leader of the Conservative Party

Rt. Hon. Earl Howe – Deputy Leader House of Lords.

Lord Henley – Under Sec. of State – BEIS

Nick Hurd MP – Minister for Policing and Fire

Kit Malthouse MP - Minister for Policing and Fire

Lord Greenhalgh – Joint Minister – Home Office - MHCLG

Rt. Hon. Boris Johnson MP – Before appointment to Prime Minister

Rt. Hon. Priti Patel – Before appointment to Home Secretary

Rt. Hon. Dominic Raab – former Minister of State – MHCLG

Nick Gibb MP – Minister for School Standards

Lord Agnew – former Minister for the Schools System

David Laws MP – former Minister for Schools

Kelly Tolhurst MP – former Minister for schools

Brandon Lewis MP – former Minister (FIRE)

Stephen Williams MP – former Minister (MHCLG)

James Wharton MP – former Minister (MHCLG)

Jim Knight MP – former Schools Minister

 

Briefings – speeches for MP’s and Peers

 

I do prepare DRAFT Briefings for Sir David and other APPG members who either have to speak at an Event or a Parliamentary Debate – particularly where the technical content of the subject can be difficult.  This often means accessing the Commons Library to ascertain what is in the Members’ briefings so that I can vary it and not be repetitive.

 

I have done this for Sarah Jones MP, Jonathan Gullis MP, Jim Fitzpatrick MP, Baroness Brinton, Margaret Ferrier MP, Felicity Buchan MP, Kieran Mullan MP, Lord Harrison of Chester, Lord Brookman, Maggie Throup MP, Sir George Howarth MP

 

 

 

Department for Education – Building Bulleting 100 Stakeholder Group

I represent the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Stakeholder Group which is examining the Revision of the Department for Education’s Design Guide for Fire Safety in new School – Building Bulleting 100 (BB 100).  I have held meetings in Portcullis House with members of the Stakeholder Group.

 

 

Established Contacts

I have developed an excellent rapport with “Room Bookings Staff and Catering supervisors, who have always valued the one to one contact and efficiency in which our APPG goes about its business.   

To undertake the workload which I currently have, especially since Grenfell, without access to the House of Commons Library and to meeting rooms for meetings of the Group, and to meet other organisations fire related, and to chat informally without escort, has been critical to the success of what I do and what the Group has achieved.

I believe that under Sir David’s chairmanship, this All-Party Group has become one of the most active and respected Group’s in Westminster, and I have been able to help the Group to achieve this, because of holding a Parliamentary Pass.

What James Brokenshire said when introducing the Fire Safety Bill:  “There is considerable experience across the House, and we will continue to listen to views from all interested colleagues, as well as working with the all-party parliamentary group on fire safety and rescue”.

 

4 December 2020