E-petition 706513 relating to evacuation chairs in schools and colleges

What is an evacuation (evac) chair?

An evacuation chair (also known as an escape chair or stair chair) is a specially designed chair used to safely transport people with limited mobility down stairways during an emergency evacuation, such as in the case of a fire. They need to be operated by at least one other person.

In response to a petition calling for every school and college to be obliged to have an evacuation chair and training in its use, which closed on 18 August 2025, the government said:

In a school or college, where a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP) requires an evacuation chair, it must be provided. Staff and the person needing the chair must be trained in its use. […]

Not all disabled people feel comfortable using these chairs and it is not always possible for wheelchair users to transfer into an evacuation chair or to maintain a sitting position once seated in one. Therefore, evacuation chairs should not be considered as an automatic solution to the escape requirements of wheelchair users.

What is the current legal framework? Equality act 2010

Under sections 20 to 22 and schedule 13 of the Equality Act 2010, schools and colleges are obliged to anticipate and put in place “reasonable adjustments” to avoid disabled students being treated less favourably. The duty aims to ensure disabled people do not face “substantial disadvantage” in comparison to non-disabled people. The duty has three requirements:

• The first requirement covers changing the way things are done.
• The second covers mitigating any disadvantages posed by the built environment.
• The third covers providing additional support.

The aim is to prevent disabled people from being disadvantaged and to encourage greater equality in participation and outcomes among all school and college pupils.

Fire Safety Order

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, or the Fire Safety Order (FSO), applies to most workplaces in England, including schools. The FSO requires a ‘responsible person’ (such as the employer or another person in control of the premises) to assess fire risks and put in place measures to mitigate them, including evacuation plans. The government response to the petition explains that:

Under current fire safety legislation, those who have responsibility for the building need to provide a fire safety risk assessment that includes an emergency evacuation plan for all people likely to be in the premises. This includes disabled people.

Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) are bespoke escape plans created to assist individuals who may require additional support during the emergency evacuation of a building.

The FSO does not mandate that evacuation plans for schools must include PEEPs. However, PEEPs provide a way for schools to demonstrate that the requirements of the FSO are being met.

In contrast, The Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025 will mandate PEEPs for relevant persons in specific residential buildings in England from 6 April 2026. This change has been introduced to implement the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry on PEEPs in high-rise residential buildings.

Building regulations

Approved Document B volume 2 Buildings other than Dwellings (PDF) is statutory government guidance that shows how the fire safety requirements of the Building regulations 2010 can be met in school buildings. Building regulations apply at the time of construction or during specific building works. They don’t apply retrospectively to existing buildings.

Sections 3.4 to 3.9 of Approved Document B set out the requirements for refuge areas (safe areas for people to wait for a short period during evacuation), including that they should be wheelchair-accessible with direct access to a stair. Evacuation equipment is not mandatory under building regulations.

School accessibility plans

As set out in schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010 and noted in the Department for Education’s Equality Act 2010: advice for schools, schools must implement accessibility plans which are aimed at:

• increasing the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the curriculum;
• improving the physical environment of schools to enable disabled pupils to take better advantage of education, benefits, facilities and services provided; and
• improving the availability of accessible information to disabled pupils.

The advice also notes that schools must have regard to the need to provide adequate resources for implementing plans and must regularly review them.

Under schedule 10 of the 2010 Act, local authorities are also required to have accessibility strategies for the schools for which they are responsible, for the purpose of:

• increasing the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the schools' curriculums;
• improving the physical environment of the schools for the purpose of increasing the extent to which disabled pupils are able to take advantage of education and benefits, facilities or services provided or offered by the schools;
• improving the delivery to disabled pupils of information which is readily accessible to pupils who are not disabled.

Statistics on fires in schools

According to data published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), fire and rescue services in England attended 417 primary fires in educational premises in the 2024/25 financial year. Primary fires are generally more serious fires, causing damage to property or harm to people. Of these, 355 were accidental fires, and 62 were deliberate. There were 18 non-fatal fire-related casualties, and no fire-related fatalities.

In around a third of the primary fires attended, there was no fire damage (although there may have been damage from smoke or heat). In five of the attended fires on educational premises, fire spread was to the whole building.

Parliamentary Questions

Schools: Fires
25 November 2025 | UIN 91481

Asked by: Helen Morgan

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have been identified as high fire risk in the latest Condition Data Collection by local authority area.

Answering member: Josh MacAlister | Department: Department for Education

237 schools and colleges in England had RAAC confirmed in areas of their buildings, none of which are in Shropshire. By the end of this Parliament, every school and college in England that isn't being fully or substantially rebuilt will be RAAC-free. All schools having RAAC permanently removed through the school rebuilding programme will be in delivery, with over half already underway.

The department’s current Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) programme is visiting every government-funded school in England to collect data about the condition of their buildings. CDC2 is a high-level, non-invasive, visual inspection of condition and not a structural survey. It does not collect structural risks, nor data on school compliance with all statutory and legislative responsibilities, including fire safety.

It is the responsibility of those who run our schools to ensure that fire risk assessments are undertaken regularly. The department provides guidance about fire safety to these responsible bodies, including in the ’Good estate management for schools’ guide, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/good-estate-management-for-schools/health-and-safety.

Schools: Fires
25 November 2025 | UIN 91478

Asked by: Helen Morgan

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the estimated backlog of fire-safety-related repairs is across the school estate in (a) England, (b) Shropshire and (c) north Shropshire; and what proportion of that backlog relates to schools built before 1980.

Answering member: Josh MacAlister | Department: Department for Education

Since the 2014/15 academic year, the risk protection arrangement (RPA) has received a total of 551 fire-related claims from members. 52 claims were from the West Midlands, 4 from Shropshire and 2 claims were specifically from North Shropshire.

Schools and their responsible bodies are not obliged to notify the department of fires at their premises and we therefore do not routinely collect or record this data more widely, nor information on fire-safety-related repairs.

The department provides guidance about fire safety to bodies responsible for schools, including in the ‘Good Estate Management for Schools’ guide, available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/good-estate-management-for-schools/health-and-safety. It is the responsibility of those who run our schools to ensure that a fire risk assessment is undertaken and kept up to date, reflecting the specific characteristics of the building for which it was written.

Schools: Fires
25 November 2025 | UIN 91477

Asked by: Helen Morgan

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many fires have been recorded in (a) North Shropshire constituency, (b) Shropshire, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England’s school estate in each of the last 10 years.

Answering member: Josh MacAlister | Department: Department for Education

Since the 2014/15 academic year, the risk protection arrangement (RPA) has received a total of 551 fire-related claims from members. 52 claims were from the West Midlands, 4 from Shropshire and 2 claims were specifically from North Shropshire.

Schools and their responsible bodies are not obliged to notify the department of fires at their premises and we therefore do not routinely collect or record this data more widely, nor information on fire-safety-related repairs.

The department provides guidance about fire safety to bodies responsible for schools, including in the ‘Good Estate Management for Schools’ guide, available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/good-estate-management-for-schools/health-and-safety. It is the responsibility of those who run our schools to ensure that a fire risk assessment is undertaken and kept up to date, reflecting the specific characteristics of the building for which it was written.

Press material

Disabled Edinburgh student slams college after being left inside during fire alarm (The Record, 26 September 2025)

Schoolboy wheelchair user makes fire safety plea (BBC News, 19 June 2025)

Building evacuation strategies for disabled people (Fire Protection Association, 16 March 2022)

Government material

Health and safety: responsibilities and duties for schools (Department for Education, 5 April 2022)