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Status: Formal Freedom of Information request submitted (20 October 2026)  ·  Response due within 20 working days
Fire Service FOI (ref awaited) Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service
AWAITING RESPONSE

Fire safety audits, inspections and the enforcement history of Torbay Hospital and the Tower Block

Request submitted: 20 October 2026 | Response due within 20 working days | Covers 1 January 2018 to the date of response, with some items reaching back to 2010 and 2024
Why this matters: Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service is the fire authority that inspected the Tower Block and served the enforcement notice on floors 4 to 8 in 2026. This request goes to the regulator's own records: how often the hospital was inspected, what fire safety deficiencies were raised with the Trust and when, what triggered the July 2026 inspection, and a copy of the enforcement notice itself. Alongside the parallel request to the Trust, it is intended to establish what was known about the Tower Block's fire safety, by whom, and over what period.
Related requests: This is one of three linked requests on the Tower Block's fire safety. See also the Tower Block, Simpson Ward and public involvement item (the 13 and 19 October letters to the Chief Executive, including the request about the DRM 2878 risk and funding) and the Trust fire safety records request.

The request

On 20 October 2026 Susie Colley, Chair of Save Torbay Hospital, submitted a Freedom of Information request to Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, covering the period from 1 January 2018 to the date of response, with some items reaching back to 2010 and 2024. The full request is reproduced below.

From: Susie Colley, Chair, Save Torbay Hospital
To: Information Governance Team, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service
Copied to: Members of Parliament and others

Dear Information Governance Team,

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I request the following recorded information about Torbay Hospital, Lowes Bridge, Torquay TQ2 7AA, and its Tower Block. The period covered is 1 January 2018 to the date of your response unless stated otherwise.

  1. The date and outcome of every fire safety audit or inspection of Torbay Hospital, with copies of the audit reports or inspection records.
  2. Whether Torbay Hospital was inspected every year under the Service's risk-based inspection programme, which in 2022 set annual inspection for all hospitals. If any year was missed, please give the reason recorded.
  3. Copies of any letters of deficiency, notifications of fire safety deficiencies, action plans, informal advice or other correspondence about fire safety sent to Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust before July 2026, with the Trust's replies.
  4. The date on which concerns were raised with the Service that led to the July 2026 inspection, and the category of source (for example: Trust staff, the Trust itself, another regulator, a member of the public). I am not asking for the identity of any individual.
  5. A copy of the enforcement notice served on the Trust in 2026, including any schedule of deficiencies and the steps required.
  6. Copies of any earlier enforcement, alterations or prohibition notices served in respect of Torbay Hospital since 1 January 2010.
  7. Correspondence between the Service and the Care Quality Commission or NHS England about fire safety at Torbay Hospital since 1 January 2024.

I understand the 2026 notice may be subject to appeal. If you rely on any exemption, please apply the public interest test, provide redacted copies rather than withholding whole documents, and explain your reasons. There is a strong public interest in patients and the community understanding the fire safety of the hospital that serves them.

If the request would exceed the cost limit, please advise how to narrow it. Please treat items 1, 3, 4 and 5 as the priority. I would like the information electronically.

Yours faithfully,

Susie Colley

What happens next

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service has a statutory duty to respond under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, normally within 20 working days. The campaign has asked for items 1, 3, 4 and 5 to be treated as the priority and has asked the Service to advise on narrowing any part that would exceed the cost limit. When the Service acknowledges the request and issues a reference, this item will be updated and tracked to its statutory deadline. Any acknowledgement, reference, refusal notice or disclosure will be recorded here.

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