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Status: Formal Freedom of Information request submitted (20 October 2026)  ·  Response due within 20 working days
Tower Block fire records (ref awaited) Torbay & South Devon NHS FT
AWAITING RESPONSE

Tower Block fire risk assessments, audits and fire safety governance

Request submitted: 20 October 2026 | Response due within 20 working days | Covers 1 January 2018 to the date of response
Why this matters: This request goes to the Trust's own fire safety records for the Tower Block: the fire risk assessments and their action plans, the Trust's responses to the fire service's audits, the reports of its Authorising Engineer (Fire), the annual fire safety reports to the Board, and the minutes of its fire safety group. It sits alongside the request to the fire service and the 19 October request about the DRM 2878 risk and funding, building a picture of what fire risks were identified in the Tower Block and what the Trust did about them.
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 Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service request.

The request

On 20 October 2026 Susie Colley, Chair of Save Torbay Hospital, submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Trust's information governance office, covering the period from 1 January 2018 to the date of response. The full request is reproduced below.

From: Susie Colley, Chair, Save Torbay Hospital
To: Data Access and Disclosure Office, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
Copied to: Members of Parliament and others

Dear Data Access and Disclosure Office,

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I request the following recorded information about the Tower Block at Torbay Hospital. The period covered is 1 January 2018 to the date of your response.

  1. Every fire risk assessment covering the Tower Block, or any of its floors, with the date of each and its action plan showing what was required, who was responsible and when each action was completed.
  2. The Trust's responses to each fire safety audit or inspection by Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, including letters, action plans and progress reports sent to the Service.
  3. Audit reports on Tower Block fire safety by the Trust's Authorising Engineer (Fire) or any external fire safety adviser.
  4. Annual fire safety reports to the Trust Board, including any prepared under Health Technical Memorandum 05-01.
  5. Minutes of the Trust's fire safety group or committee, or equivalent, where the Tower Block was discussed.

If any part would exceed the cost limit, please tell me and advise how to narrow it. Please treat items 1 and 2 as the priority, and if needed limit them to floors 4 to 8 of the Tower Block.

If you withhold any information, for example on security grounds, please provide redacted copies rather than withholding whole documents, and explain the exemption and the public interest test applied. Patients and the community have a strong interest in knowing what fire risks were identified and what was done about them. I would like the information electronically.

regards

Susie Colley

What happens next

The Trust 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 and 2 to be treated as the priority, with the option of limiting them to floors 4 to 8 of the Tower Block, and has asked the Trust to advise on narrowing any part that would exceed the cost limit. When the Trust 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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