Fire inspections down by a fifth in seven years, it emerges in wake of Grenfell inferno

Fire safety inspections carried out in homes across England have fallen by a fifth in the last seven years, official figures show. 

One-off figures released by the Home Office following the deadly Grenfell Tower inferno also show that after steadily dropping since 2010, the number of deaths by fire across the country rose by more than 50 per cent last year. 

The data, which does not include the 79 people who have either been confirmed dead or are missing and presumed dead in the Grenfell blaze, shows that in 2016/17 41 people died in house fires, compared to 26 the year before, but down from a peak of 54 in 2010/11.

Meanwhile, the number of  fire safety audits dropped by almost a fifth since 2009. These are routine, planned inspections where a fire safety officer assesses the level of compliance with fire regulations.

If an officer believes fire safety measures are inaccurate, they can take action by issuing an informal notice suggesting improvements or a formal notice requiring improvements.

Fire services carried out 63,201 audits in England in 2015/16 - up by 7 per cent from the previous year but 18% lower than in 2009/10 (77,532).

Residents in Grenfell Tower had been warning in for a number of years that the building was an accident waiting to happen and failing to live up to fire safety standards.

Since the blaze the Chalcots Estate in Camden has been evacuated as fire inspections in the wake of tests proving that cladding on tower blocks was combustible showed a litany of fire safety failings including 1,000 missing fire doors. 

The Home Office figures also show that the number of fires overall has fallen. 

Fire and rescue services attended 1,261 blazes in purpose-built high-rise flats in England in the 2009/10 financial year, compared with 714 in 2016/17 - a 43 per cent decrease.

Just 2 per cent of the 30,296 dwelling fires attended by fire services in England in 2016/17 were in purpose-built high-rise flats above 10 storeys.