FAQ

The EWS form must be completed by a fully qualified member of a relevant professional body within the construction industry.

They must have the expertise to identify the relevant materials within the external wall cladding and attachments. This includes whether fire resisting cavity barriers and fire stopping have been installed correctly.

The council cannot approve individual persons who can deliver the EWS1. They also cannot advise on who can and cannot complete the EWS1 form/ process.

 Only qualified chartered members of the relevant professional bodies such as IFE and RICS will have the necessary self-assessed competence and professional indemnity insurance to carry out this work

There are very few people in the UK who have the qualifications and experience to sign an EWS1 certificate.

There is very large number of buildings affected across the UK.
There can be long delays to appoint an appropriate person to do the survey and sign the certificate.  

In law, there are no specific time periods for how often fire risk assessments must be done or reviewed. It states that the responsible person for assessments in your building must review it ‘regularly’ to make sure it’s up to date.

The responsible person must review the fire risk assessment if:

- there’s reason to think it’s no longer valid (for example, if there has been a fire in the shared parts of the building)

- there have been significant changes since the assessment was done (for example, major building works or more people using the building)

The assessment itself might also have a recommendation of how often it should be reviewed or updated. Reviewing an existing fire risk assessment can take less time than carrying out a new assessment. So, reviews can be done more frequently.

The Local Government Association (LGA) has guidance on fire safety in purpose-built blocks of flats. For low-rise blocks of up to three storeys above ground, built in the last 20 years, fire risk assessments should be:

- reviewed every 2 years

- redone every 4 years

For blocks with higher risks (for example, because of the age of the building), or those more than 3 storeys high, fire risk assessments should be:

- reviewed every year

- redone every 3 years

In extreme cases (for the highest-risk buildings), the LGA advised a new fire risk assessment once a year.

Responsibility for a fire risk assessment in your building could be with:

- the owner (freeholder)

- a residents’ management company

- a Right to Manage company

- a managing agent.

In law, a ‘responsible person oversees fire safety in the shared parts of a building. For blocks of flats or large houses in multiple occupation (HMO) this is usually the freeholder or management company.

They give some of these responsibilities to a managing agent. This can include arranging or reviewing fire risk assessments.

The responsible person (or agent) may carry out the fire risk assessment themselves or employ someone else to do it.

In order to access Enterprise Team Projects, you are required to provide personal data during the enquiry, application and registration process.

Whilst the majority of information you provide to us is required to ensure that you meet the required eligibility criteria in order to access the support in our funded projects, some of it, for example; equalities information and next of kin details, are provided to us on a voluntary basis.

Data controller and purpose

The information you have provided and continue to provide whilst accessing Enterprise Team projects and support will be processed by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to ensure that you receive the relevant support as required under the specific projects that you are accessing.

We process your data in accordance with the GDPR regulations and if you have any concerns, the council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted on DPO@towerhamlets.gov.uk. 

Condition for processing personal data

The appendix also identifies why it is necessary for us to process your personal data and the section of the GDPR under which the data is lawfully processed.

How long do we keep your information?

We will only hold your information for as long as is required by law and to provide you with the necessary services. This will vary according to the information supplied.

For further details, you can view our Retention schedule.

We may also anonymise some personal data you provide to us to ensure that you cannot be identified and use this for statistical analysis of data to allow the council to effectively target and plan the provision of services and future projects. 

Information sharing

Your personal information may be shared with internal departments or with external partners and agencies involved and contracted in delivering services on our behalf. For example the information you supply to the council in order to access our Start Up Ready Project will be processed by NWES, who are the appointed contract delivery partner appointed by the council to deliver the Start Up Ready Project. The appendix gives details of the organisations we may share your data with and the circumstances where it may be shared.

The council has a duty to protect public funds and may use personal information and data-matching techniques to detect and prevent fraud, and ensure public money is targeted and spent in the most appropriate and cost-effective way. Certain information may be shared with internal services and external bodies like the Audit Commission, The Great London Authority, other local authorities, HM Revenue and Customs, and the Police.

Data profiling

We may also use the data to build a profile of the council workforce, to ensure equalities of opportunity and to investigate service delivery improvements. This data would normally be anonymised and never used to make decisions on a specific individual or business.

Third Party links

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Navigating those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

Requesting access to your personal data

Under data protection legislation, you have the right to request access to information about you that we hold. To make a request for your personal information, contact the council’s data protection officer at DPO@towerhamlets.gov.uk.

You have other rights in respect of your data, for example the right to:

1. object to processing of personal data that is likely to cause, or is causing, damage or distress
2. object to decisions being taken by automated means
3. in certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed.

If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, we ask that you raise your concern with council’s data protection officer at DPO@towerhamlets.gov.uk in the first instance. Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.