The Children’s Homes (Wales) Regulations 2002

PART IV PREMISES

Fitness of premises

30.—(1) Subject to regulation 4(8), the registered person shall not use premises for the purposes of a children’s home unless they are in a location, and of a physical design and layout, suitable for the purpose of achieving the aims and objectives set out in the home’s statement of purpose.

(2) The registered person shall ensure that all parts of the home used by children are—

(a) adequately lit, heated and ventilated;

(b) secure from unauthorised access;

(c) suitably furnished and equipped;

(d) of sound construction and kept in good structural repair externally and internally;

(e) kept clean, reasonably decorated and maintained; and

(f) equipped with what is reasonably necessary, and adapted as necessary, in order to meet the needs arising from his or her disability of any disabled child accommodated in the home.

(3) The registered person shall ensure that the children’s home is kept free from offensive odours and shall make suitable arrangements for the disposal of general and clinical waste.

(4) The registered person shall ensure that there are within the children’s home, for use by children accommodated there, in conditions of appropriate privacy—

(a) a sufficient number of wash basins and baths or showers supplied with hot and cold running water; and

(b) a sufficient number of lavatories,

for the number and sex of children accommodated.

(5) The registered person shall provide for the number and needs of children accommodated in the children’s home—

(a) suitable and sufficient kitchen equipment, crockery and cutlery and utensils;

(b) adequate facilities for the preparation and storage of food; and

(c) so far as is practicable, adequate facilities for children to prepare their own food if they so wish and are of an age and ability to do so.

(6) The registered person shall ensure that there are within a children’s home adequate facilities for laundering linen and clothing, and, for children wishing to do so, to wash, dry and iron their own clothes.

(7) The registered person shall ensure that there is provided within a children’s home—

(a) adequate communal space for sitting, recreation and dining;

(b) such facilities for private study as are appropriate to the age and educational needs of the children accommodated.

(8) The registered person shall ensure that each child is provided with sleeping accommodation which is—

(a) suitable to his or her needs including the need for privacy; and

(b) equipped with furniture, storage facilities, lighting, bedding and other furnishings including window and floor coverings suitable to his needs.

(9) The registered person shall ensure that no child shares a bedroom with an adult, nor (except in the case of siblings) a child who is of the opposite sex or of a significantly different age to him or her.

(10) The registered person shall provide for persons working at the children’s home—

(a) suitable facilities and accommodation, other than sleeping accommodation, including—

(i) facilities for the purpose of changing;

(ii) storage facilities;

(b) sleeping accommodation where that is needed in connection with their work at the home.

Fire precautions

31.—(1) The registered person shall—

(a) take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of fire equipment;

(b) provide adequate means of escape;

(c) make adequate arrangements—

(i) for detecting, containing and extinguishing fires;

(ii) for giving warnings of fires;

(iii) for evacuation in the event of fire,

(iv) for the maintenance of all fire equipment; and

(v) for reviewing fire precautions, and testing fire equipment, at suitable intervals;

(d) make arrangements for persons working at the home to receive suitable training in fire prevention;

(e) ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that the persons working at the home and, so far as practicable, children accommodated there, are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire; and

(f) consult with the fire authority about the matters described in sub-paragraphs (a) to (e).

(2) In this regulation “fire authority” means the authority discharging in the area in which a children’s home is situated, the function of fire authority under the Fire Services Act 1947(1).

(1)

1947 c. 41.