andMr. Enright asked the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Tourism if he will introduce regulations to govern the ignitability of upholstered furniture; if he has satisfied himself that all upholstered furniture on sale in this country satisfies fire-resistance tests and if he will make a statement on the matter.

At present a standard specification for requirements for smoulder and flame resistant upholstery is being drawn up by the Institute for Industrial Research and Standards, the IIRS, and the question of making this standard specification mandatory by regulations is under consideration.

A notice to this effect for the attention of the upholstered furniture industry was published in the press on 11 January 1980. The notice also invited interested persons to apply to the IIRS for a copy of the draft specification and of the draft proposals for making the standard mandatory by regulations.

It is not possible to say that all upholstered furniture on sale in this country at present satisfies fire resistance tests. As a result of this exercise it is expected that a considerable amount of useful information will be acquired by the institute, including information as to the extent to which current sales of upholstered furniture satisfy fire resistance tests.

When all the information is collected and collated, will the Minister introduce legislation to ensure implementation of regulations that will satisfy him and this House with regard to fire resistance?

The regulations proposed require that all upholstered domestic seating furniture must either comply with ignition tests with cigarettes and matches or be labelled to show that the furniture is a fire hazard and that it is liable to be ignited by smouldering cigarettes or matches. This is equivalent to a regulation proposed to be introduced by the UK later this year. We will be going along with that regulation.

The Minister need not tell us that. When did we ever go ahead of them?

Question No. 16 is for written reply.