Select committee: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee

Recommendation 15

Fifth report: Pre-legislative scrutiny of the Building Safety Bill Published 24 Nov 2020 Paragraph 65 Addressed to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee Pre-legislative scrutiny of the Building Safety Bill All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Recommendation (the committee's words)

On balance, we consider the initial definition of “higher-risk building” proposed by the Government to be reasonable and practical, though we agree with the evidence calling for the scope to be widened in the future to include a great number of risk 60 Pre-legislative scrutiny of the Building Safety Bill factors. In particular, the scope should take account of the vulnerability of residents and their ability to evacuate the building. We also think the Government should keep under review the development of modern methods of construction.

From: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Fifth report: Pre-legislative scrutiny of the Building Safety Bill (HC 466), paragraph 65, 24 November 2020

Government response

The government responded to the whole report on 7 July 2021 (deadline 24 January 2021).

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government responds to the Committee's 43 recommendations on the draft Building Safety Bill by agreeing with many, including on publishing secondary legislation during the Bill's passage and excluding historic costs from the building safety charge, while disagreeing with others and giving its reasons.

On delegated powers, it agrees with the Committee and will remove the power at paragraph 16(1)(c) of Schedule 8 from the introduced Bill. It intends to publish detail on Gateways and construction products "before the relevant clauses are considered in committee".
On leaseholders, it agrees that historical costs should be excluded from the Building Safety Charge, which "will only cover the ongoing costs of the new regime". It does not consider it appropriate to rely on existing service charge provisions, giving variation between leases as the reason.
On the regulator, it does not agree that factors for expanding scope should be specified in the Bill through a 'have regard' requirement. It also does not believe property protection should be a statutory objective "at this time".
On competence, it agrees with the objectives for third-party accreditation but does not agree that provisions should be in the Bill, preferring statutory guidance for "greater flexibility". It will publish outline transition and cost recovery information, the latter in "Summer 2021".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error