Recommendation 67

HM Government Acknowledged

The Government welcomes the Committee’s attention to the capacity of the testing market in the UK. The Government proposes to make regulations under Schedule 8 to the Building Safety Bill that will mean more (safety critical) products need to be tested before they can be placed on the market. Moreover, achieving a smooth transition out of the EU could have the effect of increasing demand on UK-based ‘testing houses’. To that end, the Government shares the Committee’s concern about domestic capacity and commits to taking the necessary steps to work with the UK testing market to address – where appropriate – capacity constraints as the regulations are developed. The Government has announced an independent review into testing. The review will identify gaps and risks in the testing and certification system, and the Government will then consider how to respond to the findings. The Government will also establish the Construction Products Standards Committee, that will advise the Secretary of State on innovation in the product testing regime and measures to address weaknesses in that regime, which may include capacity for some types of testing. The Government, through our Building Safety Bill and investment from this Spending Review is also supporting the delivery of a National Regulator for Construction Products with greater oversight of a new stronger and clearer framework for the regulation of construction products. As part of its remit, we intend to include introducing capability for the regulator to test the safety and performance of construction products to avoid constraints on market surveillance and coordination. Having this testing capability is critical to the regulator being able to effectively carry out its market surveillance and enforcement duties, and with this increased capacity, our new regulator can test products to establish whether manufacturers are complying with the regulations. Testing would be targeted and risk-based, taking into account market intelligence and complaints data, to help the regulator to identify safety-critical issues before they arise or become commonplace. However, it is not our intention for the new regulator to replace the existing requirements for manufacturers to arrange for certification of their construction products.