Select committee: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Conclusion 25
2nd Report - Cladding: progress of remediation
Published 12 Jun 2020
Paragraph 90
Addressed to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee Cladding: progress on remediation All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The industry-designed External Wall Fire Review (EWS1) was put in place to provide a process that would allow mortgage providers to make informed lending decisions on high-rise residential properties potentially at risk of serious fire safety defects. However, the EWS1 process is not working. There is a lack of qualified, insured Chartered Fire Engineers to undertake these surveys, meaning a very large number of buildings will not be inspected for many years. EWS1 surveys can be very expensive, with costs typically passed to residents through their service charges even where no fire safety defects are found. Government fire safety advice has led to a much larger number of buildings falling into the scope of the EWS1 process than had been envisaged at its inception. It is clear that the process has lacked sufficient input from leaseholder representatives, but also other important stakeholders, including the insurance industry.
From: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, 2nd Report - Cladding: progress of remediation (HC 172), paragraph 90, 12 June 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 8 September 2020.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out funding, enforcement and legislative measures, mainly through the draft Building Safety Bill, and responds to each of the Committee's recommendations without adopting its calls for a wider fund or fixed deadlines.
- On funding, the government says public money should not be the only means of remediation, and that building owners "should meet the costs without passing them on to leaseholders wherever possible". The £1bn fund is available in 2020/21 and will incentivise pace.
- On timing, it sets an expectation that building owners will have works on site for removal of unsafe ACM cladding "by the end of 2020", with completion "by the end of 2021". It does not adopt the Committee's broader targets.
- On compulsory purchase, it says no local authority has yet seriously considered CPO, but "we have not ruled out any options, including CPOs, if the pace of remediation remains too slow".
- On historic remedial costs not covered by the £1.6 billion, Michael Wade will "accelerate work on identifying options", with an update "before the final Building Safety Bill is introduced to Parliament".