Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Accepted
Asbestos remains a serious and widespread concern within the Palace of Westminster
Conclusion
Asbestos remains a serious and pressing concern for those who live and work in the Palace and wider parliamentary estate – since 2016 there have been 8 asbestos incidents.16 The Chief Executive of the R&R Delivery Authority informed us asbestos could perhaps be found at 2,500 sites, including within inaccessible areas such as pipe lagging, ducts and voids. Removing asbestos from the Palace could require an estimated 300 people working for two and a half years while the site was not being used.17 The Delivery Authority continues to undertake work to fully understand the type and distribution of asbestos throughout the Palace but does not expect to be able to fully catalogue its existence prior to any restoration work commencing.18 7 Committee of Public Accounts, Nineteenth Report of Session 2019–21, Restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster, HC 549, 2 October 2020 8 Q 2 9 Qq 37–38 10 Q 2 11 Q 1 12 Qq 3, 35 13 Q 61 14 Q 26 15 Committee of Public Accounts, Nineteenth Report of Session 2019–21, Restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster, HC 549, 2 October 2020; Committee of Public Accounts, Tenth Report of Session 2022–23, Restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster, HC 49, 29 June 2022 16 Letter from Sir John Benger, 1 February 2023; Letter from Sir John Benger 29 March 2022 17 Qq 11–12 18 Q 47 Restoration & Renewal of the Palace of Westminster – 2023 Recall 11
Government Response Summary
The Clerks agree, recognizing the need for excellent health and safety performance. They commit to utilizing the Programme Delivery Agreement to set explicit expectations for contractors regarding asbestos management and will implement a robust monitoring framework and assurances. Improvements to incident reporting are ongoing, and a new Director of Parliamentary Safety is being recruited.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Clerk of the House and Clerk of the Parliaments agree with this recommendation. The Clerks fully recognise the need to reiterate the importance of excellent health and safety performance, including the timeliness and accuracy of reporting, to all those involved in ongoing construction activities and future R&R works. The House safety teams work closely with the supply chain and their counterparts in the R&R team to do so. As contractors engaged in the substantial R&R works will have a contractual relationship with the R&R Delivery Authority, rather than the House Authorities, the Clerks will utilise the Programme Delivery Agreement to be explicit with the high expectations they have of them in managing their supply chain and seek assurances of their mechanisms to hold poor performers to account. This agreement will also outline how both organisations will cooperate with one another on health and safety matters; and take reasonable steps to coordinate activities and inform one another where there are risks to health and safety. To supplement the agreement, the Houses have a robust framework of monitoring and assurance to ensure that responsibilities of all parties are fully discharged and any indicators of poor performance are identified early and acted upon. In addition, the Clerks would like to note that, as outlined in their oral evidence, Parliament has always had a database of incidents, in order to discharge its obligations under health and safety and social security law. Improvements have been made to the accuracy and timeliness of incident reporting which underpins the database. The recruitment of a new Director of Parliamentary Safety remains ongoing. An interim is expected to be appointed shortly, to ensure necessary improvements to safety structures and governance are expedited.