Recommendation 9

To fulfil their statutory responsibilities, the Clerks rely on others, such as contractors working within the Palace to follow expected processes and meet standards.19 As the Clerks have outlined previously, they have established dedicated processes to help them report and manage serious events where asbestos has been discovered or disturbed.20 In July 2022, the Clerks wrote to us setting out how they had reviewed and updated safety escalation processes and committed to improve how they were operating. This followed us challenging the Clerks in March and May 2022 on the failure of a contractor to report an asbestos incident in a timely manner. Although the site was immediately closed, there were delays informing the Clerks, alongside the 117 people potentially exposed to asbestos, of the incident.21