Recommendation 16

Additional costs may also arrive through wider fire safety issues discovered during remediation works and need correction. The National Audit Office found that cladding inspection has revealed other significant flaws in construction and fire safety in many 42 Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Building Safety Programme: Monthly Data Release – June 2020, 16 July 2020. 43 C&AG’s Report, paras 2.5, 2.7 44 UK Cladding Action Group, UKCAG Mental Health Report, June 2020 45 C&AG’s report, para 2.13 46 Q 54 47 Qq 48–54 48 Hansard HC, 14 July 2020, vol 678, col 1492 49 Q 72 Progress in remediating dangerous cladding 13 cases.50 Any additional costs beyond the work to remove and replace dangerous cladding are not covered by the £1.6 billion funding schemes. The Department was clear to us that remediating buildings is its priority, and that this would in turn remove the need and costs of interim measures.51 The funds do not take account of buildings below 18 metres with unsafe cladding. The Department told us it is not running a specific remediation programme for these buildings, but it has strengthened the obligations on building owners, and it is strengthening enforcement as well: “It is for building owners to take action on those buildings”.52