Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 6
17th Report - The Remediation of Dangerous Cladding
Published 21 Mar 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee The Remediation of Dangerous Cladding All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
MHCLG’s previous attempts to speed up remediation exposed the taxpayer to increased risk of fraud. When MHCLG launched its high–rise Building Safety Fund in 2020 it relaxed a range of taxpayer protections in order get money out to projects quickly. While this approach has since been reversed, a potential loss of over £500,000 has been identified due to suspected fraud involving funds paid out in advance. MHCLG says 7 that counter–fraud activity was underway before a belated Fraud Risk Assessment was completed in 2023. We are concerned that poor record keeping resulted in documentation being lost. Lessons are being learned, and the Cladding Safety Scheme is on a sounder footing, including counter– fraud controls. As MHCLG prepares to accelerate remediation work, we are encouraged that it is engaging with the Public Sector Fraud Authority and taking forward work to undertake a measurement exercise to learn more about the extent of potential fraud and the effectiveness of its controls. recommendation MHCLG should, by the end of 2025: use findings from fraud measurement exercises to strengthen its counter–fraud controls and ensure they are adequate to meet accelerated funding demand; and share relevant learning across the Ministry to help prevent fraud in other programmes.
From: Public Accounts Committee, 17th Report - The Remediation of Dangerous Cladding (HC 362), 21 March 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Seventeenth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026.
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Seventeenth report from Session 2024-25
Published 16 May 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with most of the Committee's recommendations on the remediation of dangerous cladding, with target dates between summer and December 2025, but disagrees with the recommendation on construction manufacturers paying a share of remediation costs.
- On the Remediation Acceleration Plan, the government agrees to update the Committee in Autumn 2025. It says it "has not seen significant evidence that non-cladding defects are slowing down remediation" but is committed to removing blockers.
- On construction manufacturers paying a share of remediation costs, the government disagrees. It says it is consulting on redress routes in the Construction Products Reform Green Paper and that leaseholders and tenants are protected from the cost of cladding remediation.
- The government will publish latest building number estimates "by the summer", but the timing of cost and completion date estimates "will depend on the outcome of the forthcoming Spending Review".
- On insurance, the government agrees and will share an update on progress by the end of 2025. It is gathering data on premiums and is considering whether government "might support industry to reduce fire related liabilities".