Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Accepted
Uncertainty about 11-18 metre building safety and remediation timelines remains for residents.
Recommendation
MHCLG’s Plan acknowledged that uncertainty around how many 11–18 metre buildings needed to be remediated meant that many residents were unsure about the safety of their homes and the timeline for getting them fixed.15 When asked what it was doing to identify remaining unsafe buildings, MHCLG said Homes England was investigating unique building records. Homes England explained that, in autumn 2024, it had started investigating around 220,000 unique records of four storey buildings to create a register of buildings over 11 metres. We heard that it would shortly start reviewing around half a million further unique records for three–storey buildings. Homes England told us that it was checking the height of these buildings, and their cladding materials using tools such as Google Earth, and that it was reviewing Land Registry data and leases to obtain ownership details. Homes England said it intended to complete its investigations by December 2025. Registration of all high–rise residential buildings was made mandatory under the Building Safety Act 2022, but MHCLG told us that mandatory registration for 11-18 metre buildings, as promised in its Plan, was contingent on legislation, for which timescales were uncertain.16
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and will publish an updated Remediation Acceleration Plan in Autumn 2025. This update will include policy and legislative changes, progress on identifying dangerous cladding, and plans to strengthen legislation to mandate remediation for buildings over 11 metres.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2025 The government is working to publish an update of the Remediation Acceleration Plan in Summer 2025; however, this is dependent on the outcome of the 2025 Spending Review. The update to the Committee will dovetail with this work, and therefore an update will be provided in Autumn 2025. The update will address the (i) policy and legislative changes required to implement the Remediation Acceleration Plan and (iii) progress in identifying buildings with dangerous cladding. For (ii), the government has not seen significant evidence that non-cladding defects are slowing down remediation. It is however committed to removing blockers to accelerate remediation and this will be included in the Autumn update. For (iv), legislation exists that addresses the enforcement of internal and external fire safety defects. The government has however seen a need to strengthen legislation to make enforcement of cladding remediation more effective. It is therefore working towards creating a legal duty on those responsible for buildings at or above 11 metres to take the necessary steps to fix their buildings within clear timescales. An update will be included in the Autumn response.