Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
13
Accepted
Government funding programmes exclude non-cladding fire safety defects, burdening property owners and leaseholders.
Recommendation
In their written evidence to us, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and The Property Institute also raised concerns about the exclusion of non– cladding defects from government funded programmes. The NFCC told us there was a “large proportion” of buildings needing temporary measures— such as waking watches—to ensure life safety for serious internal fire safety issues other than cladding, and it was unclear who would pay to remediate them.18 The Property Institute told us that the exclusion of non– cladding issues undermined the integrity of building safety standards, failed to protect resident communities and placed a heavy burden on property owners and leaseholders.19
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and will publish an updated Remediation Acceleration Plan in Autumn 2025. This update will include commitments to removing blockers to accelerate remediation, address non-cladding defects, and strengthen legislation to enforce the fixing of internal and external fire safety issues.
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.