Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 16
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)
In 2020, the previous Committee warned that shortages of specialist skills to support remediation would increase owing to an expected increase in the number of buildings included in the government’s remediation programmes. Following the creation of the Building Safety Fund in 2020, this rose from around 450 buildings with ACM cladding to include a further 1,700 estimated buildings with other types of cladding. As well as a shortage of skills and personnel needed to complete remediation works, the previous Committee heard evidence of a “chronic shortage of fire engineering and safety expertise”, both for enforcement and inspection of buildings with unsafe cladding.26 Responding to the Committee, MHCLG said it had engaged with 23 Qq 1–2; RDC0145, Written evidence submitted by End Our Cladding Scandal; Letter from End Our Cladding Scandal to Chair, Committee of Public Accounts, 17 February 2025; C&AG’s Report, para 1.14 24 Qq 109–114; Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Press release, Government to protect leaseholders with new laws to make industry pay for building safety, February 2022 25 Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, Redress measures: information sheet, 18 October 2022 26 Committee of Public Accounts, Progress in remediating dangerous cladding, Sixteenth Report of Session 2019-21, HC 406, 16 September 2020, paras 23-25 14 industry from the outset of the programme to ensure sufficient capacity exists, was aware of challenges with fire expertise and had a number of workstreams in train to address these issues.27
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".