Parliamentary activity

Answering body: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

It is important that government carefully considers the findings and recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report in full. When the report was published in September, the Prime Minister indicated that the government will respond to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s 58 recommendations within six months and update Parliament annually on progress against every commitment made.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

The Cabinet Office is undertaking a review of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s findings for evidence of supplier failures, and is identifying if organisations involved in the tragedy are still in government supply chains as subcontractors. The government will support action on these findings, which could include issuing guidance on exclusions to the public sector where appropriate.

Answering body: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Our assessment remains that building safety related remediation works are required in a very small number of buildings under 11m in height. We already expect building owners to undertake assessments of their buildings to identify internal and external wall fire safety defects and remediate them at pace where they are life critical.

Those developers that have signed the Developer Remediation Contract are required to remediate internal fire safety defects arising from design and construction, we will continue to make sure that developers meet the contract obligations and are auditing their fire risk assessments and will hold them to account.

We maintain that the responsibility for the costs of fixing historical cladding and building fire safety defects should rest with building owners. They should not pass these costs on to leaseholders but should seek to recover costs from those who were responsible for building unsafe homes.

Alongside taking action to increase the pace of remediation, following consideration of the phase 2 report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, we will announce further measures to protect leaseholders.

Answering body: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Our assessment remains that building safety related remediation works are required in a very small number of buildings under 11m in height. We already expect building owners to undertake assessments of their buildings to identify internal and external wall fire safety defects and remediate them at pace where they are life critical.

Those developers that have signed the Developer Remediation Contract are required to remediate internal fire safety defects arising from design and construction, we will continue to make sure that developers meet the contract obligations and are auditing their fire risk assessments and will hold them to account.

We maintain that the responsibility for the costs of fixing historical cladding and building fire safety defects should rest with building owners. They should not pass these costs on to leaseholders but should seek to recover costs from those who were responsible for building unsafe homes.

Alongside taking action to increase the pace of remediation, following consideration of the phase 2 report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, we will announce further measures to protect leaseholders.

Answering body: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

My officials and I have carefully considered the National Audit Office’s recommendations and expect to come before the Public Accounts Committee next year.

The Deputy Prime Minister will also set out shortly, further steps on remediation, as promised by the Prime Minister on 4th September 2024, following publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry final report.

Buildings insurance premiums remain high for many leaseholders in buildings with fire safety issues, who have been paying too much for too long.

The Fire Safety Reinsurance Facility, led by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and reinsurance broker McGill and Partners, launched in April 2024. The Facility aims to increase capacity in the market and may reduce high premiums for some of the most affected multi-occupancy buildings with fire safety issues.

The Government has been monitoring the use and impact of the Facility and will provide an update in due course.

Answering body: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

My officials and I have carefully considered the National Audit Office’s recommendations and expect to come before the Public Accounts Committee next year.

The Deputy Prime Minister will also set out shortly, further steps on remediation, as promised by the Prime Minister on 4th September 2024, following publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry final report.

Buildings insurance premiums remain high for many leaseholders in buildings with fire safety issues, who have been paying too much for too long.

The Fire Safety Reinsurance Facility, led by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and reinsurance broker McGill and Partners, launched in April 2024. The Facility aims to increase capacity in the market and may reduce high premiums for some of the most affected multi-occupancy buildings with fire safety issues.

The Government has been monitoring the use and impact of the Facility and will provide an update in due course.

Answering body: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

The Government has overseen progress against Phase 1 and has committed to publishing regular progress updates on the relevant section of gov.uk, with a final update due to be published in the new year. Of the Inquiry’s 46 Phase 1 recommendations, all but one have now been considered and addressed, with the final fire and rescue service recommendation due to be addressed by the end of the year.

On phase 2, it is of course important that government carefully considers the Inquiry’s findings and recommendations in full. The Prime Minister has indicated that the government will respond to the inquiry’s recommendations within six months, and update Parliament annually on progress against every commitment made.

Answering body: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

The Government’s priority remains ensuring that residents living in buildings with unsafe cladding are safe in their homes, now and in the future. We are committed to the highest levels of building safety, and the safety and standards of construction are kept under review. There have been important reforms since 2017 but there is more to do.

Government has an obligation to carefully consider the findings and recommendations from the Grenfell Inquiry Report. A full response to the report recommendations will be made within 6 months.

Answering body: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Speeding up the remediation of buildings is absolutely critical. Seven years on from Grenfell, action has been far too slow and the fire in Dagenham is a horrific reminder of the risk unsafe cladding still poses to far too many people. This Government will expect more from regulators to make sure action is being taken now to make homes safe, speed up remediation and ensure that buildings in the process of being remediated are managed safely for residents. Alongside taking action to increase the pace of remediation, we are also committed to better protect leaseholders from the costs of remediation. Following consideration of the phase 2 report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, we will announce further measures to accelerate remediation and protect leaseholders.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry is a statutory Inquiry established under the Inquiries Act 2005. Under the terms of the Act, the drafting of an inquiry final report and the timing of that process are both matters for the independent Chair of the inquiry.

The Inquiry publishes regular updates on the progress of its final report. In their April 2024 Newsletter published on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry website at https://www.grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk/news/april-2024-newsletter, they emphasised that the current phase of the inquiry is reaching its final stages, and reiterated their commitment and determination to publish the report as soon as possible. Further updates to timelines will be published on the website as and when they become known.

Answering body: Home Office

The Government publishes a detailed bi-annual progress tracker on implementation of the Phase 1 recommendations. The next iteration is due to be published shortly.

The tracker can be found on the gov.uk website under Grenfell Progress Tracker. The June 2023 tracker reported the following overall completion rates:

31 of the 46 recommendations completed overall.

10 out of 15 recommendations for Government (more detail on the five outstanding recommendations, which relate to evacuation, is set out below).

13 out of the 14 for LFB only.

1 out of the 9 for all FRSs. FRSs have, however, reported to the NFCC completion of 91% of their actions on average, but national recommendations cannot be signed off as complete until all 44 services have completed all actions in full.

7 out of 8 for other bodies including other emergency services.

Answering body: Home Office

The Government published the 6th bi-annual progress tracker on implementation of the Phase 1 recommendations on 29 June on gov.uk and Fire England.

This reported that 31 of the 46 recommendations have been completed overall. This includes the following completion rates:

· 10 out of 15 recommendations for Government.

· 13 out of the 14 for LFB only.

· 1 out of the 9 for all fire and rescue services (FRSs). FRSs have, however, reported completion rates of 91% of their actions on average, but national recommendations cannot be signed off as complete until all 44 services have completed all actions in full.

7 out of 8 for other bodies including other emergency services.

Government remains committed to overseeing the delivery of all of the Phase 1 recommendations. The 7th tracker is due to be published shortly and will report on the further progress made by FRSs and Government.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry is a statutory Inquiry established under the Inquiries Act 2005. Under the terms of the Act, the drafting of an inquiry final report and the timing of that process are both matters for the independent Chair of the inquiry.

In their April 2023 Newsletter published on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry website at https://www.grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk/news/april-2023-newsletter, the Inquiry recognised the desire for the report to be published as soon as possible.

They noted that ‘The Inquiry hopes to complete the drafting of the report before the end of 2023. Various practical steps will then need to follow, such as proof-reading, typesetting and printing, all of which take time. We shall send the report to the Prime Minister, as required by our terms of reference, as soon as we can but that will probably not be possible before the beginning of next year.’

Answering body: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

We do not have any estimate of the number of buildings which will be affected by the retracted tests.

On 10 March 2021 we issued a letter to fire safety professionals and building control bodies reminding them that Kingspan has retracted three test reports. The letter is available here : https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-to-building-control-bodies-on-the-retraction-of-three-tests-carried-out-on-kingspan-k15-insulation

The letter recommends that fire safety professionals and buildings control bodies review their records to check that any assessments they have carried out using these tests are identified and revisited in light of the information highlighted during the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. The content of this letter is not new and is simply a reminder of the steps they should take in light of this information.