Parliamentary activity

Answering body: Leader of the House of Lords

My Rt Hon. Friend the Prime Minister has made the following statement to the House of Commons:

The fire in Grenfell Tower was an unimaginable tragedy, and I am determined that justice is done for the victims, survivors, bereaved and the wider community.

On 21 December 2017, I wrote to Sir Martin Moore-Bick, chair of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry with my decision not to appoint additional panel members to the Inquiry at that time. The Inquiries Act 2005 affords me the power to appoint panel members at any time during the Inquiry and I previously indicated my intention to keep the matter under review.

Since December, the Inquiry has made significant progress. It has received some 330,000 documents, and expects that figure to grow to 400,000. Sir Martin’s team have conducted a first stage review of approximately 183,000 documents. The Inquiry has confirmed that it is continuing to identify potentially relevant providers of documents as work progresses.

The process of gathering and identifying relevant documents for phase 2 has started in parallel with the phase 1 disclosure exercise. The Inquiry has confirmed that it is expecting that a “significant volume of documentation will be disclosed at this stage”.

Sir Martin has appointed 547 core participants to the Inquiry – 519 of them individuals from the Grenfell community. This is an unprecedented number.

Given the extent of the tragedy, we should not be surprised by the scale and range of issues that are emerging from the Inquiry’s early work.

Phase 2 of the Inquiry will be the largest phase in terms of the number of issues to be considered, and it is appropriate for me to reflect now on the two distinct phases of the Inquiry’s work and to consider the most appropriate composition of the Inquiry panel for phase 2.

To ensure that the Inquiry panel itself also has the necessary breadth of skills and diversity of expertise relevant to the broad range of issues to be considered in phase 2, and to best serve the increasing scale and complexity of the Inquiry, I have decided to appoint an additional two panel members to support Sir Martin’s chairmanship for phase 2 of the Inquiry’s work onwards. I wrote to Sir Martin yesterday, informing him of my decision.

Once suitable panel members have been identified, I will write to Sir Martin again to seek his consent to any appointment, in accordance with section 7(2)(b) of the Inquiries Act 2005.

Answering body: Prime Minister

The fire in Grenfell Tower was an unimaginable tragedy, and I am determined that justice is done for the victims, survivors, bereaved and the wider community.

On 21 December 2017, I wrote to Sir Martin Moore-Bick, chair of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry with my decision not to appoint additional panel members to the Inquiry at that time. The Inquiries Act 2005 affords me the power to appoint panel members at any time during the Inquiry and I previously indicated my intention to keep the matter under review.

Since December, the Inquiry has made significant progress. It has received some 330,000 documents, and expects that figure to grow to 400,000. Sir Martin’s team have conducted a first stage review of approximately 183,000 documents. The Inquiry has confirmed that it is continuing to identify potentially relevant providers of documents as work progresses.

The process of gathering and identifying relevant documents for phase 2 has started in parallel with the phase 1 disclosure exercise. The Inquiry has confirmed that it is expecting that a “significant volume of documentation will be disclosed at this stage”.

Sir Martin has appointed 547 core participants to the Inquiry – 519 of them individuals from the Grenfell community. This is an unprecedented number.

Given the extent of the tragedy, we should not be surprised by the scale and range of issues that are emerging from the Inquiry’s early work.

Phase 2 of the Inquiry will be the largest phase in terms of the number of issues to be considered, and it is appropriate for me to reflect now on the two distinct phases of the Inquiry’s work and to consider the most appropriate composition of the Inquiry panel for phase 2.

To ensure that the Inquiry panel itself also has the necessary breadth of skills and diversity of expertise relevant to the broad range of issues to be considered in phase 2, and to best serve the increasing scale and complexity of the Inquiry, I have decided to appoint an additional two panel members to support Sir Martin’s chairmanship for phase 2 of the Inquiry’s work onwards. I wrote to Sir Martin yesterday, informing him of my decision.

Once suitable panel members have been identified, I will write to Sir Martin again to seek his consent to any appointment, in accordance with section 7(2)(b) of the Inquiries Act 2005.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

My Rt Hon. Friend the Prime Minister has made the following statement to the House of Commons:

On 15 August 2017, I announced the formal setting up of a public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, to be chaired by Sir Martin Moore-Bick, and its terms of reference. This followed Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s letter to me of 10 August, which advised me of the outcome of the public consultation on the scope of the terms of reference, and his recommendations. I was happy to accept Sir Martin’s recommendations without amendment.

The Inquiry’s full terms of reference are:
(i) to examine the circumstances surrounding the fire at Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017, including
(a) the immediate cause or causes of the fire and the means by which it spread to the whole of the building;
(b) the design and construction of the building and the decisions relating to its modification, refurbishment and management;
(c) the scope and adequacy of building regulations, fire regulations and other legislation, guidance and industry practice relating to the design, construction, equipping and management of high-rise residential buildings;
(d) whether such regulations, legislation, guidance and industry practice were complied with in the case of Grenfell Tower and the fire safety measures adopted in relation to it;
(e) the arrangements made by the local authority or other responsible bodies for receiving and acting upon information either obtained from local residents or available from other sources (including information derived from fires in other buildings) relating to the risk of fire at Grenfell Tower, and the action taken in response to such information;
(f) the fire prevention and fire safety measures in place at Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017;
(g) the response of the London Fire Brigade to the fire; and
(h) the response of central and local government in the days immediately following the fire;
and
(ii) to report its findings to the Prime Minister as soon as possible and to make recommendations.

Sir Martin has said that he is considering appointing assessors to assist him in his task. He considers it likely that he shall wish to appoint a diverse group of people whose experience extends to the occupation and management of social housing and the administration of local government more generally, as well as to matters of a more technical scientific nature. He also states that at a later stage, he may also wish to appoint others to assist on particular aspects of the investigation. He will make his decisions public in due course. I have not appointed any other members to the Inquiry Panel at this stage. However, the Inquiries Act 2005 allows for appointments to be made, with the consent of Sir Martin, during the course of the Inquiry. This enables the composition of the Inquiry Panel to be kept under review.

My exchange of correspondence with Sir Martin is in the Library of the House.

Sir Martin is holding a preliminary hearing later today where he will set out further detail on how he intends on conducting the Inquiry.

In addition to the work of the Inquiry, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has already announced an Independent Review into Building Regulations and Fire Safety, led by Dame Judith Hackitt. This will urgently assess the effectiveness of current building and fire safety regulations and related compliance and enforcement issues, with a focus on multi occupancy high rise residential buildings. The Review will co-operate fully with the Inquiry. Sir Martin has set out his reasons for not looking into the broader social housing issues but, as he said in his letter, they should not be ignored and I am determined that these important questions are not left unanswered. As a first step, I have asked my Hon. Friend the Housing Minister (Alok Sharma) to personally meet and hear from as many social tenants as possible, as well as other residents of social housing estates, both in the immediate area around Grenfell Tower and across the country. The Housing Minister has already met a number of representative groups and will continue meet tenants during October and November.

Answering body: Prime Minister

On 15 August 2017, I announced the formal setting up of a public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, to be chaired by Sir Martin Moore-Bick, and its terms of reference. This followed Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s letter to me of 10 August, which advised me of the outcome of the public consultation on the scope of the terms of reference, and his recommendations. I was happy to accept Sir Martin’s recommendations without amendment.

The Inquiry’s full terms of reference are:

(i) to examine the circumstances surrounding the fire at Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017, including

(a) the immediate cause or causes of the fire and the means by which it spread to the whole of the building;

(b) the design and construction of the building and the decisions relating to its modification, refurbishment and management;

(c) the scope and adequacy of building regulations, fire regulations and other legislation, guidance and industry practice relating to the design, construction, equipping and management of high-rise residential buildings;

(d) whether such regulations, legislation, guidance and industry practice were complied with in the case of Grenfell Tower and the fire safety measures adopted in relation to it;

(e) the arrangements made by the local authority or other responsible bodies for receiving and acting upon information either obtained from local residents or available from other sources (including information derived from fires in other buildings) relating to the risk of fire at Grenfell Tower, and the action taken in response to such information;

(f) the fire prevention and fire safety measures in place at Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017;

(g) the response of the London Fire Brigade to the fire; and

(h) the response of central and local government in the days immediately following the fire;

and

(ii) to report its findings to the Prime Minister as soon as possible and to make recommendations.

Sir Martin has said that he is considering appointing assessors to assist him in his task. He considers it likely that he shall wish to appoint a diverse group of people whose experience extends to the occupation and management of social housing and the administration of local government more generally, as well as to matters of a more technical scientific nature. He also states that at a later stage, he may also wish to appoint others to assist on particular aspects of the investigation. He will make his decisions public in due course. I have not appointed any other members to the Inquiry Panel at this stage. However, the Inquiries Act 2005 allows for appointments to be made, with the consent of Sir Martin, during the course of the Inquiry. This enables the composition of the Inquiry Panel to be kept under review.

My exchange of correspondence with Sir Martin is in the Library of the House.

Sir Martin is holding a preliminary hearing later today where he will set out further detail on how he intends on conducting the Inquiry.

In addition to the work of the Inquiry, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has already announced an Independent Review into Building Regulations and Fire Safety, led by Dame Judith Hackitt. This will urgently assess the effectiveness of current building and fire safety regulations and related compliance and enforcement issues, with a focus on multi occupancy high rise residential buildings. The Review will co-operate fully with the Inquiry. Sir Martin has set out his reasons for not looking into the broader social housing issues but, as he said in his letter, they should not be ignored and I am determined that these important questions are not left unanswered. As a first step, I have asked my Hon. Friend the Housing Minister (Alok Sharma) to personally meet and hear from as many social tenants as possible, as well as other residents of social housing estates, both in the immediate area around Grenfell Tower and across the country. The Housing Minister has already met a number of representative groups and will continue meet tenants during October and November.