Grenfell Tower Inquiry Report

Baroness Pinnock Excerpts

Friday 22nd November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

My Lords, 72 people were killed by the fire that raged through Grenfell Tower in June 2017. It was the largest single loss of life in a residential building since 1945. That is the scale of the disaster and tragedy that we are debating, and we have heard a very powerful debate today.

Sir Martin Moore-Bick and his team have produced a forensic account of the events in phase 1 of the inquiry and a rigorous analysis of the causes in phase 2. There are 58 recommendations. All must be fully implemented if the 72 lost lives are not to be in vain. Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s powerful conclusion should be the stimulus for government action to address the failings he exposed. My noble friend Lady Pidgeon quoted what he has written, but it is so important that I am going to repeat it:

“the simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable and that those who lived in the tower were badly failed over a number of years and in a number of different ways by those who were responsible for ensuring the safety of the building and its occupants”.

The conclusions of the phase 1 report clearly stated that the primary cause of the deadly fire was the ACM rain-screen panels and the use of combustible insulation foam, combined with a complete failure to comply with building regulations. Phase 2 of the report ruthlessly exposes those whose decisions resulted in 72 people dying. Key among them are the product manufacturers. Arconic produced the rain-screen aluminium composite material—ACM—which in fire tests was shown to be dangerously flammable, especially in the cassette form which was used on Grenfell. The report said that Arconic

“deliberately concealed … the true extent of the danger of”,

using the product “in cassette form”.

Then there were the manufacturers of the foam insulation. According to the report, Celotex

“embarked on a dishonest scheme to mislead its customers and the wider market”,

and Kingspan

“knowingly created a false market in insulation for use on buildings over 18 metres”,

by making claims it knew to be false—and 72 people died.

The report sought the evidence and came to the conclusion that the manufacturers have considerable responsibility for that appalling fire. Therefore, I have questions for the Minister. The Government have written to the manufacturers, but have they prevented them obtaining any further government contracts? Have they provided guidance to councils and other public bodies to do the same? The report clearly finds these product manufacturers culpable in the deaths of 72 people. When are they to be prosecuted for their actions, as the Prime Minister promised?

Other organisations are also culpable. Testing and certification bodies provided the necessary stamp of compliance for the use of the materials that enabled the fire to consume Grenfell Tower so rapidly. The British Research Establishment has a primary function to test whether materials can be used for specific purposes, including fire safety. Yet the report states that the BRE had

“a desire to accommodate existing customers”,

which is damning in itself, but a further comment in the report states that this was done to retain business at the expense of public safety.

The British Board of Agrément issues certificates for products and systems in construction. The materials used as part of the Grenfell Tower refurbishment needed a certificate of worthiness. The BBA published a materially wrong certificate covering the ACM cladding after the manufacturer refused to respond to requests for updated test results. As the report says, the BBA became

“the victim of dishonest behaviour on the part of unscrupulous manufacturers”.

The BRE was privatised in 1997, and the BBA is a regulated company working under a framework provided by UKAS, the national accreditation body. Are the Government considering the status of these companies that are critical to the building safety regime? Should the BRE return to being an organisation with government oversight where the profit motive is not the prime purpose?

The other main contributors to the tragedy are the tenant management organisation and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. My noble friend Lady Thornhill has exposed the culture of incompetence and indifference to the Grenfell Tower residents that led to the way that decisions were made without their interests being paramount. Given what has been said, does the Minister think it is now time to reconsider whether councillors should have a greater role in the governance of local authority housing?

My noble friend Lady Brinton has drawn the attention of the House to the appalling failures in complying with building regulations and to the lack of plans for those with mobility problems. She is of course right, but what is going to be done to put those errors right?

The recommendations in the report include a reference to the arbitrary definition of a high-rise building as being more than 18 metres high or having at least seven storeys, which it concludes is unsatisfactory. Given that this definition is used in funding allocations for remediation, will the Minister provide the reasoning for the definition and say whether the Government are willing to change it?

Since 2017, thousands of people have been living in buildings with dangerous, flammable cladding. The National Audit Office report published this month is critical of the snail-like speed at which remediation is taking place. It estimates that it will be at least 2035 before all buildings identified will have been completed. This is completely unacceptable. People are living in flats knowing that the cladding on the external walls is dangerously flammable, yet it might be another 10 or more years before remediation is done. That is unacceptable. The impact on people living in those flats is emotionally draining as well as financially ruinous, as the costs of a waking watch and extortionate rises in insurance and service charges take their toll.

As remediation occurs, deliberate building defects are exposed—for example, where construction companies failed to insert the fire barriers required by building regulations. These then have to be put right, and the question is who pays?

Leaseholders do not own the building. That is the responsibility of the freeholder, many of whom are finding as many loopholes as possible in the legislation to avoid their responsibilities. The campaign group End Our Cladding Scandal wants the Government to protect all leaseholders from costs to fix all fire risks, not just cladding. Liberal Democrats agree—do the Government?

Seven years on, after 72 horrific deaths and many lives ruined, over half the identified buildings still have not been put right. Over seven years on from Grenfell, we now know what happened and why. What we do not know is when the Government will bring to justice those who are culpable, or when they will force construction companies and developers to pay for their responsibility in building blocks of flats that were dangerously unsafe. When will the Government confirm that leaseholders will not be paying the price for the misdeeds of others?

Seventy-two people died. We have a duty in their memory to put these things right.