Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to prevent a landlord charging leaseholders for undertaking a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls without the participation of the developer, where the developer has refused to co-operate.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Building Safety Act protects qualifying leaseholders from the costs of professional services relating to relevant defects. This would include any Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAEW) undertaken in relation to a relevant defect, including to ascertain whether such a defect exists. Where a building is enrolled in the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS) or the Building Safety Fund (BSF), funding for an FRAEW can be provided.
Developers who sign the developer remediation contract are obliged to obtain an assessment of life-critical fire safety defects caused by the original design, construction or refurbishment of the building. Those developers must also use all reasonable endeavours to enter into a works contract with the building owner/responsible entity and agree the plan for remediation. Published data from November 2023 shows that developers have yet to obtain a Works Assessment for 1,277 (28%) of the 4,540 buildings for which they have accepted responsibility under the developer remediation contract (for reporting purposes, ‘Works Assessments’ include but are not limited to Fire Risk Appraisals of External Walls and may include other assessments e.g., Fire Risk Assessment). The Department is closely monitoring progress and holding regular discussions with developers to enforce compliance with their contractual obligations. All developers who fail to comply with their obligations face significant consequences, and members of the statutory Responsible Actors Scheme that the Government launched in July 2023 would face planning and building control prohibitions.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to require developers to undertake a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls in circumstances where the developers have failed to engage with the landlords.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Building Safety Act protects qualifying leaseholders from the costs of professional services relating to relevant defects. This would include any Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAEW) undertaken in relation to a relevant defect, including to ascertain whether such a defect exists. Where a building is enrolled in the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS) or the Building Safety Fund (BSF), funding for an FRAEW can be provided.
Developers who sign the developer remediation contract are obliged to obtain an assessment of life-critical fire safety defects caused by the original design, construction or refurbishment of the building. Those developers must also use all reasonable endeavours to enter into a works contract with the building owner/responsible entity and agree the plan for remediation. Published data from November 2023 shows that developers have yet to obtain a Works Assessment for 1,277 (28%) of the 4,540 buildings for which they have accepted responsibility under the developer remediation contract (for reporting purposes, ‘Works Assessments’ include but are not limited to Fire Risk Appraisals of External Walls and may include other assessments e.g., Fire Risk Assessment). The Department is closely monitoring progress and holding regular discussions with developers to enforce compliance with their contractual obligations. All developers who fail to comply with their obligations face significant consequences, and members of the statutory Responsible Actors Scheme that the Government launched in July 2023 would face planning and building control prohibitions.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the number of housing developments for which developers have not progressed a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls, where this is required.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Building Safety Act protects qualifying leaseholders from the costs of professional services relating to relevant defects. This would include any Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAEW) undertaken in relation to a relevant defect, including to ascertain whether such a defect exists. Where a building is enrolled in the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS) or the Building Safety Fund (BSF), funding for an FRAEW can be provided.
Developers who sign the developer remediation contract are obliged to obtain an assessment of life-critical fire safety defects caused by the original design, construction or refurbishment of the building. Those developers must also use all reasonable endeavours to enter into a works contract with the building owner/responsible entity and agree the plan for remediation. Published data from November 2023 shows that developers have yet to obtain a Works Assessment for 1,277 (28%) of the 4,540 buildings for which they have accepted responsibility under the developer remediation contract (for reporting purposes, ‘Works Assessments’ include but are not limited to Fire Risk Appraisals of External Walls and may include other assessments e.g., Fire Risk Assessment). The Department is closely monitoring progress and holding regular discussions with developers to enforce compliance with their contractual obligations. All developers who fail to comply with their obligations face significant consequences, and members of the statutory Responsible Actors Scheme that the Government launched in July 2023 would face planning and building control prohibitions.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the letter from the Secretary of State for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to Lord Blencathra on 2 September, whether the deadline of 30 September for signature of contracts by the Participant Developers was met; and if not, (1) when they expect the contracts to be signed by all Participant Developers, and (2) what sanctions they will apply to those that fail to comply.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
As of 25 October 2022, 49 of the largest developers have signed a pledge to take responsibility for all necessary work to address life-critical, fire-safety defects on buildings 11 metres and over that they had a role in developing or refurbishing. We have published the names of the developers who have signed the pledge on (attached) gov.uk.
The Government published a draft of the developer remediation contract on 13 July 2022 and has since received comments and held discussions on the draft with various parties. We are in advanced negotiations with developers and other stakeholders to finalise the contract, which will turn the commitments made in the pledge into a legally binding agreement. We are also in ongoing discussions with several developers who have not yet signed the pledge and will invite them to sign the finalised self-remediation contract. We will publish the final form of the contract as soon as possible, at which point developers will be asked to sign the contract. We also intend to publish the names of the developers who sign the contract.
We have made clear that developers who fail to do the right thing face significant commercial consequences. In August, we made commencement regulations that are an important step towards giving Ministers powers to stop developers who fail to do the right thing from commencing developments for which they have planning permission and from being granted building control sign-off.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the letter from the Secretary of State for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to Lord Blencathra on 2 September, whether they will now publish the final version of the Draft Contract and highlight any changes from the original version issued for consultation.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
As of 25 October 2022, 49 of the largest developers have signed a pledge to take responsibility for all necessary work to address life-critical, fire-safety defects on buildings 11 metres and over that they had a role in developing or refurbishing. We have published the names of the developers who have signed the pledge on (attached) gov.uk.
The Government published a draft of the developer remediation contract on 13 July 2022 and has since received comments and held discussions on the draft with various parties. We are in advanced negotiations with developers and other stakeholders to finalise the contract, which will turn the commitments made in the pledge into a legally binding agreement. We are also in ongoing discussions with several developers who have not yet signed the pledge and will invite them to sign the finalised self-remediation contract. We will publish the final form of the contract as soon as possible, at which point developers will be asked to sign the contract. We also intend to publish the names of the developers who sign the contract.
We have made clear that developers who fail to do the right thing face significant commercial consequences. In August, we made commencement regulations that are an important step towards giving Ministers powers to stop developers who fail to do the right thing from commencing developments for which they have planning permission and from being granted building control sign-off.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the letter from the Secretary of State for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to Lord Blencathra on 2 September, whether the Participant Developers had signed the final version of the Draft Contract by the end of September; and whether they will list all the developers that (1) had, and (2) had not, signed it.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
As of 25 October 2022, 49 of the largest developers have signed a pledge to take responsibility for all necessary work to address life-critical, fire-safety defects on buildings 11 metres and over that they had a role in developing or refurbishing. We have published the names of the developers who have signed the pledge on (attached) gov.uk.
The Government published a draft of the developer remediation contract on 13 July 2022 and has since received comments and held discussions on the draft with various parties. We are in advanced negotiations with developers and other stakeholders to finalise the contract, which will turn the commitments made in the pledge into a legally binding agreement. We are also in ongoing discussions with several developers who have not yet signed the pledge and will invite them to sign the finalised self-remediation contract. We will publish the final form of the contract as soon as possible, at which point developers will be asked to sign the contract. We also intend to publish the names of the developers who sign the contract.
We have made clear that developers who fail to do the right thing face significant commercial consequences. In August, we made commencement regulations that are an important step towards giving Ministers powers to stop developers who fail to do the right thing from commencing developments for which they have planning permission and from being granted building control sign-off.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the comments by the Minister for Disabled People on 18 May concerning the Government’s objectives “to see past a disability to a person’s potential” and “to focus on what a person can do rather than what they can’t”, whether they plan to require occupiers of all buildings which are open to the public to provide ramps to provide access for wheelchair users, including, but not limited to, (1) shops, and (2) pubs.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society. For existing premises, everyone can expect goods and service providers, i.e. occupiers, to anticipate making reasonable adjustments and everyone has the option of support when making a claim if they face a physical barrier
Building Regulations require reasonable provision is made for access in all new buildings. Provisions for wheelchair users to access new public buildings, including shops and pubs, are described in the Building Regulations’ statutory guidance, Approved Document M, Volume 2 which is available (attached) at the following: Approved Document M: access to and use of buildings, volume 2: buildings other than dwellings
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what, if any, estimate they have made of the amount of virgin timber and plywood sheeting used for the cosmetic cladding of scaffolding; and what legal requirements regulate the use of such wood in this way.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Government has not made any estimate of the quantities of materials used for the cosmetic cladding of scaffolds.
There are no legislative requirements with regards to the cosmetic use for cladding scaffolding. Where plywood sheeting is used for other purposes, health & safety, planning and highways legislation may be applicable.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to write to all local authorities and parish councils with guidance making clear that they are entitled to sell allotment space in imperial measurements, as well as metric.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government does not intend to issue any instructions or guidance to local authorities on this matter. Current guidance on the disposal of allotments can be found at - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/allotment-disposal-guidance-safeguards-and-alternatives.
The provision and management of allotments, including their sale, is a matter for local authorities; it is a matter for them as to how they measure their allotments for sale.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect on community relations with citizens of Asian origin of crime reporting referring to "the Asian community" without further specifying the group concerned.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No such assessment has been made.
As a broader observation, it is important to recognise that the recent horrific sexual grooming crimes in Rochdale and Rotherham were committed by a small minority of men drawn from a British Pakistani background, whilst in Bristol most recently the convictions were of men drawn from a Somali background. I welcome both communities strongly condemning these vile acts, as it tarnishes their reputation. However, such criminal acts were compounded by a failure of public authorities to take action because of institutionalised political correctness.
We need to tackle this head on – acknowledging that there is a criminal element in some communities; that there is a sexist mindset that allowed these men to prey on vulnerable women of all backgrounds; and that the authorities shied away from tackling such crimes.
If we fail to do so, it will merely help extremists hijack and exploit the issue for their own ends, undermining our strong community relations, whilst they seek to spread divisions and mistrust.