Grenfell Tower and Building Safety

Angela Crawley Excerpts

Tuesday 5th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

My hon. Friend is right to raise the question of white goods. We have heard, and have seen from the police report on the Grenfell tragedy, how that tragic fire started. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is very much part of the ministerial group that meets weekly to make key decisions about, in particular, building safety. One of the issues involved is that of white goods, and we are working well with the industry and in co-ordination with BEIS.

[Angela Crawley (Lanark and Hamilton East) (SNP)]

Let me again extend my deepest condolences, and those of my party, to the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire and their families. Responding to such a tragic incident is undoubtedly challenging for any Government, but it is also a test of how a Government can react to ensure that we never find ourselves in the same situation again, and I welcome the Secretary of State’s response to questions about rehousing, testing and building safety.

In Scotland, we have already moved quickly to establish a ministerial working group on building and fire safety to co-ordinate responses to the ongoing investigations. Building standards are devolved, and the cladding that is suspected of contributing to the spread of the fire at Grenfell is not permitted for use on high-rise tower blocks in Scotland. While we are confident that we have stringent building and fire safety regulations, public safety is of paramount importance, and this afternoon the Scottish Government agreed a programme of work that they will now carry out. They intend to organise a review of the current building standards and the fire safety regulatory framework and a consultation on fire and smoke alarms in Scottish homes, and to introduce a targeted fire safety campaign for residents of high-rise buildings.

The Grenfell Tower fire raised profound concerns about the way in which social housing is managed in England, and lessons must be learned. I welcome the inquiry, but I worry that, without a wider focus, it will fail to get to grips with the causes of the fire and the lack of integrity and confidence that so many of the residents want and deserve. It should have one clear objective: justice for the survivors, victims and families. Will the Secretary of State therefore look again at the terms of reference and include the wider implications of social housing policy, which would mean examining social and political conditions including the provision and state of social housing in England? Will he also note that fire safety tests have concluded that more than 200 buildings are at risk of fire? The Government must act to ensure that people living in those buildings are adequately supported. What support does the Secretary of State plan to provide for the people in those at-risk buildings?

Reports that survivors and witnesses are suffering from mental ill health as a result of the tragedy is hugely distressing. Post-traumatic stress disorder will undoubtedly play a part in the aftermath, and I urge the Government to look again at the support mechanisms that are currently in place for those affected. The Secretary of State has said that he is open to suggestions about expert input. How will the Government help the local authority to provide counselling services for survivors and witnesses, and what additional funds have been provided for mental health support services?

We have heard that families are still living in hotels, and there are reports of consequential mental ill health, a lack of emotional support and a lack of confidence in the Government's terms of reference. Surely the Government must deliver actions and answers to give people confidence in the system again.

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Lady has raised a number of issues. Let me start with her points about Scotland and the safety of buildings. As she rightly said, building regulations are a devolved matter, but that does not prevent England and Scotland, and other devolved areas, from working together on common issues. In my statement, I mentioned some of the problems identified by the British Board of Agrément in relation to the structural safety of cladding following incidents in Glasgow. We are working together through the Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety, which meets regularly. Its meetings obviously include discussion of Scotland and other devolved areas, and will continue to do so.

The hon. Lady asked about social housing and the remit of the public inquiry. As she will know, the inquiry’s terms of reference are set independently by the judge. They were accepted in full, without amendment, by the Prime Minister, and rightly so. That said, the hon. Lady—and the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey)—raised the issue of longer-term social housing; we will report to the House on that in due course.

The hon. Lady understandably raised the issue of counselling and mental health support. In the wake of the Grenfell tragedy, that support is being led by the local NHS trust. The work is being co-ordinated through GPs, pop-up clinics and a 24-hour hotline. However, there has also been a desire to get out there and make sure that the authorities are not waiting for people to come to them, and that people know what services are available. Thousands of doors have been knocked on, including hotel doors, and facilities have been set up in hotels. That process will continue so that everyone who needs help knows that it is available, and will receive it.

Lastly, the hon. Lady mentioned at-risk buildings and the need to ensure that any remedial work is done. We are monitoring that in the case of public sector buildings, and the same process will be applied to those in the private sector when problems are identified. The work will, of course, require funds. That allows me to return to a question asked by the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne about the funding of local authorities and others to ensure that they can continue to do the work that is necessary: I apologise for not addressing it earlier. As has been made clear from this Dispatch Box before, all local authorities and housing associations are expected to carry out immediately, without delay, any essential works that are required. We have said from the start that when there are funding issues they should approach us, and we will look at ways of trying to support them.

The right hon. Gentleman asked me a question earlier about the number of local authorities that have approached us. We have been approached directly or indirectly by 27 local authorities—either by the authority itself, or in some cases by their local Members of Parliament—and so far we are in more detailed discussions with six of those local authorities.

As for housing associations, we have made it clear that they should approach the social housing regulator. The regulator has written to every housing association and said that that should be the starting point of any financial discussions. As of today, the social housing regulator has told us that no housing association has approached it with financial viability concerns over fire safety.