Grenfell Tower and Building Safety

Jim Cunningham Excerpts

Monday 18th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

Yes.

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State can in fact direct local authorities to take the advice of the fire services until such time as the committee of inquiry reports. There is nothing stopping him from doing that. In the past, I have dealt with the Government from a local authority angle. How much money is the Secretary of State actually making available, bearing in mind that it was said today the cost will be billions?

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Gentleman will know that local authorities have rightly been taking account of the advice that has been issued by the expert panel, which is constantly updated as the panel gets new information. On the availability of money or financial flexibility, we are, as I said earlier, working with a number of local authorities.