Fire Safety: Building Materials

Lord Naseby Excerpts

Tuesday 1st May 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

My Lords, the noble Lord gave very distinguished service in the role that he referred to. The issue of the standard we are looking at here is somewhat different from the ongoing work on the ACM cladding, which I think he is referring to. Work on 66% of the buildings in the public sector has been commenced and, for the remaining 34%, appropriate interim measures are place. We are identifying the blocks in the private sector, which I think is where the condensation issue that he talks about is relevant. We have provided £1 million to local councils to identify those blocks. In relation to whether the cost of that is borne by the landlord or the tenant, he will have seen that Barratt has stepped into the breach to help with Citiscape, which I applaud. In other areas we are hoping that landlords will step forward. Where they do not, we have a round table which will look at this issue across the piece.

[Lord Naseby (Con)]

Is my noble friend aware that this House will recognise the strength and fervour that he has shown in trying to get a grip on this quite complicated area? Requirement 8414 covers a whole host of materials used in the industry. It is not clear to me, or I am sure to a number of colleagues who take a particular interest, whether those who inspect those materials subsequently are necessarily clear on whether they meet the requirements of 8414 or not. Can some system be looked at to ensure that there is real co-ordination between the manufacturers of these important products and those who subsequently—some years later—carry out regular inspections on their consistency over time?

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

I am most grateful to my noble friend for his comments. In relation to 8414, the report particularly concerns external wall cladding systems—it is the whole cladding system, including the insulation, which has been looked at and referred to the relevant sub-committee for review. Of course we will take seriously the response from the relevant committee to the Government but the House should bear in mind that this report was issued barely a week ago.