Asked by: Baroness Hodge of Barking (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his planned timetable is for introducing the Building Safety Bill as announced in the Queen’s Speech 2021.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Building Safety Bill was published in draft on 20 July 2020 and has undergone pre-legislative scrutiny by the HCLG Select Committee. The Government has been considering the Committee’s report and recommendations and will introduce the Bill as soon as Parliamentary time allows. We recognise that these are important public safety measures, which is why the Government is committed to advancing the Bill as quickly as possible so that reforms can be implemented in a timely manner and residents can feel safe, and be safe, in their homes.
Asked by: Baroness Hodge of Barking (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what proportion of applications to the Building Safety Fund have been accepted; and what proportion of those applications have received funding.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The number of accepted applications and amount of funding allocated from the Building Safety Fund so far can be found in the Building Safety Fund Registration Statistics, available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#building-safety-fund-registration-statistics .
Asked by: Baroness Hodge of Barking (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many staff in his Department are involved in processing applications for the Building Safety Fund; and what grades those staff are.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is the responsible department and the decision-making body for the Building Safety Fund. We are working with the Greater London Authority (GLA) in London and Homes England (HE) outside London to administer the fund as Delivery Partners. The GLA and HE will draw on specialist expert legal and cost consultancy support to help assess applications.
Asked by: Baroness Hodge of Barking (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on the research being undertaken by the Building Research Establishment into trigger heights and thresholds.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The project on trigger thresholds was commissioned in September 2020 and the research remains on going. The research is currently scheduled to conclude at the end of 2021.
Asked by: Baroness Hodge of Barking (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has undertaken of non-cladding related building safety risks, including combustible insulation and wooden timber balconies; and what steps his Department is taking to mitigate these risks.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government published in January 2020 a consolidated advice note providing advice to building owners. The consolidated advice note provided information to building owners on the actions they should be taking immediately to address the risk of fire spread from external wall systems including insulation and balconies.
We have invested over £5 billion investment in building safety, including £3.5 billion announced on the 10 February. This will fund the cost of replaying unsafe cladding in all buildings 18 metres and over.
We will also provide leaseholders in buildings of 11-18 metres with access to finance for cladding remediation costs and a commitment that their monthly cladding repayment costs will not exceed £50 a month.
We will publish more details on how these schemes will work in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Hodge of Barking (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government funding for remediation combustible cladding includes the remediation of (a) combustible insulation, (b) wooden timber balconies and (c) other non-cladding related building safety defects.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government’s existing funding schemes are providing £1.6 billion to remove and replace unsafe cladding systems from high rise residential buildings. This is because unsafe cladding acts as an accelerant to fire spread, and funding will remove the biggest obstacle to remediation proceeding. Eligible items covered by funding includes works directly related to the replacement of the unsafe cladding system. Detailed information on eligible items can be found in the relevant prospectus for each fund, available at: www.gov.uk/guidance/building-safety-programme.
Works which are not directly related to the remediation of unsafe cladding systems will not be covered by public funding. Non-cladding defects are therefore not included unless they are integral to the cladding. Government guidance is clear that building safety is the responsibility of building owners and we have given expert advice on a range of safety issues to provide clarity. We will publish more details on how the additional £3.5 billion funding for the removal of unsafe cladding announced on 10 February will work alongside existing funds as soon as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Hodge of Barking (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent progress has been made on the research being undertaken by the Building Research Establishment on trigger thresholds.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The project on trigger thresholds was commissioned in September 2020 and the research remains ongoing.