New Build Housing (Approved Inspectors)
Debate between Mark Garnier and Lord Wharton of Yarm
James Wharton
As it is the duty of CICAIR to run the process, checks are most commonly carried out when complaints have been made. Ongoing checks are not necessarily undertaken, but when complaints are made, a process is undertaken to look at the quality of the work that inspectors are doing.
This is not the first occasion on which concern has been expressed about the working of the regime. In 2012, the Construction Industry Council commissioned a review to deal with issues of governance and concerns about processes in the industry. The Ankers report covers the findings of that review, and makes 15 recommendations for possible improvements. They include reviewing the criteria for approving inspectors so that more consideration is given to the way in which applicants run their businesses, developing an annual return to monitor an approved inspector’s performance over the previous 12 months, and setting new targets for dealing with complaints.
I am pleased to say that all the report’s recommendations were accepted, and that CICAIR has already implemented some and is making good progress with others. For example, complaints are now being dealt with more quickly, and a programme of regular audits of approved inspectors is in place. My officials have regular discussions with CICAIR about the way in which it discharges its functions, including its progress in implementing the recommendations of the Ankers report. The systems governing approved inspectors are improving continually as a result of implementation of the Ankers recommendations, and the feedback received by CICAIR about its handling of the processes that it undertakes. Of course further improvements are always possible, and I recognise that my right hon. Friend has raised legitimate concerns on behalf of her constituents. I will take away those concerns tonight, and will consider, and discuss with my officials, whether further action is appropriate and necessary.
Approved inspectors have a duty to take such steps as are reasonable to enable them to be satisfied, within the limits of professional skill and care, that the relevant requirements of the building regulations have been complied with. They fulfil that duty by checking plans, conducting site inspections, checking the validity of energy and water efficiency calculations, and looking at other relevant documents. They can also question the evidence provided in certificates and other documents, and do not have to accept them as evidence of compliance. When necessary, approved inspectors may carry out their own tests and take samples to check compliance, and can go further. They have a range of powers and abilities to satisfy themselves that things are being done properly, although I suspect from what my right hon. Friend has said that her concern lies not with diligent inspectors, but with a small number who are not diligent.
Approved inspectors are required, as one of the conditions of their approval, to abide by the building control performance standards. Those standards help to ensure that building control standards are not driven down, which would put the health and safety of building users at risk. The building control performance advisory group, which is a sub-committee of the Building Regulations Advisory Committee, keeps the standards under continual review. Following a review in 2013, revised standards were published last year, which take account of the current expectations of the building control sector as well as those of customers. In particular, standard 6 covers site inspections. It requires records of each inspection to be maintained, and details of non- compliant work to be communicated promptly and clearly to the responsible person.
My right hon. Friend asked about the records and how they are dealt with in the current system. I should say that they are not necessarily detailed records; we do not prescribe a detailed format that they must take. Instead, they are records that the inspector keeps for their own use and often the content of them would not be of great use to individuals looking in from the outside to understand the processes undertaken.
However, approved inspectors are not clerks of work, nor are they responsible for quality issues beyond what is required by building regulations. They provide advice and guidance on how to bring work up to compliance standards. In most cases this is sufficient to ensure compliance with the building regulations. If unsuccessful, the approved inspector can cancel the initial notice and the work then reverts back to the local authority for enforcement action.
Homeowners who have been let down by the system and seek redress have a number of avenues to follow. First, they should complain directly to the builder or developer. In many cases this solves the problems, but of course not in all. If a warranty is in place, the homeowner can contact the warranty provider. Most warranties last for 10 years from completion of the building work.
In the first two years from completion of the building work, the builder is responsible for putting right defects caused by breaches of the technical requirements covered by the warranty. Where a defect is found and the builder refuses to carry out remedial work, a free resolution service is offered by the warranty provider.
The warranty provider will try to get the builder to carry out any necessary work, or in some cases arrange for the work to be carried out themselves. In years three to 10 from completion of the building work, the warranty provides insurance cover against the cost of repairing defined sorts of defects covered by the scheme. Warranties are not compulsory for new homes but the Department is aware that most new homes are covered by a warranty such as the NHBC Buildmark.
Mark Garnier
The Minister is describing the system very well, but he is talking about defects in the quality of the building. The system has a number of faults, however, in respect of regulation M and compliance with disability access. People have no redress to the local authority or the builder if they are non-compliant, because there does not seem to be a system that can prove that there is non-compliance, apart from the one the Minister described, where the inspector is the person who gave the advice in the first place and who will therefore, because of that conflict of interest, be unlikely to rule against themselves. Can he unravel that Gordian knot?
James Wharton
At its heart, that is perhaps a debate about the role of the approved inspectors. They are there to give advice, and that advice usually results in compliance. Their role throughout the building process is to advise and ensure standards are met. While I recognise the concerns my hon. Friend raises and I am happy to have further discussions with him about any specific cases, the role of the inspector is to ensure that throughout the process the building is compliant, not just to assess and approve—or not—at the end of the process.