Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when she last met with families and survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire; and whether she consulted those groups before making a decision on the future of the tower.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Learning the lessons from the Grenfell tragedy and ensuring lasting change are key priorities for the government. The Deputy Prime Minister and the Building Safety Minister have hugely valued hearing directly from bereaved families, survivors and residents in the immediate community and would like to thank them for this.
The Deputy Prime Minister is responsible for Grenfell Tower and for making a decision about its future.
This is a deeply personal matter for the people affected and she is committed to keeping their voice at the heart of this process.
In November last year, the Deputy Prime Minister explained she would listen to the views of the community, and consider expert information, before making a decision on the future of the Tower in February. She offered bereaved and survivors the opportunity to meet in-person, or online, at different times and individually when families felt more comfortable with this. She has also spent time with representative groups, residents’ associations, schools and faith leaders. She is grateful to everyone who shared their view and especially to the bereaved and survivors.
Last December, the department published an update of information that would inform her decision to make it available to the community: The future of Grenfell Tower: advice that will inform a decision. Information about how she has taken it into account in her decision is here: Update on the future of Grenfell Tower - GOV.UK
Over the last week, the Deputy Prime Minister has met bereaved families and survivors, and residents in the immediate community, to explain her decision that Grenfell Tower will be carefully taken down. Her priority has been to ensure the community hear this first.
This government remains committed to responding to the needs of the community and will ensure bereaved families, survivors and residents continue to have opportunities to speak with the Deputy Prime Minister and the Building Safety Minister on issues that matter to them most.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions she has had with survivors and families of victims of the Grenfell Tower fire on the future of the tower.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Learning the lessons from the Grenfell tragedy and ensuring lasting change are key priorities for the government. The Deputy Prime Minister and the Building Safety Minister have hugely valued hearing directly from bereaved families, survivors and residents in the immediate community and would like to thank them for this.
The Deputy Prime Minister is responsible for Grenfell Tower and for making a decision about its future.
This is a deeply personal matter for the people affected and she is committed to keeping their voice at the heart of this process.
In November last year, the Deputy Prime Minister explained she would listen to the views of the community, and consider expert information, before making a decision on the future of the Tower in February. She offered bereaved and survivors the opportunity to meet in-person, or online, at different times and individually when families felt more comfortable with this. She has also spent time with representative groups, residents’ associations, schools and faith leaders. She is grateful to everyone who shared their view and especially to the bereaved and survivors.
Last December, the department published an update of information that would inform her decision to make it available to the community: The future of Grenfell Tower: advice that will inform a decision. Information about how she has taken it into account in her decision is here: Update on the future of Grenfell Tower - GOV.UK
Over the last week, the Deputy Prime Minister has met bereaved families and survivors, and residents in the immediate community, to explain her decision that Grenfell Tower will be carefully taken down. Her priority has been to ensure the community hear this first.
This government remains committed to responding to the needs of the community and will ensure bereaved families, survivors and residents continue to have opportunities to speak with the Deputy Prime Minister and the Building Safety Minister on issues that matter to them most.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Q52 of the evidence given by her Department's Director General for Buildings and Resilience to the Public Accounts Committee on 3 February 2025, HC 362, what discussions she has had with representatives from the insurance industry on (a) the standard of remediation that would prevent damage to the core fabric of a building and (b) whether the PAS 9980 standard has been extended beyond life safety risk to include protection of property.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Officials in my department engage regularly with the insurance industry.
The insurance industry has the opportunity to feed into the PAS 9980 review currently being conducted by the British Standards Institution (BSI).
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference Q49 of the evidence given by her Department's Director for Remediation Policy to the Public Accounts Committee on 3 February 2025, HC 362, what estimate she has made of the number of buildings for which her Department has forced a developer to comply with a scope of remedial works using mechanisms in the developer remediation contract.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The developer remediation contract and the associated Responsible Actors Scheme includes provisions to make sure that signatory developers comply with their obligation to carry out remedial works that comply with the standard set out in the contract.
The Ministry regularly commissions independent audits of assessments obtained by developers. Where a developer's assessment or remedial works do not meet the required standard, the developer is obligated to go back and address any issues at its own expense.
If a developer fails to comply with its obligations and fails to take sufficient action to come back into compliance, the developer may be found to be in breach of contract and where applicable may have planning and building control prohibitions imposed on it. While using those prohibitions has not proved necessary to date, the Ministry is ready to do so if needed.
Developers and freeholders often agree a works contract without intervention from the Ministry. In cases where developers and freeholders disagree over the scope of works, we expect the developer to pursue reasonable endeavours to resolve the dispute. In order to support such efforts, we intend shortly to publish guidance on one such dispute-resolution mechanism. Where appropriate, the Ministry may also broker discussions between disputing parties to resolve the impasse so that people's homes can be made safe as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the differences between the definition of connected buildings which are regulated as (a) one higher-risk building during design and construction phases under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and (b) two or more separate buildings during the occupation phase under the Building Safety Act 2022 on costs for leaseholders.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Higher-Risk Buildings (Descriptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 2023 define higher-risk 'buildings' differently in the design and construction phase and once a building is occupied, with each phase being distinctly different and having its own requirements. When a new higher-risk building is being constructed, the entire overall structure is considered a single building. Once constructed, if a section of the overall structure is sufficiently independent from connected parts of the building, the relevant requirements will apply only to that part. This provides for a more flexible and proportionate approach and means that where a high-rise residential block is connected to a non-residential or low-rise block, the relevant duties need only be met for the high-rise block.
During the design and construction phase of the higher-risk regime, the building is neither occupied nor subject to the requirements under Part 4 of the Building Safety Act 2022, meaning there are no costs to leaseholders during this phase.
In occupied higher-risk buildings, accountable persons may pass on costs they incur in meeting their ongoing obligations under the Building Safety Act in managing, assessing and identifying building safety risks to leaseholders via the service charge. The Government considers the building safety requirements vital for properly managing fire and structural risks in higher-risk buildings, helping to prevent tragedies like the Grenfell Tower fire from happening again.