Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the fail rate for the competency assessment for registration to be a class (a) two, (b) three and (c) four building inspector was in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
There are currently three independent schemes that provide validation assessments for building control inspectors, which are now needed to register with the Building Safety Regulator for classes 2 to 4. The validation schemes run by the Building Safety Competence Foundation opened in 2022, while the other two schemes (run by Total Training and CABE) have been operational since 2023. All of the three schemes are independent of Government, and as the requirement to register with the BSR and undertake validation assessments only commenced on 6 April 2024, the department does not hold data that allows for comparison of fail rates over the past three years.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the oral contribution of 26 March 2024 by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Building Safety, Official Report, column 1415, whether remediation contribution orders taken out by his Department will (a) recover and (b) reimburse funds paid by leaseholders.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The department has applied for remediation contribution orders relating to building safety works against three companies, specifically:
The aim of these orders is to recoup as much of the costs related to building remediation as possible, regardless of the organisation or individual who made the original payment. This could include, for example, the cost of waking watch, replacement of balconies or associated enabling works.
Where costs are recovered through the First Tier Tribunal decision, be they all or part of those requested, the intention is they are refunded to whichever organisation or individual paid for them, whether taxpayer, leaseholder or otherwise. The action also aims to prevent leaseholders from having to pay costs for works not yet completed, including where leaseholders are non-qualifying.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions his Department has had with manufacturers of (a) cladding and (b) insulation on financial contributions to building safety remediation works.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
In early 2022 the Secretary of State opened industry wide discussions with cladding and insulation manufacturers. To date, no cladding or insulation manufacturer has come forward with a financial contribution for their part in this. We are continuing to press the industry on this issue.
The department’s Recovery Strategy Unit continues to actively pursue organisations, including manufacturers, responsible for unsafe buildings to force them to contribute to the costs of remediation.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Fifth Report of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee Report of Session 2024/25 on Shared Ownership, HC 61, published on 28 March 2024, what information his Department holds on transactions by registered providers to buy back shares from shared ownership leaseholders due to building remediation issues.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The department is considering the report by the Committee and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, in relation to historic building safety defects, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of protecting (a) leaseholders and (b) non-qualifying leaseholders from a landlord's legal costs being recovered through the service change.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Building Safety Act 2022 sets out a number of protections for leaseholders relating to the cost of remediation of relevant defects.
Under paragraph 9 of Schedule 8 to the Act qualifying leaseholders are protected from the costs of legal or other professional services relating to the liability (or potential liability) incurred as a result of a relevant defect.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on the percentage change in the average selling price of properties since 14 June 2017 of (a) flats affected by cladding and building safety defects and (b) flats not affected by cladding and building safety defects.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
As of 18 December 2023, nine major mortgage lenders have signed a joined statement confirming they will lend on properties in buildings before they have been remediated. We will continue working with industry to monitor these changes and hold lenders to their commitments.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what criteria his Department plans to use to assess the effectiveness of the Fire Safety Reinsurance Facility; and over what timeframe he plans to use these criteria.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer the Hon Gentleman to the answer given to Question UIN 19172 on 22 March 2024.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2024 to Question 19958 on Flats: Fire Prevention, if he will make it his policy to commit to quality assurance measures equivalent to the Self Remediation Terms including a post-remediation Qualifying Assessment.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
As the answer provided on 2 April indicates, only three buildings under 11m have been found to require some form of remediation to date. The Department expects the developers of any unsafe buildings under 11m to take responsibility for remediating them in accordance with the appropriate standard and deal with the risks identified in the Fire Risk Assessment and Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls as soon as reasonably practicable.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of publishing guidance for leaseholders on how they can access the dispute resolution process under the Developer Self Remediation Terms.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
If a dispute arises and leaseholders are unable to make contact with their developer, they should follow the published guidance in the Developer remediation contract: resident factsheet - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has provided specific guidance to Right to Manage directors on their responsibilities under the developer remediation contract.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
If a dispute arises and leaseholders are unable to make contact with their developer, they should follow the published guidance in the Developer remediation contract: resident factsheet - GOV.UK.