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, which freeholders have signed up to the Remediation Acceleration Plan.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
There is no requirement for freeholders to sign up to the Remediation Acceleration Plan (RAP). The plan, published on 2 December 2024, sets out the steps this government will take to increase the pace of building remediation, while better protecting residents and leaseholders.
As set out in the RAP, a new joint plan with developers sets out their commitment to achieve ambitious stretch targets to start or complete remedial works on all their unsafe buildings by July 2027. At least 38 developers have signed up to the joint plan, covering more than 95% of buildings that developers will directly remediate.
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, whether her Department has had assurances from social housing providers that they are complying with the guidance that requests from shared owners to sub-let should be accepted if their property is affected by building safety issues.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The relevant government guidance is clear: for properties affected by building safety issues, requests from shared owners to sub-let should always be accepted by registered providers of social housing in England (though where required, the shared owner may also need permission from the mortgage lender and/or the building’s freeholder). This is an important way in which to support shared owners to manage the effects of building safety issues.
For registered providers, compliance with this guidance is a condition of receiving grant funding through the Affordable Homes Programme. Moreover, the government has made clear its expectation that this guidance should apply to all shared owners, regardless of how their home has been delivered.
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 Q118 of the evidence given by her Department's Permanent Secretary to the Public Accounts Committee on 3 February 2025, HC 362, whether the cladding remediation funding announced in the Autumn Budget 2024 was (a) new or (b) rephased existing funding.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The cladding remediation funding announced in the Autumn Budget relates to the allocation required over the spending review period from the Government’s total agreed £5.1 billion contribution and new investment to speed up remediation of social housing.
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, how many and what proportion of buildings under the (a) ACM programme, (b) Building Safety Fund, (c) Cladding Safety Scheme, (d) Developer remediation contract and (e) social housing remediation programme had a building assessment carried out by Tri Fire.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We publish a monthly Building Safety Remediation data release, covering the ACM programme, Building Safety Fund, Cladding Safety Scheme, Developer Remediation Contract and the social housing remediation programme at Building Safety Remediation - GOV.UK. However, we do not publish data on individual assessors or assessments commissioned by applicants for funding, registered providers of social housing or developers as part of these programmes. Similarly, we do not publish other data that risks identifying individual buildings undergoing remediation.
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
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.
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 paragraphs 58 to 60 of the the Housing Communities and Local Government Committee's 2nd Report of the 2019-2021 session on Cladding: Progress of remediation, published on 12 June 2020, HC 172, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of using Compulsory Purchase Order powers to take direct ownership of the freehold of any building where the owner is failing to undertake remedial works in a timely way.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We are committed to ensuring that buildings with defective cladding are remediated as quickly as possible. As set out in our Remediation Acceleration Plan on 2 December 2024, the department is pursuing a wide range of measures to progress remediation, including funding the resourcing of building safety teams in local authorities and providing them with access to specialised teams such as the Joint Inspection Team.
We do not believe that a widespread use of Compulsory Purchase Orders would be an appropriate or proportionate response. Many building owners and developers are taking their responsibilities seriously to remediate historical fire safety defects at their property and remediation has completed in over a third (39%) of all 2,943 identified 18m+ buildings and started (or completed) in over a half (56%) of identified 18m+ buildings. Furthermore, by the end of October 2024 regulators have increased their inspections and use of enforcement notices by 95% and 88%, respectively, compared to prior to the department funding of £14 million in November 2022. The department’s support to local authorities has led to action involving 523 high rise or mid-rise buildings as of 27 January 2025.
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
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 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of trends in the cost of pet insurance in the last (a) 12 and (b) 24 months.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Pet insurance providers are private businesses and are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are therefore not able to provide further information.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for the fire and rescue service.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Overall, fire and rescue authorities will receive around £2.87 billion in 2024/25. Decisions on how their resources are best deployed to meet their core functions are a matter for each fire and rescue authority based on its analysis of risk and local circumstances.
The Home Office will continue to work closely with stakeholders across the sector to ensure fire and rescue services have the resources they need to protect communities.