Grenfell Tower and Building Safety

Paula Sherriff Excerpts

Tuesday 5th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Gentleman is right to raise this matter. This is precisely why I have asked for an independent review of building regulations. Also, in the light of the discovery at Ledbury Towers in Southwark, I have written to Dame Judith Hackitt and asked her to ensure that she considers those types of structural considerations. As well as building regulations, there are also wider questions. The issue at Ledbury Towers was discovered because of Grenfell Tower, but it is a structural issue. The work should have been done after the Ronan Point disaster, and there are some really big questions for the local authority to answer. The cracks that were discovered were large enough to put a human hand through or to put books in. Those cracks did not appear overnight. They had been there for some time—months, or even years. How can it be that the local authority was seemingly able to act only after the Grenfell tragedy?

[Paula Sherriff (Dewsbury) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State has furnished us with information about the number of residential housing blocks that have failed under the safety regime, but will he tell us how many other public buildings, including hospitals, libraries, shopping centres and even schools, have failed the test and what he is doing about it?

[Sajid Javid]

I can tell the hon. Lady that I am aware of 16 public buildings that have failed the test so far, and other public buildings may come in for further testing. This talks to a wider problems, however, because we are seeing a huge rate of failure, as I have said, across the board in both the public and private sectors and in residential and commercial buildings.