Grenfell Tower: Fires
(asked on 20th November 2017) - View Source
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to speed up the process of rehousing Grenfell Tower fire survivors.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) is leading on re-housing the survivors of the fire in Grenfell Tower, and my Department is both supporting and challenging the Council to meet published commitments.
My Department has supported the Council to develop a broad new package of housing support to help the former residents of Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk start to rebuild their lives. Residents will not be expected to pay rent or service charges until 1 July 2019. The same offer will be extended to Council Tax, as well as the core utilities (gas, electricity and water).
My Department and RBKC are working together to support residents to move into self-contained interim accommodation or permanent housing by providing a weekly transition allowance for the first three months. This will then be followed by a further three months support. To ensure that the work is carried out to an agreed standard and in a timely manner, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government chairs the Ministerial Recovery Group, which provides scrutiny of the support provided to the Grenfell survivors by the Council and from across Government.
The Secretary of State also received independent assurance on the wider recovery work of the Council from the independent Grenfell Recovery Taskforce. Following the fire, the Secretary of State set up the Taskforce to provide assurance that RBKC has the capacity and capability to deliver an effective long term recovery plan for its residents, taking into account their views. The Taskforce made a number of recommendations in its first report, and they are closely monitoring RBKC’s progress against these recommendations. The Secretary of State has asked the Taskforce to ensure proper action is taken and to report again in the New Year, which will again be shared with the House. A copy of their first report is available in full in the Library of the House and at the following link: