Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reason the Building Safety Fund has agreed to pay for the replacement of zinc cladding on wooden battens on the Express Networks 2 building in Manchester but not on The Gateway building in Leeds which also has zinc on wooden batten cladding.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answers previously given to Questions UIN 64550 on 1 November 2021 and UIN 67061 on 4 November 2021. All zinc cladding systems that have been deemed eligible for funding have been found to be present in combination with combustible insulation that meets the eligibility criteria.

More information on the eligibility criteria for the Building Safety Fund can be found in Prospectus Annex A: Technical Information of the Building Safety Fund Prospectus, available at: www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#prospectus---outlining-eligibility-for-the-fund.

In fact, neither of the buildings mentioned met the eligibility criteria. There is an example of another building in Manchester with an apparently similar cladding system which has received funding, but this is because the cladding system present includes combustible insulation.