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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what role local authority building control departments have in helping to tackle unsafe cladding.

Building work must comply with the requirements of the Building Regulations. The building control body will inspect building work on site at appropriate stages. The local authority has the power, under Section 36 of the Building Act, to take enforcement action against non-compliant work. It is the duty of anyone responsible for building work to understand and meet their legal obligations.

Local authorities have duties under the Housing Act 2004 to keep under review the conditions of residential buildings in their areas, as well as powers to act (including formal enforcement) where they consider significant hazards exist. The Government has set out its expectation that local authorities play a key role in addressing the risks of unsafe cladding on high-rise residential buildings in their areas.