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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that applicants to the Building Safety Fund are able to speak publicly about cladding and remediation.

I refer the Hon Member to my response to his oral question of 11 January 2020. The Building Safety Fund does not impose restrictions on leaseholders or residents in their private capacity as individual flat owners commenting on remediation projects or on Government policy on cladding and remediation

Funding agreements for the Building Safety Fund include a clause which is standard in commercial agreements between building owners and funders of construction of work which applies to communication with the media about the individual construction project. The clause applies to applicants to the fund who we expect to discuss with delivery partners in the first instance any queries about the remediation project or the funding agreement. We want a constructive working relationship with building owners who apply to the fund, which ensures that the Government’s provision of £1.6 billion of funding will make buildings safe for residents as swiftly as possible.