Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reason the Minister for Homelessness and Democracy is no longer responsible for the Grenfell brief.

Trusted relationships between ministers and the Grenfell community are essential for this Department. Before I became a Minister, I called for the French delegation of the Franco-British Colloque to cut ties with Saint Gobain. But I understand that perception matters and I therefore concluded that the building safety portfolio would be best transferred to another minister.

Updated ministerial responsibilities were published in October.

Our goals of making buildings safe and preventing another tragedy continue to be very important issues for me, and the Deputy Prime Minister and the rest of the ministerial team have my full support in delivering on this work.