Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 May to Question 183040, whether it remains the position that she has not engaged in discussion with (a) the police or (b) fire and rescue services about identifying buildings within their respective estates which have been constructed using reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

I wish to acknowledge that an error that was made in answering a question on 3^rd May 2023, which had been tabled by the member for Islington South and Finsbury. Home Office officials have in fact been engaged in discussions since January 2023 with Policing and Fire partners on the potential use of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) across their respective estates. Officials continue to work with our partners to fully understand any risk from RAAC and to identify any appropriate mitigation measures either planned or already taken.

However, it continues to be the responsibility of individual police and fire and rescue services, who are operationally independent from Government, to manage their estate and ensure it is compliant with the relevant legislation, including their duties under health and safety legislation to maintain a safe workplace.