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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to better enforce building regulation inspections to ensure quality housing builds.

The duty to comply with the requirements of the Building Regulations lies on the person carrying out the building work. The duty of the building control bodies, local authorities and approved inspectors, is to take all reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that the requirements have been satisfied. Where they have not been complied with a compliance certificate should not be given. It is also possible for building control bodies to take formal enforcement action in the courts against builders for non-compliance where they consider this would be justified. Issues relating to warranties which may be provided for new homes are matters for the relevant warranty body.