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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what materials the term filler material was intended to apply to when that term was added to the 2006 Edition of Approved Document Part B Volume 2.

The term filler was included for the first time in the 2006 edition of Approved Document B, first published in 2006. It is a matter for the person responsible for the work and the building control body to consider if the requirements of the regulations have been met. The Department would have held meetings with industry at the time to discuss the new Approved Document B guidance in general. This Government’s view is that set out in the Building Control Alliance technical guidance note 18 which set out that the provisions in paragraph 12.7 relating to limited combustibility, particularly when read in the context of the guidance paragraph 12.5, apply to the whole cladding system other than components specifically excluded, as set out in paragraph 12.7.