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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's December 2018 implementation plan entitled Building a safer future, if he will publish (a) the organisations involved in the implementation plan and (b) the remit of the (i) Competence Steering Group, (ii) Competence Steering Group sub-working groups, (iii) Industry Safety Steering Group, and (iv) all other industry working groups set up in response to the Hackitt Review.

Following the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, our implementation plan set out a far-reaching work programme to deliver a reformed building safety system. In addition to the findings of the Review, we have considered a wide range of evidence, views and concerns expressed since the Grenfell Tower fire including representations to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry; over 200 responses to the Review’s Final Report, gathered in a listening exercise over the summer; and a report from the House of Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee. The consultation published on 6 June, Building a safer future: proposals for reform of the building safety regulatory system, invites views from the public and all interested stakeholders on how we propose to take forward meaningful legislative reform.

The Competence Steering Group and its sub-working groups were established by the construction and fire safety sectors in response to the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety. Their remit is to develop proposals for a robust and coherent overarching system for overseeing competence requirements, and to raise competence within relevant disciplines involved in the design, construction, inspection, maintenance and management of buildings in scope of the Review. The Group expects to publish its full report covering recommendations from all working groups in June 2019 for an industry-led consultation. More information on the Competence Steering Group and its working groups can be found in the group’s second quarterly report published on the Construction Industry Council’s website: http://cic.org.uk/admin/resources/second-quarterly-report-october-2019-electronic-version.pdf.

The industry safety steering group (ISSG) has been established to encourage culture change across industry and to monitor industry’s progress with implementing the recommendations in the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety. The terms of reference for the group are published on GOV.UK https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/801470/TOR.pdf.