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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, in light of recent fires involving timber construction materials, whether his Department plans to issue an advice note on the use of timber on the external walls of high-rise buildings.

The Department publishes Advice Notes based on advice of the Independent Expert Advisory Panel. The Department has published guidance to reiterate the importance of building owners assessing their buildings and ensuring that non-Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding (which includes timber systems) are safe. Advice Note 14, published in 2017 and updated in December 2018, reiterates that the clearest way to ensure safety is to remove unsafe materials. This can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/765761/Expert_Panel_advice_note_on_non-ACM.pdf

The Department has commissioned the Building Research Establishment to undertake bespoke medium scale tests on timber cladding panels as part of the ongoing non-Aluminium Composite Material research. We currently have no plans to publish an advice note specifically on the use of timber on the external walls of high risk buildings.