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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure new build homes are built according to electrical and fire safety requirements.

The primary responsibility for compliance with the Building Regulations, including fire and electrical safety, rests with the person carrying out the building work. This is the builder or developer. Most building work is subject to building control either by the local authority or a private approved inspector, on a spot-check basis. It is the responsibility of the building control body to take all reasonable steps to assess compliance. However, responsibility for compliance remains with the builder or developer

On 5 July 2019, the government published a clarified version of Approved Document B (the approved document to the building regulations on fire safety) that aims to improve usability and reduce the risk of misinterpretation by those carrying out and inspecting building work.

We recently consulted on how we propose to take forward legislative reform for building and fire safety in higher-risk residential buildings implementing recommendations made by Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review. We committed in the Queen's Speech to bring forward legislative reform.