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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks associated with installing combustible window panels on social housing tower blocks.

Infill panels (including window panels and spandrel panels) are part of the building envelope and subject to the Building Regulations requirement that external walls adequately resist the spread of fire over the walls. The Government has recently consulted on banning combustible materials in external wall systems and asked in that consultation if spandrel panels should be included in any such ban. The Government is currently considering the responses to the consultation. In December 2017 the Government issued an advice note for building owners with non-ACM cladding and considers the principles of the advice note to also be relevant to infill panels. The Government has also referred the matter to the Expert Panel for further advice.