Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that construction product standards are upheld until the National Regulator for Construction Products is established; and what assessment they have made of progress in improving those standards in line with the recommendations of the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety.

As of April 2021, the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is responsible for the regulation of construction products. The regulator is undertaking enforcement activity under the current Construction Products Regulations 2013, funded by the department. In July 2022, the department further extended existing enforcement powers, enabling OPSS to act on behalf of the Secretary of State as the national enforcement authority, overseeing compliance where there are existing designated standards.

The department is also looking to lay future secondary legislation (to be made under the Building Safety Act 2022) which will give OPSS access to broader powers to intervene in the sector.

To examine how the system for testing the safety of construction should be strengthened, the department commissioned an independent review into weaknesses in the existing testing regime. This report has recently been published, and the department is working with the two regulators (OPSS and HSE) to take its recommendations forward.