Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has (a) identified and (b) taken action in cases of freeholders preventing cladding remediation; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Building owners have a legal responsibility to make sure their buildings are safe. While many freeholders are acting responsibly, a minority are failing to progress remediation.
The department is aware of freeholders who are stalling on remediation work through intelligence gathered from engagement with regulatory bodies, and updates from our delivery partners who monitor buildings' progress through the government's remediation funds (e.g., building safety fund and cladding safety scheme). This intelligence is also used by the department to identify, monitor and contact owners of high-rise buildings that have not registered for remediation schemes but may have unsafe cladding systems. Where Freeholders fail to engage, the department works with local regulators to compel them to take action.
Regulators (local authorities and fire and rescue services) have statutory duties and a range of powers to compel responsible entities to enter the funds and undertake the necessary remediation works. These powers range from soft levers to enforcement powers under the Housing Act 2004 and Fire Safety Order 2005. The department also holds account management meetings reviewing the largest and/or most problematic freeholders to track progress and resolve blockers.
In addition to the above Local Regulator powers, the Building Safety Act 2022 introduced new enforcement powers, remediation orders (ROs) and remediation contribution orders (RCOs), that allow regulators, the Secretary of State and leaseholders to apply to the First-tier Tribunal for an order requiring a building owner to fix, and pay to fix, their unsafe building within a specified time.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has provided information to local fire and rescue services of schools in their area that have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete material present.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This Government has taken more proactive action on RAAC than any other in the UK. The Department has assigned a dedicated caseworker to each school and college where the presence of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) has been confirmed. Caseworkers work with the responsible body to assess the site’s particular needs and implement individually designed remediation plans. This could include using other on-site buildings, local spaces, securing the affected area and, in some cases, erecting temporary buildings. There are 80 caseworkers in place and trained supported by Project Directors and their teams across the country. In addition, they are supported by 10 Regional Directors.
Departments have been asked to report on the current picture of suspected and confirmed RAAC in their estates as soon as possible. The Government published lists of education settings confirmed as having RAAC on Wednesday 6 September and committed to providing further updates. The list is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information.
The priority is supporting responsible bodies to remove any immediate risks and to minimise any disruption to education provision. Mitigation measures will vary site by site and are determined on a case-by-case basis to reflect local factors. Exact timescales for mitigations and remediation will depend on the circumstances in each school, where the RAAC-affected areas are, and the specific site.
Regarding matters of fire safety, it is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies – to manage the safety and maintenance of their estates. Notwithstanding the Department’s commitment to supporting these responsible bodies to respond to the presence of confirmed RAAC on their estates, they remain responsible for these arrangements, and for ensuring the continued safety of building users.
The Department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in education settings at the heart of its policy decisions. The Government has taken proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings. We are leading the way in identifying RAAC in education buildings to ensure that students and staff stay safe.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 May to Question 183040, whether it remains the position that she has not engaged in discussion with (a) the police or (b) fire and rescue services about identifying buildings within their respective estates which have been constructed using reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
I wish to acknowledge that an error that was made in answering a question on 3rd May 2023, which had been tabled by the member for Islington South and Finsbury. Home Office officials have in fact been engaged in discussions since January 2023 with Policing and Fire partners on the potential use of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) across their respective estates. Officials continue to work with our partners to fully understand any risk from RAAC and to identify any appropriate mitigation measures either planned or already taken.
However, it continues to be the responsibility of individual police and fire and rescue services, who are operationally independent from Government, to manage their estate and ensure it is compliant with the relevant legislation, including their duties under health and safety legislation to maintain a safe workplace.
Asked by: Chris Loder (Conservative - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the safety risk assessments for the berthing in Portland Port of the Bibby Stockholm.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
No individuals will be placed on the vessel unless it is safe to do so and all the legal and regulatory requirements are met.
The vessel will be managed by our supplier, under contractual terms agreed with the Home Office. The same supplier has safely and successfully managed two vessels for Ukrainian refugees for the Scottish Government over the past year.
The supplier and partners including Dorset Council, Dorset Police, Dorset Fire & Rescue and the Health & Safety Executive will ensure that the appropriate risk assessments have been completed and approved to ensure that the accommodation is safe to occupy prior to the first cohort of asylum seekers arriving.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports of recent deaths in Cambridge caused by an e-bike battery catching fire, what steps they will take to ban the importation of e-bike and e-scooter batteries which do not have the UL2271 battery certification.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) was notified of this incident by the National Fire Chiefs Council. OPSS are liaising with Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service and Trading Standards to provide support and to obtain details regarding the product to enable a follow up investigation to take place.
UK law requires that all consumer products must be safe before being placed on the UK market. Where products are identified that do not meet the UK’s product safety requirements, OPSS works with local Trading Standards to quickly remove them from the market.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the end of fire appliance mobilising system collaboration between Suffolk Fire Authority and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority on fire safety in those areas.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 requires each Fire and Rescue Authority to make arrangements for dealing with calls for help and for summoning personnel. How this is delivered is an operational decision, and one for the respective Chief Fire Officers who are both responsible and accountable to the public.
My officials are aware of the potential plans to end the current collaboration agreement between Suffolk Fire Authority and Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Fire Authority and will continue to monitor the situation.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to raise public awareness of the potential fire risk of lithium batteries in residential buildings.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is working with the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and London Fire Brigade on the fire safety impacts of the increased use of lithium-ion batteries in the home.
In November each year, the Fire Kills campaign works with Electrical Safety First to run Electrical Fire Safety Week to promote messages on safe use of electrical goods and appliances. Working in partnership with the NFCC, the Home Office also provides resources and information to support delivery of fire prevention by local fire and rescue services.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to give the Health and Safety Executive the powers to be more proactive in investigating suspected dangerous buildings, to prevent rather than react to incidents.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Building Safety Act 2022 requires the Building Safety Regulator to keep the safety and standards of all buildings under review.
For buildings defined as higher risk under the Building Safety Act 2022, essentially multi-residential buildings at least 18m in height or with seven storeys or more, those responsible are required to take proportionate and effective steps to manage fire and structural safety risks. Where this is not demonstrated, the Regulator will be able to use its enforcement powers to require improvements to prevent incidents before they take place.
For buildings not in scope of the new higher-risk buildings regime, local authorities and fire and rescue services have powers to investigate dangerous buildings and compel building owners to address safety risks under the Housing Act 2004, Building Act 1984, and Fire Safety Order 2005. These powers also continue to apply in respect of higher-risk buildings. Local authorities and fire and rescue services have also been granted new powers in the form of remediation orders under the Building Safety Act.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of (a) the adequacy of processes for alerting the Recovery Strategy Unit of cases where firms are repeatedly refusing to carry out remediation works to buildings and (b) the potential merits of enabling (i) leaseholders and (ii) tenants to contact the Recovery Strategy Unit [directly?] in order to receive its support in those cases.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
It is the responsibility of local authorities and fire and rescue services to ensure that building owners are complying with their legal obligations to keep their buildings safe, and from April 2024 the Building Safety Regulator will enforce fire safety in buildings above 18 metres or seven storeys. Where building owners are stalling remediation progress, the Government expects regulators to take appropriate action. The Building Safety Act 2022 grants regulators additional enforcement powers in the form of remediation orders and remediation contribution orders, which allow them to apply to the First-tier Tribunal for an order requiring a building owner to fix, and pay to fix, their unsafe building.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April to Question 181032 on Public Buildings, whether she has held discussions with the heads of the (a) police and (b) fire and rescue services in England and Wales on the potential merits of those organisations commissioning surveys to identify police and fire station buildings which may have been constructed with Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has not engaged in discussion with the police or with fire and rescue services about identifying buildings which have been constructed using Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC). It is the responsibility of individual police and fire and rescue services, who are operationally independent from Government, to manage their estate and ensure it is compliant with the relevant legislation, including their duties under health and safety legislation to maintain a safe workplace.
The Institution of Structural Engineers has published guidance in relation to the identification and remediation solutions for buildings where RAAC has been used.
This is available at: https://www.istructe.org/resources/guidance/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-guidance/