Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Cladding and Fire Safety Defects

Monday 14 June 2021 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • James Murray asked about the progress in remediation of ACM-clad buildings and the number of buildings with dangerous cladding and fire safety defects.
  • The Minister acknowledged significant progress in remediation, stating that 95% of the buildings have been made safe or are in the process of remediation.
  • The Minister referred to the fourth anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy, where 72 people lost their lives.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 James Murray Labour (Co-op) Ealing North
Housing Environment
Context

Four years after the Grenfell Tower fire, survivors and the local community are still waiting for justice. Across the country, people are still facing unsafe buildings. The Government's data shows 469 high-rise buildings identified with ACM cladding, of which 107 remain dangerous. No data is available on non-ACM cladding or buildings below 18 metres.

Question

Four years after the Grenfell Tower fire, survivors and the local community are still waiting for justice, and across the country people are still waiting for an end to unsafe buildings. We know from the Government's published data that of the 469 buildings over 18 metres identified with aluminium composite material cladding, 107 still have it. However, there is no data on remediation of non-ACM cladding or on buildings below 18 metres. Will the Minister commit to publishing data next month on how many of the 1,890 buildings over 18 metres that are progressing bids with the building safety fund for non-ACM cladding have been remediated, and on how many of the 77,500 blocks between 11 and 18 metres may be unsafe?

Answer from Christopher Pincher

I am obliged to the hon. Gentleman for his question. As I said, and as he knows, we have made significant progress in the remediation of ACM-clad buildings: 95% have either been made safe or had remediation begun on them. With respect to buildings that have had non-ACM but dangerous cladding put on, I can tell him that some 685 buildings have now been registered for the building safety fund, with £359 million of public funds allotted for their remediation.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The questioner asked specifically about publishing data next month regarding non-ACM cladding and unsafe buildings below 18 metres, but the answer provided no commitment to publish this data. It instead focused on progress made with ACM-clad buildings.

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Q2 James Murray Labour (Co-op) Ealing North
Housing Environment
Context

Four years after the Grenfell Tower fire, survivors and the local community are still waiting for justice. Across the country, people are still facing unsafe buildings. The Government's data shows 469 high-rise buildings identified with ACM cladding, of which 107 remain dangerous.

Question

What recent estimate he has made of the number of buildings that will have (a) dangerous cladding and (b) other fire safety defects beyond June 2022. The Grenfell tragedy saw 72 people lose their lives four years ago, with survivors still waiting for justice.

Answer from Christopher Pincher

We meet on a sombre day—the fourth anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy, when 72 people lost their lives—and across the entire House, I am sure that, whatever one's political view or stripe, our hearts go out to all those people, their families and their friends who lost so much on that night four years ago. We continue to see progress with the remediation of unsafe cladding systems. We project that 84% of high-rise residential buildings with unsafe ACM—aluminium composite material—cladding will be completed by the end of 2021. We continue to drive toward 100% and we expect those who have made a full application to the building safety fund to be on-site by the end of September 2021. The building safety Bill will bring about a fundamental change in both the regulatory framework for building safety and the construction industry culture, ensuring that those responsible for buildings make sure that fire and structural safety risks are properly managed.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The questioner asked specifically about an estimate of dangerous cladding and other defects beyond June 2022, but the answer provided general progress updates on remediation efforts without providing a specific future estimate or addressing the timeframe requested.

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