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Session 2019-21 Tuesday No. 60 2 June 2020 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) HOUSE OF LORDS WRITTEN STATEMENTS AND WRITTEN ANSWERS Written Statements ................................ ................ 1 Written Answers ................................ ..................... 7 [I] indicates that the member concerned has a relevant registered interest. The full register of interests can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-interests/register-of-lords-interests/ Members who want a printed copy of Written Answers and Written Statements should notify the Printed Paper Office. This printed edition is a reproduction of the original text of Answers and Statements, which can be found on the internet at http://www.parliament.uk/writtenanswers/. Ministers and others who make Statements or answer Questions are referred to only by name, not their ministerial or other title. The current list of ministerial and other responsibilities is as follows. Minister Responsibilities Baroness Evans of Bowes Park Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal Earl Howe Deputy Leader of the House of Lords Lord Agnew of Oulton Minister of State, Cabinet Office and Treasury Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development Lord Ashton of Hyde Chief Whip Baroness Barran Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Baroness Berridge Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Department for International Trade Lord Bethell Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care and Whip Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Whip Waldrist Lord Callanan Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Earl of Courtown Deputy Chief Whip Lord Gardiner of Kimble Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Baroness Goldie Minister of State, Ministry of Defence Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development Lord Greenhalgh Minister of State, Home Office and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Lord Grimstone of Boscobel Minister of State, Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Department for International Trade Lord Keen of Elie Advocate-General for Scotland and Ministry of Justice Spokesperson Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay Whip Baroness Penn Whip Baroness Scott of Byfleet Whip Baroness Stedman-Scott Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions Baroness Sugg Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development Lord True Minister of State, Cabinet Office Baroness Vere of Norbiton Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport Viscount Younger of Leckie Whip © Parliamentary Copyright House of Lords 2020 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/ Written Statements 2 June 2020 Page 1 is in addition to the £600 million which Government has Written Statements made available for remediation of the highest risk ACM cladding. The prospectus for this fund was launched last Tuesday, 2 June 2020 month and sets out the buildings and non-ACM cladding systems that are eligible for funding and registration is Grenfell Tower: Phase 1 Report Next Steps now open for potential applicants, in advance of the full [HLWS253] application process opening by the end of July 2020. More information on the Fund Prospectus can be found Lord Greenhalgh: My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non- of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and acm-buildings#prospectus---outlining-eligibility-for-the- Local Government (Robert Jenrick) has today made the fund. following Written Ministerial Statement: This fund will meet the cost of remediating unsafe non- On 30 October 2019 Phase 1 of the Grenfell Tower ACM cladding systems where building owners (or other Inquiry, which focused on how the fire started and spread entities legally responsible for making buildings safe) are and the emergency response, concluded with the unable to do so. Government are also providing publication of the Phase 1 report. In January 2020 the additional, specialist project management capability to Government reaffirmed the acceptance, first given on the building owners or managing agents to speed up the day of publication, to accept in principle, all the development and implementation of building plans. recommendations that Sir Martin Moore-Bick made for central government in that report. The Fire Protection Board Six months on from the publication of the The Government has also established a Fire Protection Government’s response to the Phase 1 report, I would like Board, chaired by the National Fire Chiefs Council to update Parliament on the Government’s progress at (NFCC), to provide greater assurance to central turning our commitments into real and lasting change to government of Fire and Rescue Service protection building and fire safety. activity. The Board is leading a Building Risk Review The Grenfell fire was an unimaginable tragedy that Programme, supported by government funding to ensure must never be allowed to happen again. Even in these that all high-rise residential buildings of 18m or above are unprecedented times, the Government’s commitment to inspected or reviewed by the end of 2021. We are also implementing the Inquiry’s recommendations, as a using a proportion of the additional £20m secured for fire priority, remains unchanged. As does the Government’s and rescue services in the recent Budget to further support commitment to ensuring those most affected, the bereaved an uplift in protection capability. and survivors – who have displayed such remarkable Stay Put courage, resilience and dignity – continue to be engaged At the end of last year, a joint HO and MHCLG in discussions about policy development. steering group was set up to support a technical review of Ban on the use of combustible materials stay put. There are three strands to this work: an evidence The Inquiry’s report was clear that the use of review, assessing academic evidence on methods of Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) rainscreen evacuation; operational research to test evacuation cladding and combustible insulation on the exterior of the strategies; and building design research. The first stage of Tower was the defining factor in the rapid spread of the this work has been commissioned and is underway whilst fire. The Government introduced regulations in December preliminary work is being carried out on the other strands. 2018 that banned the use of combustible materials in and Building safety on the external walls of specific types of new high-rise At the heart of the Government’s radical reforms to buildings. A public consultation was held between building safety is the new Building Safety Regulator, January and May 2020, to further explore and refine the which we are establishing within the Health and Safety scope of that ban – including a proposal to ban the use of Executive. The Government set out plans in our response ACM with unmodified polyethylene core and similar to the ‘Building a Safer Future’ consultation for the materials on all buildings in England. We are analysing biggest change in building safety for a generation. feedback and will be publishing a response in due course. The new regulator will be responsible for implementing Remediation and enforcing a more stringent regulatory regime for Since the Grenfell Tower fire, the Ministry of Housing, higher risk buildings, as well as providing wider and Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the stronger oversight of safety and performance across all Home Office (HO) have identified over 450 buildings buildings and increasing the competence of those working with unsafe ACM cladding, and we have worked with on building safety. This work complements the local authorities and fire and rescue authorities to ensure establishment of a new construction products regulatory that appropriate interim safety measures are in place, role to strengthen national oversight and effectively while these buildings undergo remediation. enforce the new regulatory regime. In March this year the Government announced that it The Government will soon be publishing the draft will provide £1 billion to fund the removal and Building Safety Bill for scrutiny before it is introduced in replacement of unsafe non-ACM cladding systems. This Parliament. This Bill will put in place this new and Page 2 2 June 2020 Written Statements enhanced regulatory regimes for building safety and it has not affected the LFB’s commitment to construction products, and ensure residents have a implementing the Inquiry’s Phase 1 recommendations. stronger voice. It is important that the lessons from Grenfell are learned In April, the Government published a workplan beyond London. This is why the NFCC is working to detailing the next steps for the wider review of Approved ensure that the Phase 1 recommendations are Document B, following the technical review that was implemented across all fire and rescue services. The HO started in December 2018. Research will be carried out in is working closely with the NFCC on