Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Building Safety to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee on 19 October 2020, whether the Government plans to implement a similar system to Flood Re in order to protect leaseholders from unaffordable costs.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The department is working on proposals to protect leaseholders from unaffordable costs caused by historic building safety defects. We will provide an update before the Building Safety Bill returns to Parliament.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the outcome of the review of the ban on the use of combustible materials in and on the external walls of buildings.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 100277 on 12 October 2020.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, where an external wall system has windows installed and a similar system tested to BR135 does not, whether those systems will be considered to match in terms of assessing eligibility for the Building Safety Fund.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Building Safety Fund prospectus was published 26 May. The prospectus sets out the buildings and non-ACM cladding systems, in the technical annex e, that are eligible for funding.?During the registration and application process, the Department will be able to engage individually with building owners regarding questions specific to individual buildings.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, where an external wall system has a different number of cavity barriers installed to a similar system tested to BR135, whether those systems will be considered to match in terms of assessing eligibility for the Building Safety Fund.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Building Safety Fund prospectus was published 26 May. The prospectus sets out the buildings and non-ACM cladding systems, in the technical annex e, that are eligible for funding.?During the registration and application process, the Department will be able to engage individually with building owners regarding questions specific to individual buildings.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, where an external wall system has ventilation openings installed and a similar system tested to BR135 does not, whether those systems will be considered to match in terms of assessing eligibility for the Building Safety Fund.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Building Safety Fund prospectus was published 26 May. The prospectus sets out the buildings and non-ACM cladding systems, in the technical annex e, that are eligible for funding.?During the registration and application process, the Department will be able to engage individually with building owners regarding questions specific to individual buildings.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether an A2 cladding/C class combustible insulation system which has passed a BS 8414 test will be eligible for funding under the Building Safety Fund.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Building Safety Fund prospectus was published 26 May. The prospectus sets out the buildings and non-ACM cladding systems, in the technical annex e, that are eligible for funding.?During the registration and application process, the Department will be able to engage individually with building owners regarding questions specific to individual buildings.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the non-ACM cladding remediation fund applies to (a) combustible cladding with a Euroclass rating of B as well as cladding with a Euroclass rating of C or below, (b) all types of combustible cladding, or just to HPL and timber, (c) the removal of combustible insulation installed beneath combustible cladding, (d) the removal of combustible insulation installed beneath A1 or A2 cladding and (e) the removal of combustible insulation installed in External Wall Insulation systems with render.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We will be publishing the prospectus for the Building Safety Fund in May which will provide all the eligibility criteria for the Fund, including which cladding materials and systems will be supported.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when the Government plans to publish the (a) fire safety bill and (b) building safety bill.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
As announced in the Queen’s speech on 19 December 2019, the Government is committed to bringing forward legislation on fire and structural safety that delivers meaningful and lasting change. The Fire Safety Bill will be introduced to Parliament shortly by the Home Office. The Building Safety Bill will follow and be published later this year. Resident safety is paramount, and we owe it to them to get this right.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with leaseholder organisations on leaseholders affected by the advice note for building owners, published on 20 January 2020.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
On 4 March, the Secretary of State met a group of leaseholders facing difficulties related to unsafe or unknown cladding, remediation bills and the mortgage challenges arising from that.
In February, the Department met representatives from leaseholder groups including "Manchester Cladiators", to discuss building safety, remediation costs and mortgage finance.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the guidance note entitled, Building safety advice for building owners, including fire doors, what support his Department is providing to leaseholders that are unable to sell their properties while the freeholder is carrying out fire safety checks.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Building safety is the responsibility of the building owner and they must ensure that they move swiftly to identify and address any fire safety issues they find. They should let leaseholders know of any planned safety checks and must be forthcoming with the outcomes of those checks and the actions arising from them.