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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if his Department will consider implementing a rule of one approach to building safety remediation, whereby each affected building is remediated once to a standard set by the Department and certified by an independent fire engineer appointed by the Department rather than the developer.

The Remediation Acceleration Plan Update, published in July 2025 announced the Government’s intent to embed in law the standards and robust assurance practices used in the Government’s cladding remediation programmes. This will include making it a legal requirement for relevant Fire Risk Appraisals of External Walls (FRAEWs) to follow the British Standards Institute (BSI) methodology for assessing external wall defects (PAS 9980), with approved audits to ensure consistency and quality.

This aims to establish a clear, legally enforceable standard – using a consistent framework set by the BSI and already used in government remediation programmes – to define the remediation works required at each building, providing clarity and confidence. This will be achieved as part of the Remediation Bill, to be introduced as soon as parliamentary time allows.

The developer remediation contract sets the standard that developers must meet when remediating buildings covered by the contract. Remediation of external defects must be undertaken in line with PAS 9980 and remediation of internal defects must be undertaken in line with relevant industry standards and applicable law. Remedial works must reduce life-critical fire safety defects in the building to a tolerable level, in line with these standards. The developer remediation contract provides the necessary powers for the Government to audit developers’ assessments to assure quality and consistency of assessments.