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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many councils have (a) requested and (b) received funding from the public purse for urgent fire safety work after the Grenfell Tower fire.

Local authorities will need to fund the costs of fire safety work in their own buildings. However, there may be circumstances where Government would consider the removal of financial restrictions to enable works to go ahead.

41 local authorities have contacted MHCLG regarding fire safety in buildings which they own. 14 of these authorities had identified buildings which required essential works and we have asked them to provide more detailed information. So far, five authorities have provided this information and officials are working with them on their requests. We are still in constructive dialogue with these local authorities and these discussions have not yet concluded. We expect local authorities to have put in place interim measures to ensure resident safety in the meantime.

If a local authority building owner considers any of their buildings to be unsafe, they will need to determine what measures are essential to make each building safe. This will need to be done as part of a whole fire safety strategy for each individual building, taking into account expert advice, any directions or advice from the local fire and rescue service, and other fire safety measures present.