Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department had with Preston City Council on the external cladding installed on the exterior of properties in the Fishwick, St Matthews and Town Centre wards under the Community Energy Saving Programme; and what assessment has been made of whether properties are unsafe to reside in due to risk of fire or mould.

The CESP programme is an energy efficiency scheme that obligated the largest gas and electricity suppliers and electricity generators to deliver energy saving measures to domestic consumers, in specific low income areas of Britain. The Department would not have been directly involved in discussions with local authorities or other stakeholders on specific installations although there was public consultation on the overall design of the scheme. The scheme concluded in December 2012.

Preston City Council raised concerns with Ofgem (the scheme administrator) about mould in properties following completion of the retrofit works. Since then work has been undertaken under a collaborative effort to fix the problem. The work on these properties has taken longer than anticipated due to the seriousness of the issues affecting the structure of some properties. The first 62 properties are expected to be complete by the end of May, and structural surveys are being planned for the remaining properties.

Energy efficiency retrofit work undertaken must be carried out in accordance with building regulations, including the fire safety and ventilation requirements.