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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to his oral contribution of 17 May 2018 on Building Regulations and Fire Safety, Official Report, column 457, and with reference to his Department's consultation on Amendments to statutory guidance on assessments in lieu of test in Approved Document B (Fire Safety), published by his Department on 11 April 2018, for what reason his Department's consultation on cladding systems does not include the option of banning the use of desktop studies to assess cladding systems.

Our consultation paper, 'Amendments to statutory guidance on assessments in lieu of test in Approved Document B (Fire Safety)' set out proposed amendments to building regulations guidance in line with the recommendation in Dame Judith’s Hackitt's interim report. The consultation paper also asked for views on whether the Government should go further and prohibit the use of assessments in lieu of tests either for all fire test classifications or for fire test classifications relating to the BS 8414 full-scale cladding test. The consultation closed on 25 May.