Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what methodology his Department used to establish 18 metres as the qualifying height for applications under the Building Safety Fund.

We are taking decisive action to improve building safety and prioritising unsafe cladding which is a higher risk and can act as a fire accelerant – and is a greater risk in higher rise blocks. It is right that we prioritise action on higher rise buildings (over 18 metres) where risk to multiple households is greater when fire spreads. 18 metres is the height referenced in building regulations guidance and in all the advice we have issued to building owners since the Grenfell Tower fire. For the purposes of the Building Safety Fund we are allowing a tolerance of 30cm to this measurement so where there is appropriate evidence that a building measures 17.7 metres or above it will be eligible in regard to its height. This is to allow for measurement error, the potential for ground levels to have varied from the original design and the settlement of the building over time.