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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to intervene to prevent insurers from mandating expensive building safety remediation work beyond the scope recommended by fire risk assessments.

Where an external wall assessment carried out in line with guidance from the British Standards Institute (PAS 9980) shows acceptable risk, premiums should reflect that. Insurers should offer affordable premiums and should not be prescribing additional remedial works. The department is engaging with insurers on this matter.

It is generally accepted that risk to life is proportional to the height of buildings. There is no systemic risk in buildings under 11m, which are very unlikely to need costly remediation to make them safe.