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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the provision of support for heating costs provided by local authorities and Housing Associations to social housing tenants while unsafe cladding systems are removed from their homes.

The Government is providing funding to ensure that social housing providers can prioritise the remediation of buildings with unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding without needing to divert resources from other housing programmes, including maintaining existing properties and new build programmes.

The application guidance sets out the costs covered by government funding. This is intended to cover costs associated with the removal and replacement of unsafe ACM cladding systems (including insulation), such as access (e.g. scaffolding or mast climber), removal and disposal of existing cladding, replacement materials, labour and reasonable on-costs, and VAT on these costs where the building owner is not able to claim this back. The fund is not intended to cover revenue costs, including those associated with interim measures.

The Regulator of Social Housing requires that homes in the social housing sector meet the Decent Homes Standard, which includes having efficient heating and effective insulation. As social landlords have responsibility for the overall standards of their buildings, we would expect them to take action and engage with residents to ensure disruption is reduced whilst the works are completed as quickly and safely as possible. We would expect those who have concerns about their ability to do this to contact MHCLG or the Regulator of Social Housing.