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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what funding the Government is providing to remove unsafe cladding from residential buildings below 18 metres in height.

We are investing £1.6 billion to support the remediation of unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) and unsafe non-ACM cladding systems on private and social residential buildings above 18 metres.

Dame Judith Hackitt – who led the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety - has recommended that we focus further public funding on remediating unsafe cladding from high rise buildings. Higher rise buildings are the least likely to evacuate safely in the event of a fire spreading via external cladding.

Government intervention does not remove overall responsibility for building safety from building owners, and they should consider all routes to meet costs, protecting leaseholders where they can – for example through warranties and recovering costs from contractors for incorrect or poor work.