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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that EWS1 certificates are produced as quickly as possible to prevent leaseholders having to delay purchases or remortgaging indefinitely.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors EWS1 form, with support from lenders, was designed as a means to assist in the valuation of high-rise residential properties. The Department is aware that the form is being requested on a wider number of buildings than was the original intention. My Department continues to encourage the use, and acceptance, of wider evidence to demonstrate buildings are safe for the purpose of valuation.