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Written question asked by Steve Reed (Labour) on Tuesday, 22 October 2019, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 28 October 2019 (named day). A holding answer was provided on Monday, 28 October 2019. A substantive answer was provided by Esther McVey (Conservative) on Tuesday, 29 October 2019 on behalf of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Buildings: Insulation

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's data release entitled Building Safety Programme: Monthly Data Release for August 2019 published on 12 September 2019, how many of the 1,494 non-ACM cladding samples held at the Building Research Establishment contain combustible materials.

Answer

The screening programme set up after the Grenfell fire tragedy was focussed on identifying and the types of aluminium composite materials received. 1,421 samples of other materials were also submitted but these were not suitable for the screening tests. A detailed explanation of the screening tests is set out in this note published in June 2017. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/explanatory-note-on-safety-checks-and-testing.

The non-Aluminuim Composite Materials (ACM) samples were catalogued but it is not possible given their size and condition to reliably identify and classify each sample. These samples would not provide reliable or representative indication of the materials currently present on the existing building stock, this is because only those buildings with ACM cladding systems were asked to submit samples.

I refer also to my answer of 24 January to question UIN 210599.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
3621
Session
2019-19
Subjects
Buildings Insulation Testing Building Research Establishment Composite materials
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk