Written question asked by Steve Reed (Labour) on Thursday, 6 February 2020, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 10 February 2020. It was answered by Christopher Pincher (Conservative) on Thursday, 27 February 2020 on behalf of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

High Rise Flats: Insulation

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that insulation concealed behind render in External Wall Insulation systems is correctly identified in the audit of high-rise buildings.

Answer: Local authorities have been asked to undertake a data collection exercise on residential buildings 18 metres and over in height to identify their external wall systems – including their external facing materials and their insulation. The responsibility for collecting and providing information for the data collection lies with local authorities and housing associations. Local authorities have powers under Section 235 of the Housing Act 2004 to require building owners to provide documentation. This may be used to require information on the external wall system of a building, which includes insulation. New burdens funding has been provided to local authorities to offer support for the completion of the External Wall Systems data collection.

Secondary information