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Written question asked by Lord Beecham (Labour) on Monday, 4 March 2019, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 18 March 2019. It was answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative) on Monday, 18 March 2019 on behalf of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

High Rise Flats: Fire Prevention

Question

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that freeholders replace combustible cladding on their properties; and whether they will provide funding to local authorities to carry out this work if freehold owners fail to do so.

Answer

The Government’s priority is to ensure that residents of high-rise (above 18 metres) buildings with unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding systems are safe.

Ministers and officials continue to engage with developers, building owners and managing agents with responsibility for buildings with unsafe ACM cladding systems to ensure that they are fully remediated as quickly as possible. We have written to all relevant private sector building owners reminding them of their responsibilities towards making their buildings safe, and the Secretary of State has set his strong expectation that leaseholders should be protected from the costs of remediation.

We have reminded building owners that local authorities have powers to enforce these improvements if building owners do not take action and we are backing local authorities to take such enforcement action where building owners are refusing to remediate high-rise buildings with unsafe cladding. This will include financial support where this is necessary for the local authority to carry out emergency remedial work. We have also established a Joint Inspection Team to support local authorities and give them the confidence to pursue enforcement action.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL14178
Session
2017-19
Subjects
Fire prevention Insulation Freehold High rise flats
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk