Open inquiry into the remediation of dangerous cladding

In June 2017, 72 people lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower disaster. The resulting public inquiry found that aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding had played a significant role in the spread of the fire. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has committed £5.1bn to remove and replace dangerous cladding. It has said will be the limit of taxpayer contributions to remediation, with building owners and developers to be held to account for sharing in the costs of fixing dangerous cladding, and leaseholders protected from liability for fixing problems they did not cause. MHCLG reported in January 2024 that almost 4,000 buildings were within the scope of its schemes, of which nearly 800 had completed remediation.

In its 2020 report on remediating dangerous cladding, the Committee expressed its condemnation at the badly missed target of June 2020 for all high-rise blocks to have Grenfell-style cladding removed. The MHCLG accepted at the time that progress had been unacceptably slow. The report highlighted a system-wide failure in a building regulation system that it described as not fit for purpose, with tens of thousands of people left to live in fear and financial limbo.

In its 2024 follow-up to its own 2020 investigation into the remediation of dangerous cladding on high-rise buildings, the National Audit Office (NAO) looked at how well Government has designed its schemes to maximise the identification and remediation of unsafe buildings. It also inquired into whether remediation is progressing as expected, and how well MHCLG is managing taxpayer exposure to remediation costs. See Cladding remediation programmes, transparency and target date.

Based on the NAO report, the Committee will hear from senior MHCLG and Homes England officials on topics including:

Progress and timelines on identification and remediation;
Protection of taxpayers’ money;
The Government’s approach to risk around building safety; and
Plans for deploying the £1bn announced for cladding remediation in the Budget effectively and efficiently.

Please note the Committee is unable to help with individual cases. If assistance is needed with an individual problem, it may be best to contact a local constituency MP.

The government asks contributors to look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. Please submit any written evidence in Microsoft Word format.

To submit written evidence for this inquiry regarding the remediation of dangerous cladding, click this link.

This article is based on the government announcement "The Remediation of Dangerous Cladding Inquiry" initially dated 31 October, 2024 and following links.