The following Written Ministerial Statement was made by Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on Wednesday 21 July 2021 in response to the Independent Expert Statement on building safety in medium and lower rise blocks of flats.

Today marks the next major step on our path towards a robust, but proportionate, building safety regime. We seek a regime that delivers high standards of safety for people’s homes, particularly those which are high-rise and therefore somewhat higher risk whilst providing reassurance to leaseholders, residents and the market that the overwhelming majority of homes are safe.

The Grenfell Tower tragedy and subsequent independent review of Building Regulations led by Dame Judith Hackitt, exposed serious issues in the regulatory system and construction of some high-rise buildings: developers cladding buildings in combustible materials that should never have been used; construction product manufacturers ignoring safety rules, gaming the system and rigging the results of safety tests; building owners failing to take responsibility for ensuring the safety of their residents; and the government’s regulatory system lacking the strength and oversight to identify these failings and enforce standards. Read more here.