Call for Government to introduce independent national oversight mechanism for Grenfell recommendations

[edit] MHCLG committee Grenfell and Building Safety Inquiry

On May 14 Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Florence Eshalomi MP wrote to the Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP, Secretary of State and Alex Norris MP, Minister for Building Safety, Fire and Local Growth. The letter shared the findings and recommendations from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government commitee's own Grenfell and Building Safety Inquiry, to which Minister Norris appeared before as part of the inquiry on 1 April 2025.

The letter outlined 10 recommendations, a key element of which being to 'endorse witness calls for the design and implementation of an independent mechanism to ensure that the Government is held to account going forward and is not left marking its own homework.' All recommendations are outlined in brief below:

[edit] Public inquiry recommendation monitoring

The Committee welcomed the Government’s acceptance of all the recommendations from the Grenfell Inquiry’s Phase 2 report, but 'there are significant risks of these recommendations not being implemented effectively if independent oversight is lacking' and believes progress updates proposals on gov.uk, and annually to Parliament, don't go far enough.

The Government must consult on a new system of formal implementation monitoring for accepted recommendations from all public inquiries and consider introducing this as a provision in the upcoming “Hillsborough Bill”. The new monitoring system should be in place and active before the tenth anniversary of the fire on 14 June 2027. The system could be in the form of a national oversight mechanism, as advocated by INQUEST and Grenfell United. Additionally, Parliament could consider setting up its own Public Inquiries Committee, as recommended by the Lords Statutory Inquiries Committee.

The system should monitor all of the accepted recommendations, including those which are for other public bodies to implement , such as local authorities. Though it welcomed the Deputy Prime Minister’s pledge to “keep a close eye” on RBKC specifically, and to continue to listen to the council’s social housing tenants to assess progress of necessary improvements and dealing with concerns.

[edit] Engagement with Grenfell community

While good-faith efforts to engage the Grenfell community when making decisions around the future of the site have been made, it is clear there are still groups, particularly from minority ethnic backgrounds, who feel that they have not been able to fully contribute. Prior to making any future decisions regarding the Grenfell site, the Government must ensure that it has a full and up-to-date list of contacts of those affected by the fire, including bereaved family members living abroad, and ensure that everyone on this list is contacted and their input sought. The committee encourages the independent Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission to continue to review its processes for ensuring that a diversity of voices are represented in its meetings, in particular those of bereaved family members living abroad.

[edit] Building control capacity and independent panel on the future

Positive steps forward in the building safety and control sectors are acknowledged, but there is still much work to be done. There is a serious risk that the Government’s proposed reforms to the building safety regime will fail if concerns around the capacity of the building control sector to inspect buildings are not addressed. It is imperative that the Government appoint the independent panel on the future of building control as soon as possible, so that the panel has sufficient time to consider its recommendations ahead of their scheduled publication in autumn 2025. Giving the panel statutory footing to ensure its recommendations are carried out should be considered. In its recommendations, the panel should lay out a plan for driving up and funding the recruitment of building control professionals and fire engineers.

[edit] Clarity on construction product regulation and testing

It is acknowledged that the Government’s view that it is not appropriate to endow the new single construction regulator with the power to both regulate construction products and undertake their testing and certification, as this may create a conflict of interest. However, the Government must pay due regard to feedback it receives on its consultation on the Construction Products Green Paper when deciding on the final role and remit of the new regulator. The Government must also ensure that the role and remit of the new regulator is clear and distinct from existing regulators including the Building Safety Regulator and the Office for Product Safety and Standards.

[edit] BSR operational efficiency and quality of applications

Delays in the ability of the Building Safety Regulator to sign off on the safety of buildings must be addressed as a priority. It is clear that improvements need to be made both to the operating efficacy of the Regulator, as well as the quality of building control applications which are submitted for its review. The Government must review how it can best support the Building Safety Regulator to make improvements in its day-to-day operations. This could include making changes to the Regulator’s remit to allow it to carry out its work on an organisation-by-organisation basis, rather than on the current system of going building-by-building. It must also continue to work with the BSR and the sector to ensure that developers are enabled to submit better quality applications that allow them to pass through the building control gateways in cases where their buildings meet fire safety requirements , for example through the distribution of relevant guidance (or review of existing guidance).

[edit] Building Safety Levy postponement and funding discrepancy

The Committee accepts that the decision to delay the introduction of the Building Safety Levy until Autumn 2026 was the correct one, given the concerns expressed by industry. However, responsible developers should still be paying their fair share towards remediation; taxpayers and leaseholders should not be left to foot the bill. The Government must write to this Committee to explain how it will address concerns raised by developers around the potential impact of the Levy on housing supply before it comes into effect in Autumn 2026. In this explanation, it should also provide a new estimate for how much the Levy intends to raise in light of adjustments which will presumably have to be made to address these concerns. If this estimate is lower than the £3.4bn the Government originally said the Levy aimed to raise, it should set out steps for how it will make up for the funding discrepancy through other sources of funding (preferably through developer contributions). The Government should also make changes to the existing funds available for remediation to ensure that social housing providers have equal access to funding as private landlords, to ensure they have the financial headroom to both invest in the maintenance of existing social housing stock and build new social housing.

[edit] Personal emergency evacuation plans and sprinklers

Commitment to introduce regulations to mandate Personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) for disabled residents in high-rise buildings is welcomed. However, the Government must ensure that responsible parties are in a position to ensure PEEPs are produced for all residents who require them. The Government must, as par t of the Spending Review process , allocate sufficient funding to responsible parties working with high -rise buildings to ensure that they can put together PEEPs for all disabled residents in their building. We are deeply concerned by the London Fire Commissioner’s comments regarding how fire-safe existing care homes are. We question the wisdom of the decision not to mandate sprinklers in existing care homes. The Government should urgently review the decision to mandate sprinkler installation in new care homes , but not existing care homes . If it chooses to persist with this policy, it should lay out its plans for inspecting the arrangements building owners are taking in existing care homes to ensure they are fire-safe.

[edit] Remediation Acceleration Plan review and publication

We agree with the concerns of the Public Accounts Committee that the Government is not currently doing enough to protect residents from remediation costs. We look forward to seeing the refreshed Remediation Acceleration Plan which the Minister has promised in the coming months, which should include details on further steps to, as far as possible, protect residents from the costs of remediation work. This refreshed Plan should also account for the conclusions and recommendations made by the Public Accounts Committee in its report.

[edit] Transition of handover from the Home Office to the MHCLG

While we welcome the Government’s acceptance of the Grenfell Inquiry’s Phase 2 Report recommendation to bring responsibility for fire under one Department, it is important that the handover from the Home Office to the MHCLG is done as smoothly and effectively as possible. The Minister should keep us updated on the progress of this transition . He should let us know of any issues arising as part of this and how the Government plans to address these in order to complete the transition in good time.

[edit] Workplace cultures in fire and rescue services

The new Minister responsible for fire must take forward the previous Minister’s commitment to address the findings of the Home Affairs Committee’s Inquiry into workplace cultures in fire and rescue services. As part of this, the Government should consider implementing the recommendations made by the Home Affairs Committee in its correspondence to the Home Secretary on this issue in May 2024.

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