Minister for Building Safety and Local Growth

On 1 April 2025 ministerial responsibility for all fire functions moved from the Home Office to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The change was considered by the government as delivering on a key recommendation from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report, which advised that fire and building safety should be overseen by a single department. Part of this was to establish the role of Minister for Building Safety and Local Growth, which was given to Alex Norris MP (below) though as explained below this was then renamed.

In September, 2025 following the departure of Angela Rayner and the subsequent government reshuffle with various roles updated this role was given a new description (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State) Minister for Building Safety, Fire and Democracy. As of 16 September the Minister for Building Safety, Fire and Democracy was named as Samatha Dixon, replacing Alex Norris who had moved to the moved to the Home Office. See Minister for Building Safety, Fire and Democracy and Building Safety, image top.

The list of ministerial responsibilities published by the cabinet office in September 2025 include the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Minister for Building Safety, Fire and Democracy include:

Building safety, regulations, Building Safety Regulator and remediation
Net Zero and energy efficiency
Grenfell Inquiry response
Grenfell Community, Tower and Memorial
Fire policy and operations
Resilience, recovery, and emergencies
Elections policy
Planning casework

The Building Safety Minister (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Local Growth and Building Safety) was part of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), in July 2024 DLUHC was renamed back to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). The list of ministerial responsibilities published by the cabinet office in March 2025 included the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Local Growth and Building Safety). The role previously officially known as the Building Safety Minister, was referred to as the Minister for Building Safety and Local Growth (now the Minister for Building Safety, Fire and Democracy).

The original responsibilities of the Minister for Building Safety and Local Growth included:

Building safety, regulations, Building Safety Regulator and remediation
Grenfell Inquiry response
Grenfell Community, Tower and Memorial
Resilience, recovery, and emergencies
Local and regional growth, including Local Growth Plans, Community Ownership, and future of legacy funding streams
High streets and towns
Investment Zones and Freeports

The previous position of Building Safety Minister was also held by Alex Norris MP, who was appointed on 9 July 2024, his predecessor was Rushanara Ali, who resigned following attendance at the Franco-British Colloque, a conference sponsored by Saint-Gobain, the majority owner of Celotex which was criticised by the Grenfell Inquiry.

In comparison the responsibilities of the previously named Building Safety Minister included: