Chair writes to Dame Judith Hackitt
9 January 2018
Clive Betts, Chair of the Communities and Local Government Committee, has called on the Chair of the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety to reflect on concerns raised by MPs during a one-off evidence session on her interim report last month.
In a letter to Dame Judith Hackitt, Mr Betts says that it is ‘vitally important' that a new approach to building regulations includes a degree of prescription rather than being purely based on outcomes, warning that ‘in particular it cannot be right to continue to permit the use of combustible materials on high-rise buildings'.
Dame Judith gave evidence to the Committee on 18 December following the publication of the interim report. The review was set up by the Government in August following the fire in June at Grenfell Tower in west London that claimed the lives of 71 people.
The letter also stresses the importance of examining electrical goods safety, given that the Grenfell Tower fire started in a fridge-freezer, and asks the that the Review consider in more detail both Part P of the building regulations and potential changes to the present competent persons' scheme for those carrying out electrical works in domestic homes.
The Committee also calls on the Review to focus on the effectiveness of enforcement, amid concerns about the independence of private sector inspectors and the cost to local authorities of pursuing cases through the courts.
The Independent Review is due to be published in the spring, at which time Dame Judith may again be invited to appear before the Committee.
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