The next item of business is a statement by Paul McLennan on the Scottish Government’s response to the Grenfell tower inquiry phase 2 report.
14:30
I am pleased to make a statement setting out the Scottish Government’s response to the Grenfell tower inquiry phase 2 report. My statement will provide an update to Parliament on a range of key actions that the Scottish Government will now take, in response to the inquiry’s recommendations, to further strengthen the safety of Scotland’s built environment. I will also provide an update on action that we are taking to increase the pace and breadth of our work on cladding remediation.
On 14 June 2017, a fire at Grenfell tower in London resulted in the deaths of 72 people. It was a tragedy that should never have been able to happen. The exceptional work of the inquiry team is to be commended.
The report of phase 2 of the Grenfell tower inquiry was published on 4 September 2024. The findings of the report expose failings in the construction industry, the regulatory system and the organisations that should have kept people safe. Although the fire occurred outside Scotland, it has been felt deeply here. There is a shared construction industry, in which many of the same organisations, practices and products are used across the United Kingdom.
Immediately after the tragedy occurred, the Scottish Government set up the ministerial working group on building and fire safety to consider how buildings in Scotland could be made safer and how people would feel safe within their own homes. Much has been done to improve building safety since.
The inquiry’s second report made 58 recommendations, covering Government structures, building regulation, fire and rescue, civil contingencies, professional competence and product testing and regulation. Although the recommendations are mainly directed at the UK Government, 43 are in devolved areas of competence.
Last month, I met ministers from the UK Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. We agreed to continue work collaboratively on building and fire safety matters. That is fundamental, as areas such as construction products regulation and professional regulation are reserved to Westminster. Government and industry in Scotland simply must be able to trust the testing and certification of products and the information that is presented by manufacturers. Disgracefully, the Grenfell tragedy exposed the dishonesty of manufacturers who put profit above people’s safety in their homes.
Our response to the inquiry has been published today. Although we have already delivered change and improvement to and strengthening of systems, there is still much to do. We intend to deliver an on-going programme of systematic improvement.
The Scottish Government will consult on the need for new legislation to strengthen the building standards system. That includes introducing a compliance plan manager and changes to strengthen enforcement powers and sanctions. That builds on the established work of the building standards futures board. We will ask the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and His Majesty’s Fire Service Inspectorate in Scotland to report to us on changes that they have made to strengthen the effectiveness of their operational systems in response to the inquiry’s recommendations.
We will undertake a further campaign to highlight the action that can be taken to support vulnerable people to take appropriate action in the event of a fire. We will continue to engage with partners, including social landlords, on the longer-term options, including necessary legislative change, to consider how to bring in the regulated requirements to carry out person-centred risk assessments. We will consult on the introduction of mandatory periodic fire risk assessments in specified multi-occupancy buildings to reduce the risk of fire. We will strengthen fire risk assessor competency in Scotland and the requirements for duty holders to hire a competent assessor. We will work with local authorities and other category 1 responders to review and refresh resilience guidance, training and practice. We will, of course, continue to work with the UK Government to strengthen construction products regulation and the regulation of fire engineers and fire risk assessors. We will reset the ministerial working group on building and fire safety to oversee that work.
As well as responding properly to the recommendations of the Grenfell tower inquiry, it is incumbent on the Government to tackle the problems of unsafe cladding. That is why, today, I am publishing a renewed “Plan of Action on Cladding Remediation”, which sets out the key actions that we are taking, who we are working with and how we plan to deliver a collective national effort.
We have today launched what we are calling the single open call, which is a key element of that plan. It invites residential property owners or their representatives to notify us of their concerns about cladding in their properties. Having done so, and as long as their property meets some basic criteria of height and age, they will be able to apply for Government funding for a statutory single building assessment. Further, the Scottish Government will fund all compliant applications for an SBA for eligible buildings, up to an initial level of £10 million in the coming year.
Assessment of that kind is a necessary first step towards the ultimate remediation of a property’s cladding. The initial funding will support a substantial acceleration in addressing the risks that are posed by cladding in Scotland. Importantly, the support will be available to the owners of all residential properties that meet the basic criteria, regardless of tenure type. That means that our support for assessment will extend to properties that are owned by local authorities and registered social landlords, as well as to privately owned properties. The investment is designed to reduce risk in the broadest range of properties as quickly as possible.
I should make it clear that, where a developer has accepted responsibility for the assessment and remediation of a property, it will remain for that developer to take forward and fund that work, as is appropriate.
The single open call is already open on the Scottish Government website, where owners can find further information and complete a simple expression of interest.
Of course, assessment is just the first step in making a property safe. Responding to the findings of the single building assessments is the critical next step. I can announce today that a further stage of the single open call process will be launched before the end of June this year. The second stage will extend the scheme to include potential support for mitigation and remediation works. Where a single building assessment has found that mitigation and/or remediation works are required to address a property’s cladding issues, owners will be able to apply for Government funding for those works. Information on the works that will be eligible for funding will be published on the Scottish Government’s website.
It is expected that, at the mitigation and remediation stage, a local authority or registered social landlord would be responsible, as the owner, for taking forward and funding any required work. However, where social landlords are not in a financial position to be able to meet the costs of essential remediation works, the Scottish Government will consider the need for Government support and will provide financial assistance, subject to ability-to-pay criteria.
Once again, where a developer has accepted responsibility for the assessment and remediation of a property, it will remain for that developer to take forward and fund the work.
The owner-led model that is envisaged by the single open call process will complement the existing developer-led and Government-led processes of assessment and remediation. We believe that this broad-based approach gives us the best chance of moving more quickly to address Scotland’s cladding problems.
We continue to make progress with both developer-led and Scottish Government-led remediation. We are finalising an agreement with the larger developers on the developer remediation contract, which will enable them to take forward assessment and remediation of properties for which they have accepted responsibility. That follows intensive negotiations since the sharing of draft terms in September 2024, with significant progress made to agree key terms in principle. We are working towards final agreement as soon as possible. We continue to work in partnership with developers to support their efforts and to track, gather and assure information on their remediation progress.
We will, of course, continue to make progress on the Government-led leg of this broad-based effort. As members will be aware, following our pilot programme, the Scottish Government is currently concluding the single building assessment process for 13 properties and is about to commission assessments for a further four. We will continue to support their assessment and remediation journey.
We will continue to work with partners to gain as clear a picture as possible of buildings at risk. We will use that information to make sure that properties that are at elevated risk are being appropriately addressed, whether or not their owners have come forward though the single open call process.
We have already sought updated information from local authorities, asking them to provide an update on the situation in relation to cladding for each high-rise building in their ownership. Similarly, we have asked the Scottish Housing Regulator to provide information in connection with RSL-owned properties.
I hope that my announcements today will mark the delivery of a substantial acceleration in the pace and breadth of assessment across Scotland, as a necessary step towards the effective mitigation and, if required, remediation of affected properties across Scotland.
We have the foundations of the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024 and the single building assessment process. It is now time to turn those strong foundations into real action.
The minister will take questions on the issues that were raised in his statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions, after which we will move on to the next item of business. I would be grateful if members who wish to put a question were to press their request-to-speak button now.
I thank the minister for advance sight of his statement. We are now eight years on from the Grenfell tragedy. The Scottish Government has had eight years to carry out remedial works to properties with unsafe cladding, yet here we are with another statement, and we are no further forward. It feels like groundhog day in Holyrood.
To be frank, it is embarrassing that the Scottish Government has concluded the single building assessment process for only 13 properties. Progress has been painfully slow and the Scottish Government has shown a distinct lack of leadership, leaving us miles behind our UK counterparts.
Today’s statement is riddled with next steps that should have been completed following the passing of the 2024 act. There will be more consulting and assessments, more information gathering and a resetting of the ministerial working group, but that will lead to no further action. Today’s announcement is a kick in the teeth for those waiting for work to be carried out on their homes. People want to know when cladding will be removed from their properties, not when the latest Scottish Government talking shop will next meet.
The Grenfell tower inquiry’s second report, which was published on 4 September last year, made 58 recommendations, 43 of which fall within areas of devolved competence. Does the minister accept all of those 43 recommendations? When will remediation works on the five properties where work has begun be completed? Finally, it feels as if it is a lifetime since the Government announced it in the first place, so when will work on the remaining 102 properties be completed?
I thought that the member would have welcomed today’s statement. In the discussions that I have had with residents, what they have said to us most often is that they are keen to move on as soon as possible, and the single open call will allow us to do that.
The member mentioned it being eight years on from Grenfell. I have spoken before about pace and, when I made a statement in January, I said that we would come back to talk about trying to accelerate the pace. I think that the actions that we are taking today certainly do that.
I set out the work that has happened since the fire. Extensive work has been carried out and Scottish Government building safety standards people have picked up on and improved some areas. In our most recent debate about the issue, I acknowledged that we need to accelerate the pace, following feedback from residents who told us to do that, and today’s announcements do accelerate the pace.
I will come back to the member in writing regarding her particular points about the dates.
As Meghan Gallacher said, it is almost eight years since the Grenfell tower fire. We are now in the remarkable position of having had more ministerial statements about cladding than buildings remediated.
On behalf of the residents who are still living in fear of fires in their homes, I ask the minister how many buildings will be remediated by the end of this session of Parliament, what date has the Government set for every building in Scotland to be free of combustible cladding and why is Scotland so far behind the rest of the UK on remediation? Will the minister guarantee, as the UK Government is doing, that the companies that are responsible for the absolute tragedy at Grenfell will not be allowed access to any public contracts and will he update procurement legislation to make that happen?
I repeat the point that I made about accelerating the pace. There are a couple of important things to say about that. I said in my statement that we are concluding 13 single building assessment processes and are about to commission another four. Those single building assessment processes take a period of time and are all different, as is the completion of remediation. If Mr Griffin wants to get back to me about particular buildings, I am happy to get back to him on that particular point.
Mr Griffin made a point about procurement issues. That is obviously a reserved matter, but it is something that we have discussed with the UK Government, and we will continue to do that. We have an intergovernmental meeting coming up, when ministers will be available to discuss that particular point.
That legislation lies with the UK Government, which has published a green paper, but my officials and I are working closely with it on that particular point. If anything came out of the Grenfell inquiry, it was about products, commissioning and so on. We are working closely with the UK Government.
Can the minister assure residents living in buildings for which no known developer is responsible for the upkeep that the Scottish Government’s cladding remediation programme will not leave them behind and that a single building assessment will take place?
I am happy to give that assurance. Where no developer has taken responsibility for a relevant building that is affected by cladding, the owners of the property will be able to apply for a Government-funded assessment through our single open call system, regardless of whether the building is privately owned, mixed tenure or social housing. The second stage of that scheme, which is to be launched by the end of June, will allow owners to apply for Government support for necessary works, based on the findings of that assessment.
It sounds as though the owners hotline that the minister announced previously is now up and running. People will be able to contact it if they have concerns about their building. They might get an assessment done and then they might get help with work, but we just do not know. The minister speaks about working at pace, but he cannot tell us what that pace will be. Last year, £41.3 million was set aside for cladding remediation, and £52.2 million has been set aside for that in the current financial year. How much of that money has been spent?
I will come back to Graham Simpson on that point. On his other point about the cladding remediation, the purpose of the single open call is to quicken that pace. I have met residents from across Scotland, and one of the key questions that they have asked me is, “Can we just get on with it as soon as possible?” The single open call allows us to do that. We have also had that feedback about buildings from residents associations and factors.
On the member’s point about when work will happen, one of the key points is that we are trying to accelerate that. We will be working as quickly as possible around the single open call. If people come back to us, we will respond to them as quickly as we possibly can. The whole point of working with registered social landlords and social housing providers is to increase the breadth of that. Every single building assessment and remediation will be different, as the member well knows. The purpose of my statement today is to accelerate the pace and the breadth of that.
I welcome the minister’s statement. As he knows, many of the buildings in Scotland that are affected are in my constituency. I appreciate both the challenge and the complexity of the work and I welcome the progress. However, there is a strong need to pick up the pace. Although I welcome the single open call, can the minister tell Parliament how he will keep members updated on progress? How will he engage and communicate with those who live in affected buildings, property factors and residents associations, and how will he keep developers to their commitments?
I thank the member for his dedication in working with his constituents on the matter. I also commend my colleague Kaukab Stewart for the work that she has carried out in this area. Our new scheme will accelerate progress on cladding assessment and remediation by empowering owners—“empowering” is the key word here—and providing appropriate financial support. We will also continue to work with those developers who have already taken responsibility for assessing and mitigating risks in properties that they have built. Our regular newsletters and bespoke proactive communications will keep owners and residents updated, and a letter from me is going out to all MSPs today. We have also notified the committee of the statement about Grenfell and cladding, and I am happy to keep it informed on a regular basis.
It is a basic human right that people feel safe in their own homes, and yet the awful facts are that 40 per cent of people with a disability who lived in Grenfell tower died that night in 2017 and a quarter of all children who lived there died in Grenfell tower that night. To avoid a repeat of this tragedy, we need investment in not just building standards but building control. Local council departments that deal with this have been decimated, so how does the Scottish Government intend to ensure that, in line with the Grenfell tower inquiry phase 2 report recommendations, building control is properly resourced and supported to do its job?
On the funding for that, there has been an increase in Government spending this year, with funding for local authorities increasing by a considerable amount. It is up to local authorities to decide where they spend their money. Our building department colleagues have been discussing the matter with them on a regular basis, and we set up the Scottish building standards hub to listen to what they are saying on that point.
On Mr Leonard’s point about evacuation, we have been working very closely with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on person-centred risk assessment, as I mentioned in my statement. One of the key things is communication with residents on that point. The SFRS also carries out operational quality assurance visits to every high-rise domestic building in Scotland to check features such as fire doors, lifts and stairs. We continue to work with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on the point that Mr Leonard mentions.
Is the minister able to provide an update on the work to establish a comprehensive cladding assurance register for Scotland, as set out in the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024?
The Scottish Government’s budget for 2025-26 provides £52.2 million in funding for the cladding remediation programme. Today, we have announced an initial tranche of £10 million for assessment through our single open call scheme. As any owner of a relevant property that is affected by the cladding issue can do, local authorities can apply for support for the assessment of properties through that scheme.
I made the point to Richard Leonard that the Scottish Government has provided substantial—record—funding of more than £15.1 billion for local authorities, which is an increase of £1.1 billion. That funding empowers local authorities to address critical issues such as cladding remediation, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of residents.
I extend my condolences to the families and friends who lost their loved ones in the Grenfell tower fire. It is a tragedy that should never have been allowed to happen.
When we discussed cladding last year, I highlighted the shortage of skilled, qualified fire safety professionals. Although the approach that the minister has set out is welcome, how is the Scottish Government working to ensure that existing skills gaps do not hold up works to make buildings safe?
That very valid point about skills has been made in committee and discussed in the chamber, and it is a key thing that we have taken forward in discussions with our colleagues in the UK and Welsh Governments and the Northern Ireland Executive. According to the capacity assessment that has been made, there are sufficient assessors in that regard at the moment, but we continue to closely monitor that and will continue to discuss it with UK Government colleagues.
I am afraid that the minister is not inspiring confidence. He does not seem to be answering many of our questions this afternoon. Can he help me to understand? I would have thought that, by now, we would have known which buildings across Scotland were potentially at risk. Why are we only now doing a single open call? Why could that not have been done last year, the year before, the year before that or even the year before that? Why is this taking so long?
I have said previously in the chamber that the pace should have been quicker. The very purpose of what has been announced today is to quicken the pace. Again, the pilot model and what we learned from it were key. A key thing that we are moving on now is the grant funding model, which, we think, will quicken the pace.
A few things that have happened since then have been mentioned. We now have the statutory single building assessment, which is backed up by the robust standards that I have talked about. We created the legislative framework through the 2024 act. As I said, we have spoken to COSLA about support for the approach that we have taken. I held a meeting with a committee—I think that it was the wellbeing committee—in that regard, speaking on that point to councillors who are responsible for building safety. The approach was supported at that time.
As I said, the purpose of today’s announcement is to quicken the pace and to look at how we widen arrangements. That approach has been supported by COSLA, and we are working very closely with the regulator on RSLs.
I am glad to hear the minister discuss the need to strengthen building safety standards. I have been concerned by recent reports that the UK Government is looking to cut red tape in order to push developments through the planning system faster. The tragedy at Grenfell and the recent report remind us that the planning system and building standards are our opportunity to get things right before they can go wrong. Does the minister therefore agree that the most important aspect of house building is providing people with a safe and secure place to live?
In my responses, I have highlighted that, as well as the work that has gone on since the fire. One of the main aims of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 concerns health and safety in building. As I have mentioned, the response to the Grenfell tower inquiry has strengthened building standards, made regulations more effective and delivered safer buildings. In addition, changes to the fire safety standards of buildings have been made by requiring the use of non-combustible cladding, improving escape provision and introducing automatic fire suppression. A new building standards compliance plan approach is being developed under the direction of the building standards futures board and is at the early adopter stage. To answer a point that Richard Leonard, I think, made about support for local authority verifiers to fulfil their role on delivery, building warrant fees are currently being increased through a three-year model.
Our planning system has a statutory structure that ensures that planning decisions are made following a thorough assessment of the development plan and all material considerations.
Where permitted development rights may also be involved—so removing the need for planning applications for specified development—those rights are carefully created to ensure that the potential impacts are properly assessed.
To come back to the member’s point, we have undertaken considerable work since the fire. We will continue to do so, and we will continue to work on the recommendations of the inquiry.
Implementation of the cladding remediation programme has been plagued by shifting criteria, long waits and a lack of clarity. A classic example of that concerns my Glasgow constituent Park Property Management. For affected property owners, every delay means more uncertainty, more financial strain and more stress. The statement does not provide a clear timeline, but another drawn-out process, leaving residents trapped in uncertainty and fear. When—with a timescale, please—will my constituents see action?
As Mr Gulhane knows, we have been engaging in a particular discussion around about his constituents. He knows that individual cases are different in terms of single building assessments and the remediation work that is carried out. I will continue to engage with Mr Gulhane on that.
The point of making today’s statement is, as I said, to try to quicken the pace, which I think we will do through the single open call process and through the remediation part.
We have taken action on the single building assessment and also through the cladding act, which has pushed us towards that. I will continue to engage with Mr Gulhane on that particular point.
I cannot give specifics on where the single building assessment is at, what is highlighted and the remediation work that is carried out. However, I give Mr Gulhane the assurance that I will continue to engage with him and his constituents on that particular issue.
The Scottish Government has taken a firm but fair approach to ensure that developers uphold their responsibilities in relation to cladding remediation. Will the minister outline how interventions such as the Scottish safer buildings accord and the upcoming responsible developers scheme ensure that developers are incentivised to work with, and not against, the Scottish Government in making our buildings safer?
One of the key things all the way through this process has been the partnership approach that we have taken with developers, which we are committing to with local authorities and RSLs.
On the member’s specific point, I note that developers agreeing and signing the legally binding developer remediation contract will be a positive step in ensuring the safety of home owners and residents in multi-residential properties with unsafe cladding. We have made significant progress on the key principles of the developer remediation contract negotiations, which are continuing in a good vein with developers.
We continue to work constructively with developers that are taking steps to assess or remediate buildings of which they were the developer. That will include considering proposals for a responsible developers scheme.
I was in London eight years ago come June, and I will not forget the feelings but also the very sensation of the smell that arose because of the terrible tragedy at Grenfell.
This has really not been the minister’s finest hour, by a very long way. If I understand what he has told us this afternoon, in a statement that he asked to make, he cannot tell us how many high-rise buildings need to be remediated; he cannot tell us how many are going to be remediated by the end of this parliamentary session; and he cannot tell us how much of the £97.1 million that the Scottish Government receives from the UK Government for cladding remediation has been spent. Is he not ashamed and embarrassed not to know such basic information when appearing before this Parliament?
I come back to a particular point that I have made a few times. If I am expected to highlight which buildings will be completed without some of those buildings having gone through the single building assessment process and without a remediation contract having come out, that is a bit unfair.
We will continue to work on quickening the pace, which I am confident that we will do.
On funding, I note that more than £50 million is being set aside. We publish a quarterly review of how much is spent.
To come and ask me what buildings will be remediated by a certain point in a certain year is unfair. I am happy to keep Mr Kerr updated on that particular point. [Interruption.]
I am coming back to the point that Mr Kerr mentioned. A single building assessment process takes a different period of time depending on where the building is. The remediation contract and the work that is required also take a different period of time. I am happy to keep Mr Kerr up to date with regard to the buildings that are remediated.
I have made the statement on what we are currently going through in relation to the single building assessment process. As I said, the whole purpose of the statement today is to quicken up the pace and widen the breadth of work that we are undertaking.
I think that I heard the minister say that, from June, social landlords will be able to apply for funding for cladding remediation, which is welcome. Such issues exist in my constituency, so that opportunity will be important to my constituents. There are often disputes among developers, architects and owners, some of whom can be social landlords. Will that be a barrier to social landlords applying for remediation funding from June onwards?
Mr Doris makes an important point. I am aware of the local housing association that he is referring to in that context, and we will continue to work with it on that aspect. We mentioned the open call that is being made for those who are already in place. One of the key aims is to ensure that we move forward on that. I mentioned RSLs’ and housing associations’ ability to pay, which is relevant. Cladding officials will continue to work with factors, residents, developers and housing associations. That principle could be shared across any RSL or local authority.
That concludes the ministerial statement. I will allow a moment or two for front-bench members to organise themselves before we move on to the next item of business.
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