Housing ministry to lead on fire safety in post-Grenfell shake-up 

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) will lead on fire safety issues in a post-Grenfell overhaul,  Sir Keir Starmer has said. 

The prime minister confirmed yesterday (13 February) that “responsibility for fire” from 1 April will be given to housing secretary Angela Rayner within the MHCLG, which already oversees the Approved Documents regime in the Building Regulations.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry phase two report, published in September, called on the government to appoint a single secretary of state to lead on fire safety.

This responsibility is currently held between the Home Office, MHCLG and the business department, the report noted. 

Starmer said the upcoming change meets this recommendation and provides “a more coherent approach to keeping people safe from fire in their homes”. 

The inquiry report had stated: “The fragmentation of responsibility for regulating the construction industry is currently mirrored in the range of government departments responsible for matters affecting fire safety.

“If a single body were responsible for all aspects of regulating matters affecting fire safety in the construction industry, that body should report to a single secretary of state answerable to parliament for all aspects of fire safety.

“That should improve the quality of government by providing an administrative environment in which information can be shared more quickly and more effectively between teams responsible for different aspects of the work and facilitate communication between the regulator and the department.”

Starmer said in September that the government would respond to the phase two report “in full” by 4 March. 

Other recommendations to the government in the report include the appointment of a chief construction adviser; a review of fire safety building regulations in Approved Document B; and the empowerment of a regulator to assess the conformity of construction products with legislation.