Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner is expected to read out an oral statement in the House of Commons this afternoon detailing the government’s response to the final Grenfell inquiry report.
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Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner is expected to read out an oral statement in the House of Commons this afternoon detailing the government’s response to the final Grenfell inquiry report
The final report from the Grenfell Inquiry was published on 4 September 2024 and detailed the decades of shortsighted decision-making that led to 72 lives being lost in the 2017 fire.
Prime minister Keir Starmer committed to providing a full response within six months of the report’s publication.
Key recommendations from the Grenfell Inquiry included:
- Creating a single regulator for the entire construction industry who would oversee everything from construction products, fire testing, building control, and all aspects of fire safety and report to the government
- A licensing scheme for contractors working on higher risk buildings, managed by the single regulator
- Appointing a chief construction advisor, with committed budget and staff to comprehensively answer minister’s questions on industry issues
- Reviewing the definition of a higher-risk building
- An urgent review of building regulation guidance on fire safety
- Creating a national authority to administer building control functions, stripping town halls of that power
- The introduction of mandatory fire safety strategies for higher risk buildings
- Regulation and mandatory accreditation of fire risk assessors
- Requiring the Government to maintain a publicly accessible record of recommendations made by select committees, coroners and public inquiries, documenting actions taken and explanations for those not implemented
The deputy prime minister confirmed on 7 February that the remains of the tower would be demolished over a two year period as it was not structurally sound enough to remain as a memorial, as some survivors wanted.
Instead a new memorial will be placed on the site, designed in collaboration with those affected in the local community. A shortlist of five teams for the project was announced in late January.
Criminal convictions for those responsible are not expected until 2027
Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division confirmed that criminal prosecutions for those responsible would not take place until 2026 at least: “Our team of specialist prosecutors will then carefully review the file but do not expect to be in a position to make any charging decisions until the end of 2026.”
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