Robert Jenrick MP gives update on building safety

Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government established the Building Safety Programme to cover high-rise residential buildings 18 metres and over, including hotels, to make sure that residents of high rise buildings are safe - and feel safe - now, and in the future.

Robert Jenrick MP: "ensure that everyone is safe and feels safe"

Robert Jenrick MP  addressed MPs in the Chamber to update the House on a major package of reforms to the building safety system that he announced today.

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government said:

"This Government is committed to bringing about the biggest change in building safety for a generation. We took action to address the fire safety risks identified following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, and in the autumn we committed to adopting the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower inquiry Phase One report in full. We will shortly be publishing our response to the Phase One report and there's a full debate scheduled tomorrow for the House to discuss this important issue at length. The focus of this statement will be on the wider programme of building safety reforms and the work that I'm leading to ensure that everyone is safe and feels safe in their own home."

John Healey: "thousands of people continue to live in unsafe homes"

Responding on behalf of the Opposition, John Healey, Shadow Secretary of State for Housing asked why two and a half years later there are still "315 high rise blocks still cloaked in the same Grenfell style cladding?"

The Shadow Secretary told MPs:

"Mr Speaker I never thought I would be standing here two and a half years later facing a Secretary of State, the third Secretary of State who still cannot say that all the necessary action has been taken and that a fire like Grenfell cannot happen again in Britain. Directly after the fire the then Prime Minister promised on behalf of the Conservative Government and I quote "Landlords have a legal obligation to provide safe buildings. We cannot, and we will not ask people to live in unsafe homes." Yet thousands of people continue to live in unsafe homes, condemned to do so by this Government's failure on all fronts after Grenfell."

• Watch Parliament TV: statement on Building safety update
• Transcripts of proceedings in the House of Commons Chamber are available in Hansard online three hours after they happen.

Image: PA images

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