Grenfell Tower Inquiry: Phase 2 Report

Statement

The following Statement was made in the House of Commons on Wednesday 26 February.

“This Government accept that the final report of the Grenfell Tower inquiry must be the catalyst for long-lasting systemic change. All Members of the House, past and present, will have shared my anger over its shocking findings. The inquiry chair, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, and his dedicated team uncovered damning evidence of political, corporate and individual failings going back decades. These led to the loss of 72 innocent lives, 18 of them children, on that terrible night in June 2017. It was a deadly betrayal and a national tragedy that must never happen again. I repeat today what the Prime Minister said in September to the bereaved families, the survivors and those in the immediate Grenfell community, some of whom are with us today in the Gallery: on behalf of the Government, the British state and those responsible, I am very sorry.

The inquiry report made 58 recommendations, of which 37 were directed at the Government. The Government accept the findings of the report and will take forward all the recommendations. Our response published today addresses each in turn and goes further, to set out our wider reforms of social housing and the construction sector. As we make these vital changes, we will publish quarterly reports on progress and update Parliament annually. The Government are open to scrutiny and will remain accountable for their actions.

We will prioritise residents and protect their interests, make sure that industry builds safe homes, and provide clearer accountability and enforcement. To have anyone anywhere living in an unsafe home is one person too many. That will be our guiding principle, and it must be that of anyone who wants to build or care for our homes. That will be an important part of the legacy of Grenfell.

For nearly eight years, despite their pain, the bereaved, survivors and members of the community have campaigned with determination, not wanting anyone to suffer as they have. It is fair to say that the building system we have today is not the same as the one that was justly criticised in the report—the one we had leading up to the tragic events of 2017. But it is also clear that there is still much more to do, so I can announce that we will create a single construction regulator and a chief construction adviser. We will set out our detailed plans later this year.

I am accepting the recommendations to professionalise fire engineers and assessors, to license principal contractors and to review the role of building control. Where standards are clear and industry has clarity and certainty on how individuals and firms must behave, it encourages investor confidence. This will improve the safety of residents, and support the construction industry and our mission to deliver economic growth.

We have pledged to build 1.5 million homes over the Parliament to tackle our country’s acute housing crisis, as part of our plan for change to improve the lives of people across the country. It is vital that these future homes, as well as existing homes, are safe and of high quality, and I welcome how some parts of the industry have stepped up to lead the necessary change in culture and approach.

But lest we forget, Sir Martin found that just about every institution and organisation charged with keeping the tower safe and protecting those who called it home failed. His most devastating conclusion was that every single death was avoidable. The inquiry uncovered serial incompetence and negligence, complacency and inaction, and blatant dishonesty and greed. The organisations that failed included the Government and regulators; the department I now lead, which failed to act on known risks and ignored, delayed or disregarded matters affecting the safety of life; and the manufacturing companies, including Arconic, Kingspan and Celotex, whose products were used to refurbish the tower. The report found that they acted with systemic dishonesty as they mis-sold and marketed them. Their disgraceful mercenary behaviour put profit before people and exploited the regulatory regime to evade accountability, with fatal consequences. To my disgust and their shame, some have shown little remorse and have refused even to help fix the building safety crisis that they did so much to create.

Companies must be held to account for their role in Grenfell. The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office is announcing today that she will use new powers under the Procurement Act 2023 to investigate Arconic, Kingspan, Saint-Gobain as the owner of Celotex at the time and other organisations. I expect swift, decisive action and will ensure that progress is reported.

But we must do more to make sure that the right rules are in place. To this day, critical gaps persist in how construction products are regulated. Only with rigorous reform will we transform the culture that allowed the tragedy to happen. To achieve that, we are also publishing today a construction products reform Green Paper. It will help us to cut out the rot in the sector and allow competence to take root. Safety will come first and a culture of responsibility will prevail. We will celebrate those who lead the way, and those who fall short will suffer the consequences. In the future, rogue companies will be held to account. Our Green Paper sets out our ideas for prison time for executives who break the rules and unlimited fines where safety is put at risk. We will do whatever it takes.

Across the sector, there is appetite for change. That change is overdue, and we will lead it. I pay tribute to the enduring resilience and resolve of the bereaved families, the survivors and the members of the immediate community. Their campaigning has seen new legislation passed, which members of this Government supported, that has made our public realm more secure. Everyone is safer thanks to the Building Safety Act 2022, which set new standards for the construction of residential buildings in England. The Act introduced the Building Safety Regulator and provisions for high-risk buildings. All people living in flats now know that the entrance doors, external walls and structure of their homes are in scope of fire risk assessments thanks to the Fire Safety Act 2021. There are new duties for owners and managers of buildings and blocks of flats. The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 ensures that landlords are held to account.

I have challenged the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to demonstrate how it has changed by becoming an exemplar landlord and local authority. I will be keeping a close eye on its progress, and we will listen to its tenants to assess whether it has succeeded.

We are pushing ahead with the remediation acceleration plan to fix all buildings around the country that still have dangerous cladding, and where building owners fall short, we will act. We are introducing regulations to improve the fire safety and evacuation of disabled and vulnerable residents in high-rise and higher-risk residential buildings. As of 1 April, ministerial responsibilities for fire functions will move from the Home Office to my department, in line with the inquiry’s recommendation that we bring responsibility for fire safety into a single department.

People and their safety are front and centre of our inquiry response, but there remains a stark and terrible reality: the bereaved, the survivors and members of the Grenfell community are still waiting for the justice they need and deserve. Justice must be done. The ongoing Metropolitan Police investigation is among the biggest it has ever undertaken, and the Met has the Government’s full support. In September the Prime Minister rightly said that this tragedy poses questions about what social justice means in Britain today, and whether the voices of working-class people, those with disabilities and those of colour are ignored and dismissed. I am here to say that we will not be that country. We will be a country where decent housing, security, safety and peace of mind are shared by all and are not just the privilege of a few.

The lessons of the inquiry should not have taken a tragedy to unearth. We will honour the memory of those who lost their lives by bringing about meaningful change in their name—change that will make life better for everyone. We are under no illusions about the scale of the task at hand. The responsibility to deliver lasting change is the privilege of leadership. That will not be done by government alone, but we will put our voice and power in the service of the cause that the Grenfell community has continued to fight for nearly eight long years. Together we will bring about the transformational change that the people of this country deserve. It is with that admiration for the spirit of the Grenfell community and the determination to honour it that I commend the Statement to the House”.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for bringing this Statement repeat to your Lordships’ House. Sir Martin Moore-Bick and his team are to be congratulated on the work they did on the Grenfell Tower inquiry and the Government are right to have accepted the report’s recommendations. The Deputy Prime Minister, speaking in the other place, rightly recognised the suffering of the victims, the bereaved families, the survivors and those in the immediate Grenfell community.

When I was a Minister in government, I worked closely with the Grenfell community and my heart goes out to them. Their bravery and determination in campaigning for change so that this never happens again have been exemplary and, as always, I pay tribute to them all. As my honourable friend the shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government said yesterday,

“The tragedy of Grenfell, which claimed 72 innocent lives—54 adults and 18 children—will always remain a scar on our national conscience”.—[Official Report, Commons, 26/2/25; col. 779.]

We on these Benches offer our sincere apologies to the bereaved, the survivors and the Grenfell community for the failures that led to that horrific night in June 2017.

Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s findings are damning, revealing decades of systemic failure, dishonesty and negligence. They are a damning indictment of successive Governments, regulators and the industry. I welcome the Government’s decision to accept 58 of the recommendations and it is right that Ministers have committed to act on them.

We support the creation of a single construction regulator, the appointment of a chief construction adviser and the consolidation of fire safety functions under one department. These reforms are long overdue. We also support steps to professionalise fire engineers and to reform the construction products sector. The systematic dishonesty from firms such as Arconic, Kingspan and Celotex revealed by the inquiry is appalling, and government must respond robustly.