Minister pressed for Government response on product testing review

Clive Betts, Chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee has written to Lee Rowley, Minister for Local Government and Building Safety, Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to press the Government to provide a detailed response to the Independent Review of the Construction Products Testing Regime.

The Review was commissioned by the Government partly in response to the Grenfell Tower fire. The Review’s report was published 20 April 2023 - the Government is yet to provide its response.

The Committee correspondence follows recent Committee evidence sessions with the Minister Lee Rowley and the co-authors of the Review, Paul Morrell OBE, formerly the Government’s Chief Construction Adviser, and Anneliese Day KC.

Clive Betts, said: “Later this year, we will mark seven years since the tragedy of Grenfell. Fire safety and the efforts to make buildings safer for people to live in are crucially important. The Government established this Review to look at issues of product safety and but, almost 10 months on from publication, the Government is still to respond.

“I urge the Government to publish a full response to the Independent Review. The Government should provide a recommendation-by-recommendation response which clearly states how recommendations will be taken forward. It’s important the Government publishes a full response urgently to kick start dialogue with industry and help ensure that the fire risk of materials and products used in buildings is minimised effectively.”

The Committee’s correspondence also asks for clarification on how harmonised EU regulations on fire doors currently apply in the UK. The Chair’s letter also presses the Government to publish a Government-commissioned research report on over 3,000 construction products standards associated with testing, following the Minister’s commitment to do so in his oral evidence on 17 January.