Rt Hon John Healey MP

 

HOUSE OF COMMONS
LONDON SWIA 0AA
Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP
Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government

2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF

gg ZOJune 2017
I 

Documents obtained Panorama programme and published last night allege that four
former Government Ministers in your Department - Eric Pickles, Stephen Williams, James Wharton
and Gavin Barwell over the last four years ignored specific warnings that fire safety regulations
were inadequate for high?rise residential buildings like Grenfell Tower.

I

The letters were sent by the All-Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group, the Secretary of
which is a former chief fire officer, Ronnie King OBE.

One Minister is quoted as saying in response have neither seen nor heard anything that would
suggest that consideration of these specific potential changes is urgent and I am not willing to
disrupt the work of this department by asking that these matters are brought forward."

You will be aware that the context for these letters is that following inquests into high-rise fires at
Shirley Towers and Lakanal House, two formal Coroners? ?rule 43? letters were sent to your
Department in 2013 containing specific criticisms and recommendations for the ?re safety rules for
tower blocks, vital parts of which were ignored or rejected by your Department.

Notably, in his response to the Lakanal House rule 43 letter in May 2013, Eric Pickles promised a
review of building regulations, but in October 2016 Gavin Barwell suggested this had yet to begin.

I am writing to allow you to formally respond to these allegations, either in writing, or to Parliament:

- Will you release in full the correspondence between your Department and the All-Party Group?

- Will you set out the reasons for not acting upon their concerns?

For each recommendation made in the rule 43 reports on the Shirley Towers and Lakanal House
fires, will you set out your Departments? progress in implementing the recommendations?

- Will you place in the Library of the House a copy of the research your Department said has been
undertaken on fire regulation and safety in a response to the BBC on these allegations?

I look forward to your prompt repl .

  
 
 
 

John Healey MP, Shadow Rake-a

 

 

Constituency 0 ice. High Street. Wath upon Deame. Rotherham 863 7QB

Telephone: 0 709 875943 Fax: 01709 874207 Email: john.healey.mp@pariiamem.uk
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