My Lords, I declare my interests as a vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group and a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I support all the amendments in this group in the names of my noble friends Lady Pinnock and Lord Stunell.
In his response to the previous group and to some groups on the first day of Committee, the Minister rightly said how shocking some of the revelations have been to him, to us and to many others as more systemic failures have been uncovered, and how far too many people were able to refuse to take responsibility for their role in the problems.
Along with other parliamentarians, I heard Dame Judith Hackitt speaking on a number of occasions during and after her review, and I have also read her Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety—both the interim and the final reports. Her foreword to the final report published in 2018, which she describes as a personal view, is extremely powerful as a summary to the cultural and regulatory structures in the built environment sector and explains exactly why the amendments in this group are so necessary.
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She notes that,
“regulations and guidance are not always read by those who need to, and when they do the guidance is misunderstood and misinterpreted.”
She says:
“When concerns are raised, by others involved in building work or by residents, they are often ignored. Some of those undertaking building work fail to prioritise safety, using the ambiguity of regulations and guidance to game the system.”
She talks about:
“Inadequate regulatory oversight and enforcement tools – the size or complexity of a project does not seem to inform the way in which it is overseen by the regulator. Where enforcement is necessary, it is often not pursued. Where it is pursued, the penalties are so small as to be an ineffective deterrent.”
That last point was mentioned in the previous group. Finally, she concludes:
“The above issues have helped to create a cultural issue across the sector, which can be described as a ‘race to the bottom’ caused either through ignorance, indifference, or because the system does not facilitate good practice. There is insufficient focus on delivering the best quality building possible, in order to ensure that residents are safe, and feel safe.”
Dame Judith Hackitt really understood what is wrong and in her refreshingly blunt language leaves us with no ability to look away. She looks to government
and Parliament to ensure that the regulatory loopholes are closed and for the sector and workforce to play their parts in overcoming the serious problems that have been allowed to creep in and build up. All the amendments in this group provide part of the Hackitt golden thread to remedy and prevent that race to the bottom.
The amendment, and Amendments 16A and 119A, provide some of the key structural elements required to provide the regulatory changes needed to ensure that key personnel, including building inspectors and fire assessors, have attended compulsory training, updated as required, to ensure that they cannot claim that they did not know or that it was not their role. Amendment 16 looks at the independence and impartiality of building inspectors and I endorse everything that my noble friend Lady Pinnock said. Amendment 116 requires a public register of fire-risk assessors. We need that accountability and transparency. Amendment 136, on a report on the built environment industry workforce, is also vital because if we do not have enough of the right training for people in colleges and the right number of qualified people working in the industry, we will not be able to deliver the safety changes needed.
One of the faults of many Governments of all colours over the past 30 years has been to proclaim that they will have a bonfire of bureaucracies. Such bonfires have given organisations and individuals the ability not to take full account of safety elements of their roles and have led, in part, to the mess that this Bill is trying to remedy. I hope that the Minister will agree that these amendments will start to change the culture and working practices of those involved in assessing fire safety. It is a fundamental building block.