Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:22 pm on 20 June 2017.
People have been horrified by the Grenfell Tower fire and the failure of local and central Government to ensure that building controls are in place. I wondered if the Government could make a statement on how we could reinstate the powers of local government to be able to effectively inspect all new buildings, and indeed refurbished ones, to ensure that they are fit for people to live in, because local authorities have been absolutely stripped of both the resources and the expertise. And I am particularly concerned that contractors can now appoint their own building inspectors from an approved list, because that obviously opens up huge opportunities for corruption, and there are many cases, I’m afraid, that I’ve heard about in Cardiff where buildings are not up to the standard that they have been advertised as.