Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:53 pm on 20 June 2017.
Of course, and I thank the Member for her constructive questions. In terms of the detailed questions on the building regulations specifically, they do lie with Lesley Griffiths. What I will do is ask the Minister to write to you, but put a copy of those responses in the library for Members too.
In terms of fire and fire application, what happened in Grenfell Tower fire was tragic. It’s still unknown about the cause of ignition there, but what we do know is that fires in Wales have been reduced by over 50 per cent since devolution of the fire service. So, fires are becoming less frequent here, despite the tragic events that did take place there. We need to learn lessons from that, and whether that was through appliance or otherwise, we still have to wait to find out what actually caused the fire and what the catalyst was for the fire to move so quickly within the building structure.
I’m very keen to ensure that residents have a view on the quality of their housing stock and their relationship with RSLs and local authorities, and I will ensure that continues. I think we’ve got, again, a very different relationship—what happens in Wales and what happens in England.
With regard to the inspection regime that I’ve asked my chief fire officer and team to look at, this is a very specific piece of work on the high-rise blocks of flats of seven storeys or more. Currently, there are 31 of them and, therefore, that will be a very quick piece of work. I spoke to the housing Minister in Westminster on Saturday afternoon, and I spoke to the Scottish Minister yesterday morning, and we are working on a collective piece of work about how we can share this intelligence. I don’t think it makes any sense for us to do three pieces of separate work. The piece of work I’ve instigated is about our very particular stock and, therefore, that will feed into the overall principle of what we work to together, but I will keep the Member informed.