4. 3. Statement: Update Following the Grenfell Tower Fire

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:10 pm on 4 July 2017.

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Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 3:10, 4 July 2017

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement and thank you for all the work you’re doing with other public services to identify whether we have a problem in Wales and, where we do, to rectify it. I agree it’s absolutely important that we don’t overreact on this, and I’m confident that my local authority is doing what is necessary to identify whether we have a problem, and, if we do, to rectify the situation.

I’m pleased to see that you have also asked local authorities to identify freeholders and managing agents of private sector tower blocks, because I’ve got many of them in the city centre of Cardiff. I just wanted to probe a bit further. You say in your statement your expectation is that where an owner identifies a residential high-rise building has, or is suspected of having, ACM cladding, that they will do the right thing and send samples for testing. What if they don’t? What are your powers in that regard? And in relation to the obligations of landlords and managing agents of private blocks in relation to regular inspections of the common areas of private sector flats, what sort of record is there of where and who has actually carried out these obligations? How do residents get to find out when a fire safety check has actually been carried out of these communal areas? How can the fire service—our excellent fire service—hope to target those who are not complying if we don’t have a complete record?