6. Statement by the Minister for Housing and Local Government: The Welsh Government Response to the Building Safety Expert Group's Roadmap

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:01 pm on 21 May 2019.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 5:01, 21 May 2019

I hear absolutely what David Melding says, and of course there is a temptation to want to do it quickly, because we all understand the danger, if you like, and obviously we don't want to see a repeat of any of the tragedy that we saw at Grenfell. Anyone who's seen any of the members of the Justice4Grenfell group speak will have heard their heartfelt plea. But one of the other pleas that they also have is that we put the system right for the longer term and that the tenant's voice is very much front and centre of that, so there's a little bit of a conflict in rushing and also getting that in place. But I do hear what he says.

I will happily send the detailed project plan that we have so far to clarify the specific actions that do have dates attached to them, alongside anticipated points for key documents. I just emphasise that it's not a complete project plan, but I'm very happy to share it as it is now and as it emerges. We want to be as open and transparent as possible. I hear his offer to work across the Chamber; I'm sure there will be no problem with that. It is just a question of us being absolutely certain exactly where we want to go. There are some things we are still wanting to put in place before we go for it, and they will be a combination of things we can do in this Assembly term: a set of secondary regulations and so on that will work straight away, and some reissued guidance, which is obviously updated rather than just reissued, so that it has the necessary things in it.

But there are some things that require quite substantial primary legislation, and if we can get it through in this Assembly term, we definitely will, but I don't think it's controversial legislation in the sense that it relies on a political mandate to get it through. I do think it will be consensual across the Chamber and, regardless of the make-up of the next Assembly, it will be something that whoever is the administration will want to take forward, and we would like to get it to as close to complete as we possibly can. If we can get it through, fantastic. I'm just saying that I can't promise that at this stage, because there is a lot of work to be done between now and a point in time when we would be in a position to send policy instructions to the lawyers for drafting, for example.

So, we are going as fast as we think is safe to go to get the system right, but I share his frustration about the length of time it is taking to do that. I will happily share the detailed project plan that we have so far, and, Deputy Presiding Officer, keep that updated as we go for all Members.