Local Public Services in South Wales Central

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:18 pm on 3 February 2021.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 2:18, 3 February 2021

Yes, I'm happy to answer a question on building cladding, although it's very hard to see what that's got to do with local public services in South Wales Central, it has to be said. The building cladding problem is largely centred on private sector tenanted or leasehold blocks all over Wales. We are working on a building safety fund to enable us to remediate the buildings and allow access to that finance without losing the equity of the leaseholders involved. It is a very complex problem, which is partly devolved and partly not devolved, which is why the complexity exists. We have been working very closely with colleagues at the UK level, both at official level and otherwise, in order to try and understand exactly how we can take this problem forward.

Unfortunately, a large number of the levers are in the hands of the UK Government, including, for example, extending the contractual obligations of the people who built the buildings in the first place, and assisting in finding out where the complex legal issues can be centred. There are also issues around access to legal funding and access to a complex range of other legal issues that we need to work through in order to make sure that the funding gets to the right people. 

In the meantime, we have worked closely with fire and rescue services across Wales to ensure that people are as safe as it's possible to make them, and to ensure that the various authorities are alerted. There is a very large and complex piece of work going on. I have met with a range of the developers and a range of the residents of the various blocks in order to progress this work, and it's very much ongoing.