Fire Safety

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 1:58 pm on 14 July 2021.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 1:58, 14 July 2021

Well, the bottom line, Jenny, is that we absolutely have no way to make sure that they're acting in line with their moral obligations; there's no legal method by which the Welsh Government can do that. As you know, I've asked all of the developers who are involved in the high-rises in Wales to meet with me. To be fair, a number of them have, and a number of them have put some money into rectification of some of the defects in some of the buildings.

Some of the developers haven't met me at all. I've put a final call out for people to meet me, and we're going to have a round-table of those who are happy to work with us in the autumn. At that point, I have asked for advice on whether I can name and shame the ones that will not come forward, so I'm in the process of getting that advice.

But, the legal complexities here are immense. Almost all of these buildings were built by what are called SPVs—special purpose vehicles. They're not the holding company—the name on the top. They're a special purpose vehicle formed for the purpose of building the building, which is then dissolved. So, actually, there is no corporate entity that you can hold legally responsible.

The UK Government, to be fair, has proposed to extend the limitation period—it hasn't done it yet; it's in the legislation currently going through Parliament—to 15 years from six, which will certainly help. Unfortunately, here in Wales, nearly all of the buildings that are here in Cardiff Bay and in Swansea, which are the two big cities most affected, were built, actually, around the millennium, which those of us who are a little older will be amazed to discover is 21 years ago and not 15 years ago—it seems like last Tuesday to some of us.

Unfortunately, that will not help those buildings, because they are going to be outside the period anyway, so that's an issue. We have asked for that to be extended to 25 years, but the UK Government has gone for 15, for various reasons. The 15 years only kicks in when the Bill is passed and it is not yet passed, so some buildings that might fit in now will not fit in by the time the Bill goes through. In addition, even if they do fit inside the limitation period, they still have to find the corporate entity that's responsible, and if they were built by an SPV, that would be very difficult. So, there's no silver bullet for this.

To be fair to some of the developers, they have put substantial sums of money into rectifying some of the buildings, but it has to be said that not all of them are in that position. We continue to work with the developers to try and put as much pressure on them as we can to do that. We've sought advice about what other levers we can use in terms of Welsh Government money, funding and so on, to try and bring them to the table.