7. Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: Building Safety

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:06 pm on 14 December 2021.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 6:06, 14 December 2021

Diolch, John. I admire your committee's constant asking of me about timetables for the Bill, but I'm afraid my answer is the same as the one I gave in committee, which is that we will negotiate the timetable when the Bill is introduced with yourselves, and that we hope to have the maximum time for scrutiny at the committee stage in particular, because I really do want to make sure that this Bill is consensual across the Chamber, if at all possible. So, I will certainly be coming to the committee with a timetable in due course when we have the agreement all set out, and I really absolutely commit to wanting to have the maximum amount of time for the committee to look at the Bill and make sure that we get that consensus across the piece.

We've done a lot of engagement on the White Paper already, and we had a large number of respondents to that, but the responses also acknowledged that there were areas that needed more scoping, refinement and clarification, so we're just in the process of inviting key partners to continue to work with us on developing some of those proposals and to join expert working groups that will be starting up in the new year, to just refine those proposals. So, I assure you that we're very keen on having both the inspection industry, the actual property owners, and the leaseholders' voices all very prominent in that debate, to make sure that we get the regime just right. And I'll just remind you that it's phased, the regime, so it's in the design, construction and occupation phase that this will come forward. So, I'm very happy to commit to that. I'm very happy to keep the committee updated and indeed the Senedd updated, as those negotiations go forward.