Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thank you, Rhys, for the opportunity to discuss again the important issue of building safety in Wales. Just yesterday I made a statement on a series of actions we are taking as part of the Welsh building safety programme, together with our co-operation partners, Plaid Cymru. There were six strands to that update, including our work in making developers responsible for putting right the issues with buildings they’ve constructed, to taking forward work to remediate orphan buildings ourselves, as a Government, when no developer can be made responsible.

Just directly in response to Janet, an orphan building quite clearly isn’t in the social sector; it’s a private sector building, built by the private sector, where the private sector has either walked away from its responsibilities or gone bankrupt. So, just to be really clear.

In my statement, I spoke of the developers we’ve signed up to the legally binding documents that underpin the Welsh Government’s pact. Redrow, Lovell, Vistry, Countryside Partnerships, Persimmon and McCarthy Stone have already signed the legally binding agreement. Taylor Wimpey, Crest Nicholson, Bellway and Barrett Homes have confirmed their intention to sign. The intention to sign is not just a vague intention; it is a process by which they get the approval of their board to put their signature on the documents. So, to all intents and purposes, that is a signature.

The developers have committed to undertake life-critical fire safety works on both medium and high-rise buildings. These are buildings of 15m and over in height that have been developed over the last 30 years. I’ve maintained a collaborative approach in Wales, but I will take every opportunity, including legislation and considering prohibitions on development, to ensure developers step up to their responsibilities in the matter of fire safety.

There’s a series of sanctions in the contract documents, Jane. I haven’t got a list of them here, but there are all the usual contractual obligations. If a developer does not develop to the programme agreed, or to the standard agreed, the Welsh Government will then be in a contractual relationship with them, and be able to take legal action against them. So, it’s much the best kind of protection for the leaseholders involved.

The timetable: what is the timetable for remediation? We expect developers to start work as quickly as possible. In a number of cases, works have already started. Persimmon and Bellway are already on site in a number of locations, and others, such as McCarthy Stone, have already completed works in Wales. I can’t give a definitive timetable for every building in Wales. It’s just not possible to do. In the debate yesterday I did point out that we will look to make sure that we have a good supply chain going, a programme of work where we secure skilled contractors who are able to do the work properly, and of course we will do it as fast as possible. But it just is not physically possible to give a definitive timescale.

The work’s already starting to roll out. There are more and more buildings going into remediation as we go. We’ve already made a loan fund available to developers who might have a cash flow problem up front, because of the number of buildings they’re remediating, because I don’t want any excuse for not being able to start. But at the same time, we do need to make sure that the buildings are properly remediated and that the people who work on them are skilled, and that the supply chain is there, so that the right materials are used on the right buildings. So, it is just not possible to put an end date on that. And that’s why we made the loan fund available to developers—not because we are being particularly generous towards them, but because I don’t want a cash flow excuse. So, it can’t be the case that developers can’t continue with a building solely because they haven’t got the cash flow up front to do it. So, we’ll make sure that the programme of works is there to go ahead.

As I said, I’ve already addressed the fire safety issues in orphan buildings where the developer can’t be identified, has ceased trading, or it was developed more than 30 years ago. I announced that that was expanding from six to 28 buildings, so that is all of the orphan buildings we’re aware of in Wales. The responsible persons are being contacted right now to set out the next steps in respect of establishing the work plans for these buildings and undertaking necessary works with remediation on the first buildings of the orphan cohort starting this summer. So, pretty quickly now.

I'm sure the Member is aware—well, I know you are, Rhys—it's not just residents in private sector buildings who are affected by this issue, and I just think, Janet, you need to really think about some of the things you've said about this. Social sector apartment blocks where fire safety needs to be addressed are also important, and we really, really—