Calls for a UK-wide approach to building safety

She today called on the UK Government to extend its England-only developer pledge, which commits developers to repairing buildings they were involved in developing, to the rest of the UK.

The Minister warned the current “unilateral approach” to building safety makes it harder to ensure developers take their responsibilities to contribute towards the costs of fixing building safety issues in Wales seriously.

The Welsh Government has earmarked £375m towards repairing identified building safety issues.

Wales is taking a “whole-building approach” to building safety and is committed to repairing wider fire safety issues – not just cladding problems.

In a statement to Members of the Senedd today, Julie James said:

We continue to do everything in our power to repair building safety defects – without these costs falling on leaseholders – and to reform building safety law. But there are many things our governments can do to improve building safety on a UK basis.

I was therefore deeply disappointed when the Secretary of State for Housing, Levelling Up and Communities Michael Gove announced an England-only developer pledge last month.

The Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Local Government and Housing, Shona Robison and I have repeatedly called on the UK Government to adopt a UK-wide approach to the pledge. 

The UK Government’s unilateral approach to building safety issues makes it harder to ensure all developers take their responsibilities to contribute towards the costs of fixing building safety problems in Wales seriously.

It inhibits our ability to hold developers and manufacturers to account for fixing their mistakes and it runs counter to the recent Review of Intergovernmental Relations.

It also creates more confusion for residents at a time when they need consistency and clarity.  

The Welsh Government has had ongoing meetings with the UK Government about building safety and is continuing to continuing to press for:

• A change in the pledge letters with developers and in the detailed legal agreements to secure a matching and proportionate commitment to self-remediate across the UK.
• For the UK Government to redouble its efforts to introduce a credible, affordable and UK-wide public indemnity insurance scheme this year and to commission work to support the creation of a companion insurance scheme for certification of remedial works, which includes relevant aspects of fire safety.
• The Building Safety Levy to be extended across the UK.
• Support from Secretary of State Gove in seeking additional capital and resource funding from HM Treasury for building safety.
• The Minister is also writing to stakeholders to update them about the progress of the repair work underway across Wales.

She said:

Our repair programme goes beyond just replacing external cladding. It includes compartmentation, fire alert and evacuation and suppression systems.

This whole-building approach puts people’s safety first but is more complex than one which only deals with cladding. It is also more expensive.

We have earmarked £375m over the next three years to invest in repair work – this is double the population share of what the UK Government has said it plans to spend in equivalent areas in England in this period.

At the heart of our approach is the fundamental belief that developers should contribute towards the costs of fixing these problems. Leaseholders and residents should not have to foot the bill.