MHCLG to take over fire risk brief from Home Office under post-Grenfell reforms

The government will move responsibility for fire safety from the Home Office to the housing department as part of its response to the Grenfell Inquiry’s final report.

Keir Starmer said in a written statement late last week that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), headed by deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, would take over the brief as part of a “more coherent approach to keeping people safe from fire in their homes”.

The promise is a step towards fulfilling one of the recommendations in the Grenfell Inquiry’s final report, which called for building safety responsibilities to be consolidated under a single secretary of state.

The report, published in September last year, criticised the “dispersed” responsibilities for building safety under the current regime since the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people in 2017.

The Home Office is the current home of fire risk assessment, with the Building Safety Regulator contained within the Department of Work and Pensions and the construction products regulator within MHCLG.

>> See also: Government setting up new cladding remediation enforcement unit

The move has been “wholeheartedly” welcomed by the Fire Brigades Union, which said it was an “important first step to repairing the damage done to the fire and rescue service by recent governments”.

It was also welcomed by the National Fire Chiefs Council, which said fire and rescue services had faced “considerable challenges” implementing reforms since the Grenfell Tower fire.

Starmer has previously said he would respond to the report’s 58 recommendations in full by 4 March.

The move of fire risk assessment responsibilities to MHCLG is part of a broader recommendation to create a single ‘super-regulator’ for the entire construction industry within one department.

Industry experts have said Starmer is likely to support the recommendation in principle but take a more gradual approach to the change which could be tied into a five-year review of the Building Safety Regulator, which is due in 2027.