News correspondent
Seven organisations will be investigated over the Grenfell Tower disaster and all 58 recommendations of a public inquiry will be met, the government says.
Those organisations could be prevented from bidding for public contracts, while two existing bodies will be merged to form a single building safety regulator as part of the changes.
The government has also backed a new “Hillsborough Law”, which would create a legal duty for public authorities to tell the truth and be transparent.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said it will only begin implementing the changes from 2028. It is already working on a list of reforms to building safety, which came from the cladding crisis following Grenfell.
The fire in the west London tower block killed 72 people in 2017, the inquiry found all their deaths were avoidable.
Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said the Grenfell Inquiry had “exposed in stark and devastating detail the shocking industry behaviour and wider failures that led to the fire, and the deep injustices endured by the bereaved, survivors, and residents”.
“We are acting on all of the Inquiry’s findings, and today set out our full response, detailing the tough action we are taking to drive change and reform the system to ensure no community will ever have to face a tragedy like Grenfell ever again.
“That means greater accountability, stronger regulation, and putting residents at the heart of decision-making. We must deliver the fundamental change required. We owe that to the Grenfell community, to the country, and to the memory of those who lost their lives,” she added.
The inquiry report found the fire was the result of a chain of failures by governments, “dishonest” companies and the fire service, which lacked a strategy for dealing with high rise cladding fires.
The government’s role in failing to regulate safety in the construction industry became apparent early in the Grenfell inquiry and during the hearings it apologised for its “past failures in relation to the oversight of the system that regulated safety in the construction and refurbishment of high rise buildings.”
Wednesday’s announcement is part of a continuing effort to strengthen the regulations and oversight of construction.
The seven organisations will be investigated for professional misconduct using powers under the Procurement Act passed in 2023.
On Wednesday, the government published a new Construction Products Reform Green Paper setting out possible penalties for companies found to have breached safety obligations.
These include fines based on the company’s revenue and powers to limit individuals being involved in the industry.
However, officials will not currently say if these penalties will be applied retrospectively. The failures which led to the Grenfell fire happened in the years before its refurbishment in 2016.
Ministers are also promising a new single construction regulator will improve standards in the industry.
In a rapid series of reforms since the fire, the Conservatives set up both a Building Safety Regulator and a National Regulator for Construction Products.
Sir Martin Moore-Bick, the chairman of the Grenfell Inquiry, recommended there should be just one body.
The government will effectively merge the existing ones into a single regulator in what the housing ministry described as further “sweeping construction, building and fire safety reforms”.
These are likely to introduce new rules on the testing of specific construction products.
The Grenfell disaster was caused by the use of highly flammable cladding backed by insulation which also contributed to the spread of the fire.
Manufacturers either concealed evidence of the risks their products posed or made false and misleading claims, the inquiry found.
The housing ministry wants to create stronger enforcement of safety standards but also force the construction industry to be more transparent and take responsibility to ensure a fire like Grenfell does not happen again.
The London Fire Brigade failed to respond to the rapid spread of the fire at Grenfell due to poor training and a lack of guidance about how to deal with flammable cladding.
The government is setting up a new College of Fire and Rescue later this year to “improve the training and professionalism of firefighters”.
Another finding of the inquiry was that Grenfell was inspected by a fire risk assessor who lacked the necessary training and experience. The government will bring in certification for assessors.
The government will provide an update on its work to meet the Grenfell recommendations every three months as part of an attempt to beef up the impact of public inquiry findings.
The MHCLG has now taken over responsibility for fire safety from the Home Office and says it will support both the continuing police investigation and plans for a memorial which will replace the tower once it is dismantled in two years’ time.
