The government is creating a stronger and more effective regulatory framework to improve building safety.

This will mean tougher sanctions for those who disregard residents’ safety, more rigorous standards and guidance for those undertaking building work, and a stronger voice for residents.

The plans outlined today (Tuesday 18 December) explain how the government will implement the recommendations made by Dame Judith Hackitt in her review of building regulations and fire safety published following the Grenfell Tower fire.

Building a Safer Future, commits the government to a programme of reform over the coming years which will:

• Take forward all of the recommendations in the Hackitt review
• Create a more effective regulatory and accountability framework to provide greater oversight of the industry
• Introduce clearer standards and guidance, including establishing a new Standards Committee to advise on construction product and system standards and regulations
• Put residents at the heart of the new system of building safety, empowering them with more effective routes for engagement and redress
• Help to create a culture change and a more responsible building industry, from design, through to construction and management

The government will establish the Joint Regulators’ Group to trial elements of a new regulatory system ahead of any new proposed legislation. The group will bring existing regulatory bodies together to work with developers and building owners, as well as seeking input from residents and tenants, to develop and test new approaches that may later feature in legislation.

In addition to setting out its plans to implement the changes called for by Dame Judith Hackitt, a full review of fire safety guidance within building regulations has also been launched. The government has issued a ‘call for evidence’ that will gather expert advice on the full range of fire safety issues to enable guidance to be revised. The government is also inviting views from residents and those who manage buildings on how to improve fire and structural safety. Residents and building owners are invited to identify the best ways of working together to meet safety responsibilities and to share existing good practice.

Secretary of State for Communities, Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said:

There is nothing more important than being safe in your own home and I am determined to improve building safety.

My plan for stronger, tougher rules will make sure there is no hiding place for those who flout building safety rules.

By making people responsible and more accountable for safety, we will create a more rigorous system so residents will always have peace of mind that they are safe in their own homes.

A Written Ministerial Statement supporting today’s announcement and providing further details has been published alongside a full implementation plan.

The Joint Regulators Group’ will comprise key regulators and partners – Local Authority Building Control, The National Fire Chiefs Council, the Health & Safety Executive, the Local Government Association which includes the fire and rescue authorities, and others as required.

Since the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017, the government has:

• Published the Social Housing Green Paper looking at improving the lives of those living in social housing.
• Identified buildings with unsafe aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding and ensured there are appropriate interim safety measures in place until the cladding is replaced.
• Committed up to £400 million to fully fund the replacement of unsafe cladding on high-rise social housing properties.
• Incentivised remediation by supporting local authorities to take decisive enforcement action where remediation plans for high-rise buildings with unsafe ACM cladding are unclear. This includes offering financial support where this is necessary to enable them to carry out emergency remedial work on affected private residential buildings with unsafe ACM cladding.
• Announced a ban on the use of combustible materials on the external walls of high-rise residential buildings. The regulations were laid in parliament on 29 November 2018 and are due to come into force on 21 December 2018.
• Welcomed the industry formation of the Competence Steering Group.
• Launched an Early Adopters’ Group, made up of developers and building owners to improve building safety now and drive the change in culture within the industry.
• Commenced an investigation into the fire door industry and intervened in the composite fire door market to remove unsafe products from sale.
• Issued advice notes to building owners and those responsible to make sure residents are safe now and in the future, including an addendum to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) operating guidance, providing specific guidance on the assessment of high-rise residential buildings with unsafe cladding.

Review of building regulations and fire safety

Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of building regulations and fire safety was published on 17 May 2018. Dame Judith Hackitt said in her review:

This new regulatory regime needs to change the culture and mindset of those people and businesses involved in the design, construction, maintenance and operation of certain buildings so that they take proper ownership of the potential building safety risks and provide intelligent leadership in managing and controlling those risks (rather than being told by government what to do).

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Not all greenery is festive – that’s the reminder from the Environment Agency this Christmas, after teams have removed more than 1,000 tonnes of highly-invasive floating pennywort from river networks in the Anglian region.

More than 500 tonnes were removed from the Bedford Ouse, 400 tonnes from the River Cam, and 200 tonnes from the Ely Ouse.

The teams have also tackled 50 new patches that appeared this year on the River Witham between Lincoln and Chapel Hill.

It’s part of a sustained attack on the non-native species this winter that sees the EA working with partners, contractors, local communities and volunteer groups to clear the plant – even by hand, when necessary.

Floating pennywort forms dense mats that can affect oxygen levels in the water, crowd and kill off native wildlife, and damage habitat. It can become so prolific that boaters, anglers and others can’t use the waterway, and it even clogs sluices, weirs and drains, potentially increasing flood risk.

The plant is notoriously difficult to control – it can grow up to 25cm a day in the right conditions and even a small fragment can re-grow into a new plant.

But the Environment Agency is continuing to battle the weed this winter. On the Great Ouse, teams with weedboats are harvesting and removing the pennywort onto the banks, where it can compost down safely and naturally.

Volunteers from local fishing, canoeing and boating groups are also chipping in by removing rafts of the weed with their hands, nets and bin bags.

Removal efforts will continue into the spring, and the Environment Agency is appealing to anglers, boaters and others who spend time on or near the water to report any patches they see – and to take precautions to avoid spreading it.

Paul Separovic, team leader at the Environment Agency said:

Floating pennywort can cause damage to our natural habitat, threaten our native ecology, and prevent people from enjoying pastimes that bring them closer to nature, like fishing, boating and canoeing.

That’s why we’re reminding people to help us stop the spread of this aquatic invader – make sure to check, clean and dry your clothes and equipment thoroughly after being in the water, and report sightings to us on 0800 80 70 60.

We’d like to thank our partner organisations, local communities, and especially the dedicated volunteers who go out of their way to help with removing the weed.

If we all do our parts, we can help protect our natural environment for people and wildlife into the future.

Environment Agency officers’ long-term plan of attack involves working methodically down the rivers to clear the weed, and revisiting and double-checking previously cleared stretches. As well as advancing the frontline, the teams also tidy up riverbanks so there’s less for the floating pennywort to cling to, which will help reduce its spread.

Learn more about invasive species – and how you can help stop the spread – on the Non-native Species Secretariat’s website.

In July, I made a statement setting out headline conclusions from six months of work on the Modernising Defence Programme (MDP). Since then, work has continued apace. Firstly, I would like to welcome the extra £1.8 billion of funding for Defence, including the additional £1 billion that was in last month’s Budget.

Today, I want to provide an update on the MDP, and set out the work that will be ongoing. I have placed a full report on the MDP in the library of the House.

First, I should put the MDP into context.

The 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review was the right plan for Defence at that time. The Government put the Defence budget on a firmer footing, increasing throughout the life of the Parliament. Defence is much stronger as a result of that. NATO is growing in strength and the UK is a leader. More allies are meeting the 2 per cent spending guideline, or have developed plans to do so. We are the second largest defence spender in NATO, one of only a small number of allies to spend 2 per cent of our GDP on defence, and invest 20 per cent of that in upgrading equipment.

We can be proud of what we have achieved since 2015. But we have to also be vigilant. National security challenges have become more complex, intertwined and dangerous since 2015 and these threats are moving much faster than anticipated.

Persistent, aggressive state competition now characterises the international security context. In response to the growing threats the MDP was launched in January.

And, in the last year, our Armed Forces have demonstrated their growing capability, engaged globally, and supported the prosperity of the UK. The Royal Navy has increased its mass and points of presence around the world. We have taken steps to forward base the Army, enhancing our global posture. The Royal Air Force has continued to innovate, and has celebrated a proud past its RAF100 years since its creation. Progress has also made in cyber and space, as the changing character of warfare makes both domains increasingly important. We have reinforced the UK’s position as a leading voice in NATO and on European security. And, our Armed Forces have led the way for Global Britain, tackling our adversaries abroad to protect our security at home and nurturing enduring relationships with our allies and partners.

Through the work over the past year the MDP has identified three broad priorities, supported by the additional £1.8 billion invested in Defence.

Firstly, we will mobilise, making more of what we already have to make our current force more lethal and better able to protect our security.

The UK already has a world-leading array of capabilities. We will make the most effective use of them.

We will improve the readiness and availability of a range of key Defence platforms: major warships, attack submarines, helicopters and a range of ISTAR platforms. We are adjusting our overseas training and deployments to increase our global points of presence, better to support allies and influence adversaries.

To improve the combat effectiveness of our Force, we will re-prioritise the current Defence programme to increase weapon stockpiles. And we are accelerating work to assure the resilience of our Defence systems and capabilities.

We can mobilise a full spectrum of military, economic and soft power capabilities. And, where necessary and appropriate we will make sure we are able to act independently.

We will also enhance efforts with our allies and partners, aligning our plans more closely with them, acting as part of combined formations, developing combined capabilities, and burden-sharing. And we continue to invest in, and grow, our global network of Defence personnel and the education and training we offer in the UK and overseas.

Secondly, we will modernise, embracing new technologies to assure our competitive edge

Our adversaries and competitors are accelerating the development of new capabilities and strategies. We must keep pace, and conceive of our joint force as consisting of five domains, air, land, sea, cyber and space, rather than the traditional three.

We must modernise, targeting priority areas. A major new step will involve improved Joint Forces Command that will be in a better position so that defence can play a major role in preventing conflict in the future and improve our cyber operations and capabilities across the armed forces but also across government as well.

This year Defence’s Innovation Fund put £20 million towards projects in areas including unmanned air systems, virtual reality training, and enhanced digital communications for the Future Commando Force. The fund will grow to £50 million next financial year, increasing the scope, ambition and value of the projects it can support.

We will launch new ‘Spearhead’ innovation programmes that will apply cutting-edge technologies to areas including sub-surface threats to our submarines, our intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability, and command and control in the Land Environment as well.

And to drive innovation and change through the Department I am launching a Transformation Fund. Next year, I will ring-fence £160 million of MOD’s budget to create this fund available for innovative new military capabilities. I will look to make a further £340 million available as part of the Spending Review. This fund will be available for new innovative military capabilities which allows us to stay one step ahead of our adversaries.

Together these and other steps will enable the acceleration of our modernisation plans.

Thirdly, we will transform, radically changing the way we do business in Defence.

We need to improve markedly the way we run Defence. To sustain strategic advantage in a fast-changing world, we must be able and capable of continuous and timely adaptation. We will embrace modern business practices and establish a culture that nurtures transformation and innovation.

We also need to create financial headroom for modernisation. Based on our work to date, we expect to achieve over the next decade the very demanding efficiency targets we were set in 2015, including through investment in a programme of digital transformation.

We will develop a comprehensive strategy to improve recruitment and retention of talent, better reflecting the expectations of the modern workforce. We will access more effectively the talents of our ‘Whole Force’ across all three Services, Regulars, Reserves, Civil Service and industrial partners.

Looking ahead, dealing effectively with persistent conflict and competition will increasingly hinge on smarter, better informed long-range strategy. To help achieve these goals we will establish a permanent Net Assessment Unit, as well as a Defence Policy Board of external experts, to bring challenge to Defence policy and to Defence strategy.

Our achievements under the MDP have made Defence stronger. The capability investments and policy approaches set out, with the £1.8 billion worth of Defence funding, will help us keep on track to deliver the right UK Defence for the challenging decade ahead.

Without a shadow of a doubt, there is more work to be done as we move towards next year’s Spending Review. We must sustain this momentum if we are to realise our long-term goals of increasing the lethality, reach and mass of our Armed Forces. I will do everything within my power to make sure that the UK remains a Tier-One military power in the decade ahead, and that we continue to deliver the strong defence and security that has been the hallmark of the government.

I commend this statement to the House.

The Modernising Defence Programme

A man who violently robbed a vulnerable victim has today been jailed after the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP, referred his sentence for being too low.

Tommy Tremayne, 26, had been drunk and behaving aggressively on the day of the attack, and had already been spoken to by the police. His victim, a man with learning difficulties, fled when Tremayne demanded money from him. The offender then chased him down, before the victim tripped and fell. While he was on the floor, Tremayne punched him, and bit off the top of his ear, leaving the victim with a permanent deformity.

Tremayne was originally sentenced in October to a 2 year community order at Taunton Crown Court. Today, his sentence has been increased to 3 years and 4 months immediate imprisonment.

Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General said:

“Tremayne had already been warned about his aggressive behaviour by police. Despite this he made no effort to moderate himself, ultimately resulting in his terrorising of a vulnerable victim. I am pleased that the Court of Appeal today decided that a custodial sentence is a more appropriate reflection of this crime.”

We have enhanced our Civil Claim Fix service to include ‘case outcomes’.

This means case outcome rejects can be added to the challenges which the Civil Claim Fix service can consider.

It is important to remember that case outcomes need to be submitted in advance of claims to ensure prompt payment.

When to make a challenge

Challenges will be considered by the Civil Claim Fix service where you believe we have:

• rejected a civil claim incorrectly

• rejected an ‘outcome’ incorrectly

• asked for information already provided or not required in a ‘document request’ on a civil claim or outcome

When emailing Civil Claim Fix you need to set out your reasons clearly and include any relevant supporting evidence.

Guidance to help you

There is guidance available to help you avoid a reject or request for further information. This includes:

1. Civil Finance electronic handbook – for information required with your claim

2. Advanced billing guides – these are on the Client and Cost Management System (CCMS) website and detail the processes to follow when submitting your claim

The billing guides include one which deals with how to report any financial award to the client.

Further information

LAACivilClaimFix@justice.gov.uk – to contact our Civil Claim Fix team

Legal aid guidance – scroll to ‘Civil Finance electronic handbook’ under ‘Other guidance’

CCMS website: closing cases and submitting bills – scroll down to ‘Advanced Billing Guides’

Published 18 December 2018