Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report: Recommendations for Local Authorities

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry looks at the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the Grenfell Tower disaster. Phase 1 looked at the events that led up to the fire on 14 June 2017, and the Phase 1 Report was published on 30 October 2019. In September 2024, the Inquiry published its Phase 2 report, which focusses on an analysis of the events that culminated in the tragedy at Grenfell Tower (including the regulatory regime relating to the external walls of high-rise buildings), and the Inquiry’s recommendations on what should be done to prevent future similar disasters occurring in the future.

The Inquiry’s Phase 2 Report emphasises the importance of the role that local government has to play in major disaster prevention and management, and the need for authorities to have robust levels of preparedness in relation to such matters. In the Report, the Inquiry puts forward a number of specific recommendations that, in its view, local authorities should take to ensure that effective plans are in place for the future. These recommendations are entirely separate from the existing enforcement powers that local authorities currently have in relation to building safety under existing legislation such as the Housing Act 2004 and the Building Safety Act 2022.

The Inquiry’s recommendations across a number of areas relevant to local government are set out below.

Local authority building control

• Regulation of a number of functions currently overseen by a combination of MHCLG, the Home Office and the Department for Business and Trade (including the regulation and oversight of building control) should be overseen by a single independent body that the Inquiry refers to as a ‘construction regulator’;
• The Government should appoint an independent panel to consider
  • whether it is in the public interest for statutory building control functions to be performed by third parties with a commercial interest;
  • whether all building control functions should be performed by a “national authority”.

Civil Contingencies Act 2004 – local authorities as Category 1 responders

• The powers afforded to government in the 2004 Act should be reviewed with consideration given to granting a designated Secretary of State power to discharge the functions of a Category 1 responder for a period of time;
• The Regulations relating to the Act should be amended to oblige Category 1 responders to establish and maintain partnerships with voluntary, community and faith organisations for preparing for and responding to emergencies;
• The guidance on emergency preparation should be revised, condensed and consolidated into one document with regard for humanitarian considerations being made its own principle of effective response and recovery.

London Local Authority Gold Arrangements and local resilience forums

• Existing and newly-appointed Chief Executives should be given regular training to ensure familiarity with the guidance on Gold Arrangements, especially where a single borough is affected by an emergency;
• Local resilience forums should adopt national standards to ensure effective training, preparation and planning for emergencies;
• A mechanism should be introduced to independently verify the frequency and quality of training provided by local authorities.

Local authorities – post-disaster support

Authorities should:-

• Make internal arrangements for the provision of humanitarian assistance, such plans to be supported by a qualified humanitarian assistance liaison officer (or “HALO”) and regularly trialled in practice;
• Train all employees, including Chief Executives, to regard resilience as an integral part of their responsibilities;
• Devise robust methods for obtaining, electronically recording and storing information about residents who are displaced in an emergency scenario, so that the authority is able effectively to ascertain which residents have been displaced and their displaced location. These methods should be tested under a variety of different circumstances;
• Make such arrangements as are reasonably practicable to place people in temporary accommodation at short notice and in ways that meets their personal, religious and cultural requirements;
• Include, in their contingency plans, arrangements for providing immediate financial assistance to people affected by an emergency;
• Give detailed consideration to the availability and role of key workers, so that suitable contingency arrangements can be made to ensure continuity of support in an emergency scenario;
• Make arrangements to ensure that they are able to communicate effectively with those affected by an emergency, using suitable technology and a range of languages appropriate for the area;
• Ensure that arrangements are in place for providing clear information to the public, using modern methods of communication that are most appropriate for their area of operation.

If you need further information in relation to this, please contact Steve Eccles.