Pre-legislative scrutiny of the Building Safety Bill

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Contents

Summary

Introduction

Background

Structure of the draft Bill

Our inquiry

General Observations

Support for policy intention behind the draft Bill

Reliance on secondary legislation

Transition to new regime

1 Leaseholders and the building safety charge

Background

Remediation of historical safety defects

Leaseholder liability

Responsibility for funding remediation

Building safety charge

Separation of building safety charge from service charge

2 The Building Safety Regulator

Scope of the regime

Meaning of “higher-risk building”

Definition of “building safety risk” (clause 16)

Duties and functions of the regulator

Inclusion of property protection among the regulator’s objectives

Duty to establish system for giving of building safety information (clause 8)

Duty to establish and maintain a Building Advisory Committee, a Committee on Industry Competence and a Residents’ Panel (clauses 9, 10 and 11)

Operation and funding of the Building Safety Regulator

Is it right to establish the Building Safety Regulator within the Health and Safety Executive?

How should the regulator be funded?

3 Design and construction

Industry competence

Dutyholder regime

Role of principal designer

Access to professional indemnity insurance

Accreditation and registration

Gateway process

Building Control Reform

Removal of dutyholder choice of building control body in respect of higher-risk buildings

Conflict of interest arising from the BSR’s dual role

Registration of building control professionals

4 Occupation

Accountable person

Background

Identifying the accountable person

Relationship between accountable person and responsible person (Fire Safety Order)

Residents as accountable persons

Duty to prevent a major incident (clause 73)

The safety case report (clause 74)

Building Safety Manager

Role of the building safety manager

Competence framework

Accreditation and registration

Access to professional indemnity insurance (building safety manager)

Sanctions regime for accountable persons and building safety managers

Residents

Resident engagement

Access to dwellings

Electrical safety in occupation

5 Construction Products and Supplementary Provisions

Construction products (clause 110 and Schedule 8)

Product testing

Third-party certification

Product testing (capacity and resources)

Product testing (combination of products)

Definition of “safety-critical” products: field of application and product families

Designation of European technical assessments

Designation of European harmonised standards

Miscellaneous provisions

Removal of the democratic filter

New Homes Ombudsman

Architects

Conclusions and recommendations

Annex: Technical and minor issues

Formal minutes

Witnesses

Published written evidence

List of Reports from the Committee during the current Parliament