Grenfell public inquiry not to deal with wider social housing policy

The public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire will examine the actions of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea but will not deal with broader questions of social housing policy, the government has said.

The decision to not include social housing policy in the terms of reference was taken by the inquiry chair, Martin Moore-Bick, but added that the prime minister was determined that questions relating to the issue would not be seen as a lower priority.

The full terms of reference on the inquiry, which begins soon, are: the design, construction and refurbishment of Grenfell Tower; the scope and adequacy of the relevant regulations relating to high-rise buildings; whether the relevant legislation and guidance were complied with in the case of Grenfell; the actions of the local authority and other bodies before the tragedy; the response of the London fire brigade to the fire; and the response of central and local government in the aftermath.

Campaign groups said they were pleased the the remit had been extended beyond the cause of the fire in west London and why it spread so fast, but expressed concerns that it did not go far enough.

Yvette Williams, from Justice4Grenfell, said: “He [Moore-Blick] is not looking at the broader social issues for one, which we think is majorly central to this situation, and if he goes on with no community advisory rep, we would have a lot to say about that.”

Labour said it would call for an amendment to the terms or reference and accused May of trying to “hoodwink the public” by suggesting people would still get answers to key questions about social housing policy.

Diane Abbott, shadow home secretary, said: “Yes of course the actions and inactions of the Kensington and Chelsea council should be rigorously scrutinised – they have been a disgrace. But it wasn’t the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea who changed the fire and building regulations. It isn’t Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea that is failing to build social and council housing across the country. It is this government which has created a climate of hostility towards all immigrants, and those perceived to be immigrants even when they have been born here.”

May said she was ‘determined that the broader questions raised by this fire - including around social housing - are not left unanswered’.

Matt Wrack, the head of the Fire Brigades Union, has criticised the failure to have the inquiry look at its social and political context.

He said: "The prime minister was subject to severe criticism in the days after the fire. Since then, we have seen the start of a campaign to protect the government and place the blame anywhere else, anywhere but Whitehall.

"How is it remotely possible to seriously examine the causes, spread and results of the fire without examining ‘social, economic and political’ matters?

"The risk in Moore-Bick’s terms of reference is that the inquiry is able to avoid probing deeper to examine the regime which allowed these deaths to happen, conveniently taking the spotlight off government ministers and any policies that were or weren’t in place that may have had an impact."

He said investigations by the fire service and police could answer questions about how the fire started and spread, as well as who signed off work on the building.

He added: “These are all essential parts of the jigsaw. But they miss crucial questions. Firefighters attending the incident were initially struck by the fact that a fire of that nature was impossible. If the agency responsible believes a fire on this scale to be so impossible that it has made no plans to react on such a scale, Moore-Bick is missing a blatantly obvious question: how could this even happen?”