BLUE

Seb Schmoller

@sebschmoller.bsky.social

Here to learn & share. Wrote/ran TUC courses for union representatives. Ran Sheffield College's educational IT. Led ALT. Did techish consultancy. Still deeply involved in FE governance. Nearing the end of a maths degree. Politics, FE, outdoors, Sheffield.

533 followers825 following333 posts

SSsebschmoller.bsky.socialSep 4, 2024 1:28pm

'The inquiry found that the government was “well aware” of the risks posed by highly flammable cladding “but failed to act on what it knew”.' Six paragraphs in today's Guardian reporting of the Grenfell Inquiry Final Report that deserve to be widely read. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/arti...

After 400 days of evidence in an inquiry that has cost the UK taxpayer more than £200m, Moore-Bick reserved some of his most damning conclusions for central government.

Sir Martin Moore-Bick.
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Sir Martin Moore-Bick. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA
It regulates the safety of buildings but failed to tighten up ambiguous fire regulations while it was engaged in a “bonfire of red tape” launched by the Conservative prime minister David Cameron from 2010 to 2016 in an attempt to boost the economy after the global financial crisis.

The inquiry found that the government was “well aware” of the risks posed by highly flammable cladding “but failed to act on what it knew”.

Eric Pickles, Cameron’s housing secretary until 2015, had “enthusiastically supported” the prime minister’s drive to slash regulations and it dominated his department’s thinking to the extent that matters affecting fire safety and risk to life “were ignored, delayed or disregarded”, the inquiry concluded.

Eric Pickles.
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Eric Pickles. Photograph: MI News/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock
Pickles also failed to act on a coroner’s 2013 recommendation to tighten up fire safety regulations after a cladding fire at Lakanal House, another London council block, killed six people. It was “not treated with any sense of urgency”, the inquiry found and the tightening up had not happened by the time Grenfell went up in flames on 14 June 2017.

Pickles also failed to act on a coroner’s 2013 recommendation to tighten up fire safety regulations after a cladding fire at Lakanal House, another London council block, killed six people. It was “not treated with any sense of urgency”, the inquiry found and the tightening up had not happened by the time Grenfell went up in flames on 14 June 2017.

In cross-examination under oath, Pickles vehemently insisted the anti-red tape drive had not covered building regulations. But the inquiry said this evidence was “flatly contradicted by that of his officials and by the contemporaneous documents”.

Ttrickcyclist.bsky.socialSep 5, 2024 3:39pm

Cameron should be in prison for many reasons, but this is one of the bad ones.

SSsebschmoller.bsky.socialSep 4, 2024 4:12pm

It's worth noting that Eric Pickles had prior form as Conservative Leader of Bradford City Council, before he became an MP and subsequently a government minister. See: citizen-network.org/library/the-...

“£5.8 million was cut from the budget, chiefly in Education. Up went council rents, the first of two such increases within 6 months. Up went charges for leisure centres, theatre hire, car parks, school meals, home helps, meals on wheels, elderly luncheon clubs and cemeteries. Staff cuts were announced amongst repairs and maintenance workers, caretakers, teachers, creche and nursery workers, social workers and council officers. Job vacancies would remain unfilled and budgets slashed in most departments. The council's Old Peoples Homes would be sold off and Benefit Advice Centres closed. For the largely poor inhabitants of the inner city it was a terrifying package and it was only the start.”

Seb Schmoller

@sebschmoller.bsky.social

533 followers825 following333 posts