Companies in Grenfell Inquiry report warned they will lose government contracts

He added: “After the inquiry published its findings we have seen a disappointing lack of remorse, apology or accountability from the organisations and individuals who failed in their duties.”

The report named Celotex, Kingspan and Arconic as corporates that supplied the materials for the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower with combustible cladding in 2015-16, stating that they engaged in “systematic dishonesty” by manipulating testing processes and misleading the market.

Lord Khan said that “lessons will be learned” from the 2017 fire, which killed 72 people. He said Sir Martin’s report was “difficult to read” and prompted “renewed shock and horror at the lack of competence, lack of professionalism, lack of oversight, lack of integrity, and in some cases downright dishonesty in those we trusted to keep us safe in our homes”.

“The government understands the criticisms that were levelled at the state,” Lord Khan said. “I want to say again how deeply sorry that I am, and this government is, for the failures that led to the tragedy and how the Grenfell community were treated in the aftermath.”

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the government will respond to the report’s recommendations in full within six months.

“We are committed to unequivocal reform, system-wide reform, government and regulatory reform and, of course, justice,” Lord Khan added. A Metropolitan Police investigation into the fire is ongoing with the aim of informing criminal prosecutions.

Lord Khan also addressed the nationwide issue of building safety remediation sparked by the 2017 fire. Of the 4,834 residential buildings 11 metres or taller with unsafe cladding being monitored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 1,436 (30%) have completed remediation, 983 (20%) have started remediation, but 2,415 (50%) have still not started remediation.

“We must go further, faster,” Lord Khan said. “Investment in remediation will rise to over £1bn in 2025-26 and we have previously committed to accelerating the pace of remediation through targeted measures. I am pleased to say that more on this will be outlined imminently.”

The minister said that social housing is “a vital part of this country’s housing stock, but it must be better”. He confirmed that the government will introduce “greater professionalism in the sector” by bringing forward a new competence and conduct regulatory standard for social housing staff and press on with a new access to information requirement for tenants.

Speaking for the Conservatives, Baroness Sanderson of Welton said: “Such was the scale of the failure that led to Grenfell, I’m afraid there was never going to be a quick fix.”

She argued that the government must set up a mechanism to respond to the report’s recommendations.

“When something has gone very badly wrong, we rightly spend an awful lot of time and money on public inquiries to address that injustice… yet there is no formal monitoring of the implementation of inquiry recommendations,” she said.

“At best, this leads to frustration for those involved. At worst, it means that the chances to stop future disasters occurring are missed.”

Sir Martin concluded that it should be made a legal requirement for the government to maintain a publicly accessible record of recommendations made by select committees, coroners and public inquiries, with a description of steps taken in response.

He also recommended that the responsibility for fire safety, currently exercised by MHCLG, the Home Office and the Department for Business, should be brought into one department under a single secretary of state.

“Of all Sir Martin’s recommendations, my personal view is that this would be one of the hardest to implement,” Baroness Sanderson said. “Government is not good at overcoming siloes and there is specialist knowledge particular to each department”.

She continued: “That said, given the comprehensive way in which the system failed, this would not only address some important practical issues, it would help to re-establish what should have been a given but which somehow got lost along the years… the fact that fire safety really matters.”

She also raised “the decision that will have to be taken on the tower itself”.

“This is a hugely sensitive issue and we need to work towards a fitting memorial” with the bereaved and the community “at the heart of the process”, she added.

Crossbencher Lord Best raised the fact that in the run-up to the fire, the views of Grenfell residents, “their insider knowledge and understanding, and indeed their warnings about safety were all largely ignored and dismissed by the managing body”.

Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Pidgeon noted that housing associations had been unable to access previous government building safety funding “as to do so meant they had to basically show their organisation was bankrupt”.

“Our social housing sector… needs support to ensure that their housing is made safe quickly for tenants and leaseholders,” she said.