MPs hear why the government needs to prioritise a national oversight mechanism for post-Grenfell reforms

“We met with [deputy prime minister and housing secretary] Angela Rayner when she was shadow secretary of state and brought the issue of national oversight mechanism in front of her. We’ve been told by her repeatedly that we’re pushing at an open door, that this is something that’s going to happen.

“Yet, when we kind of try and actually establish a timeline for it, or a piece of legislation, it may be included in where we’re told it’s something that is likely to happen down the track, and I’m afraid that’s just simply not good enough.”

Mr Daffarn said the mechanism was needed as soon as possible and should be brought forward as part of the government’s plans for a ‘Hillsborough Law’, or in another piece of upcoming legislation.

Sir Keir Starmer’s government has promised to introduce a duty of candour law for public servants, following calls from Grenfell and Hillsborough survivors.

The legislation, to be known as the Hillsborough Law, was included in the King’s Speech in July 2024.

Two months before this promise was made at the state opening of parliament, MPs and peers had said the duty of candour law for all public bodies was needed to combat “institutional defensiveness” in public inquiries.

Speaking to committee members yesterday, Deborah Coles, executive director of Inquest, a charity that works on state-related deaths, described her disappointment that such an oversight mechanism had still not been set up.

She said: “I think it’s very clear that the bereaved and survivors want meaningful, structural change to happen, and yet the government response repeatedly referenced the need for better oversight and accountability.

“Yet the need for a more robust system to scrutinise the implementation of report recommendations they only accepted in principle. And I think that’s a real betrayal.”

As as part of its final response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the government said it will publish its own progress on the reforms every quarter from mid-2025, with an annual update given to parliament. There will also be a publicly accessible record of all public inquiry recommendations.

Changes will be phased in, the government said, with the initial stage focusing on delivering its current programme of regulatory reform.

However, Ms Coles added: “The fact is, we’re here because an inquest recommendation that followed Lakanal House was treated with utter contempt, and we cannot have this government abdicate the responsibility for ensuring that these recommendations are actually implemented without oversight of each recommendation.”

The Lakanal House fire killed six people, including three children, when it spread across several floors of the south London tower block on 3 July 2009.

Inside Housing has previously reported how the government discontinued an investigation into the fire after less than a month and before crucial questions about the reason for the rapid spread of the fire had been answered.

In addition, the Lakanal House coroner’s inquest provided several opportunities to change the system before the tragedy at Grenfell Tower. Inside Housing also previously identified three areas where those changes came too late.

Karim Khalloufi, a bereaved family member and spokesperson for the Grenfell Next of Kin group, told MPs he was happy to hear that the government had accepted the recommendations, but was concerned that the response was focusing on technical and legislative changes, and losing sight of the impact on survivors and their families.

He said: “This should be a positive legacy for our loved ones, and in order to protect future generations. What’s important now is implementing these recommendations, and following up the details in particular.

“But there were a lot of points missing from this inquiry. The most important thing that was missed was the people who were at the heart of this tragedy.

“Because I noticed that we are all speaking about technical issues, but we are forgetting the people and their experience of people. I’m also speaking about race, as 85% of the people who died were Black and brown people. And the families of these people didn’t have a lot of say in the inquiry.”

Inside Housing contributing editor Peter Apps, who won the Orwell Prize for his book Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen, explained why it is hard to keep track of whether the government is implementing recommendations when all one has to go on is its own word.

He said: “If you listen to Angela Rayner’s speech, you would probably come away with the impression that they were implementing phase-two recommendations in full, but they aren’t.”

As part of her response to phase two, Ms Rayner said: “We are acting on all of the inquiry’s findings, and today set out our full response, detailing the tough action we are taking to drive change and reform the system to ensure no community will ever have to face a tragedy like Grenfell ever again.”

However, Mr Apps added: “If you listen to the previous government speeches on phase one, you’d come away with the impression that they were implementing their recommendations in full, largely because they said they were, but they weren’t.

“The key recommendations in that, from my mind, were missing. In fact, even after Grenfell, if you’d have listened to the [Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)] press office, you’d have probably believed that they implemented the Lakanal House coroner’s inquest, because that’s what they were saying.

“You cannot leave it to departments, to officials and to ministers, to police themselves. That’s why Inquest and others have been calling for a separate body to do it. And what the government’s proposal is, as I understand it, is to effectively report to us themselves on the progress, and that relies on them telling the truth about it, which unfortunately they haven’t done.”

The MHCLG has been contacted for a response to the concerns outlined in the inquiry session.