We have all been appalled at the horrific death toll, injury and loss caused by the fire in Grenfell Tower. The Government must ensure that they do all they can to reassure people living in high-rise blocks, including student accommodation, that they are safe from fire. This requires providing the funding for local authorities to carry out inspections of cladding on every one of their tower blocks and to remove the cladding if found to be combustible - all within a specified timeframe.

On Wednesday 28 June 2017 I submitted a series of written Parliamentary Questions to Ministers to ask if the Government will cover the additional cost for councils to carry out checks on tower blocks, to publish the review of building regulations which has been delayed since the Lakanal House fire inquest ruling in 2013, and to examine the Government's record on funding for the Fire Brigade since 2010.

Full list of questions:

Response due from Government - 4 and 5 July 2017

• To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if his department will give councils the resources to conduct cladding inspections on blocks over seven stories and to remove cladding if necessary within specified timescales.
  
  
• To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if his department will instruct local authorities to retrofit sprinklers in high-rise blocks and provide the funding for this.
  
  
• To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when his department will publish the review of Part B of the Building Regulations following the Lakanal House fire inquest in 2013.
  
  
• To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if his department will create a requirement to upload records of fire safety inspections and refurbishments undertaken to a centrally monitored database, on a) local authorities, b) housing associations, and c) private landlords.
  
  
• To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when the last fire safety inspections were undertaken in student accommodation blocks in a) the London Borough of Southwark and b) in London.
  
  
• To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding has been given to the Fire Brigade in each of the last 7 years, a) in the London Borough of Southwark, and b) in London.
  
  
• To ask the Secretary of Statefor the Home Department what number of firefighters were employed in each of the last 7 years, a) in the London Borough of Southwark, and b) in London.

You can follow my tweets on the issue of Grenfell Tower and fire safety on @harrietharman

You can follow my
tweets on the issue of Grenfell Tower and fire safety on @harrietharman