RBKC commits to drive up standards in response to Grenfell Inquiry report

The Council has already accepted the Inquiry’s findings, which included that the Council’s Building Control department failed to perform its statutory function of ensuring that the design of the Grenfell Tower refurbishment complied with the Building Regulations.

The Inquiry Panel also found significant failings in the way the Council responded in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy in terms of both leadership and governance. There was a breakdown in its relationship with residents.

Since September, through a series of public meetings, drop-in sessions and in writing, the bereaved, survivors and residents alike have all aired their views on how the Council should respond to the Inquiry. Public meetings have been independently facilitated by the Right Reverend James Jones KBE.  

Council’s response

The Council’s response comes 12 weeks after the Inquiry Panel’s final report was published and includes:

*commissioning a review of the culture within the Council, examining questions of discrimination and how residents are treated 

*an end-to-end review of the complaints process  

*establishing an independent Advisory Panel of bereaved family members, survivors and residents alongside independent experts in social housing, safety, customer service and organisational change   

*extending an existing ban on contractors implicated in the Grenfell Inquiry 

*setting up a new corporate resident procurement panel to give residents a genuine voice in selecting and managing contracts, with training provided  

*supporting all staff in Building Control to complete professional accreditation and training  

*training staff to regard resilience and emergency response as part of their core responsibilities and including specific resilience responsibilities in all senior officer job descriptions   

Changes post-June 2017

Since the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the Council has brought housing services back in-house to build a more direct relationship with residents. It has also strengthened its resilience team, working with communities to ensure that the organisation is better prepared for emergencies.

Further, the Council has put safety at the heart of its £374 million capital programme with a dedicated in-house fire safety team and implemented the Phase 1 recommendations from the Inquiry report.

*Read the response in full on the Council’s Committee pages. View the Leader’s speech to full Council on Wednesday 27 November and watch the Council meeting in its entirety on YouTube