Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has released a statement confirming the government’s implementation of one of the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report, bringing responsibility for building safety and fire under a single Secretary of State
In line with the full response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report by the government, which is expected on 4 March 2025, Sir Keir made the machinery of government statement on 13 February 2025. It reads:
“I am making this statement to bring to the House’s attention the following Machinery of Government change.
“On 4 September 2024, I announced that the Government would respond in full to the Grenfell Phase 2 Inquiry report within six months. In response to one of the recommendations from the report, I am confirming today that responsibility for fire will move from the Home Office to the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG). This change will bring responsibility for building safety and fire under a single Secretary of State, providing for a more coherent approach to keeping people safe from fire in their homes. The Home Office will retain management of the Airwave Service Contract on behalf of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and will remain responsible for the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).
“This change will be effective from 1 April 2025. The Government will respond to the full report in due course.”
In his final report, Sir Martin Moore-Bick criticised the “fragmentation of responsibility” for fire safety, stating: “If a single body were responsible for all aspects of regulating matters affecting fire safety in the construction industry, that body should report to a single Secretary of State answerable to Parliament for all aspects of fire safety. That should improve the quality of government by providing an administrative environment in which information can be shared more quickly and more effectively between teams responsible for different aspects of the work and facilitate communication between the regulator and the department. It should also ensure that greater emphasis is placed on ensuring the safety of the built environment and that policy is developed in an holistic and coherent way.”
Until now, fire and rescue policy has sat with the Home Office, with Minister of State Dame Diana Johnson currently responsible for both policing and fire. The remit for building safety, including the Grenfell Tower Inquiry response, sits under the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the MHCLG, Alex Norris. As reported by Emergency Services Times, a Minister will be appointed to take responsibility for both building safety and fire when the transfer comes into effect in April.
Responding to the machinery of government change, National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) Chair, Mark Hardingham, said: “We welcome the transfer of fire and rescue to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.”
He added: “I would like to thank those we have worked with in the Home Office, including Dame Diana Johnson who held the role of Fire Minister most recently, but also former Ministers and departmental officials for their leadership, partnership, and support over the years. Their commitment to fire and rescue has been invaluable and we appreciate their contribution to strengthening the sector.”
Also welcoming the news was the general secretary for the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), Steve Wright, who said: “The Fire Brigades Union wholeheartedly welcomes this move as an important first step to repairing the damage done to the fire and rescue service by recent governments.
“We are also pleased that the government is acting promptly in response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. Our thoughts are with the bereaved, survivors, and residents of the tower, and their fight for justice.
“I look forward to working with ministers to deliver a fire and rescue service that is fit for the future, with national standards and adequate funding to tackle the growing risks we face.”