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Seven organisations could be banned from government contracts following their role in the Grenfell Tower disaster.
Ministers announced on Wednesday that they would investigate the seven firms, with a view to a future debarment, as part of the government’s response to the Grenfell inquiry into the 2017 tragedy.
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner accepted all 58 of the inquiry’s recommendations saying the Grenfell fire was a “deadly betrayal, a national tragedy, that must never happen again”.
A damning final report into the disaster, published last September, found that 72 people died due to decades of failure by governments and the construction industry.
The tower, in Kensington, west London, had been coated in flammable materials because of the “systematic dishonesty” of firms who made and sold the cladding and insulation, inquiry chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick concluded.
Ministers have now set out plans to bring hefty fines and sanctions against manufacturers and others that breach safety regulations, as well as prison time for company executives.
The proposals, which will be consulted on, propose a “penalty regime, including fines based on company revenue, and powers to limit individuals’ activity in industry” for those who break the rules.
Ms Rayner slammed the “blatant dishonesty and greed” of the companies responsible for the flammable materials that incased Grenfell Tower.
She said “their disgraceful mercenary behaviour put profit before people … to evade accountability with fatal consequences”.
Ms Rayner said that in future “rogue companies will be held to account”, and that the government has proposed “prison time for executives who break the rules and unlimited fines where safety is put at risk”.
In a written statement, published after Ms Rayner’s comments, the government said it intended to immediately investigate Arconic Architectural Products SAS, Saint-Gobain Construction Products UK Limited, Exova (UK) Limited, Harley Facades Limited, Kingspan Insulation Limited, Rydon Maintenance Limited, and Studio E Architects Limited.
Some of these firms provided materials used on the exterior of Grenfell Tower, others were part of the refurbishment of the Tower before the deadly fire.
These new civil powers will sit alongside criminal powers that already exist, which allow criminal charges to be brought against individuals and companies for health and safety offences or manslaughter.
The Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service have said that no charges will be announced until late 2026 because of the increasing “scale and complexity” of their investigation.
As of May last year, 19 organisations and 58 people were being investigated by police over the Grenfell Tower fire.
The government also plans to set up a single regulator for construction, something that was suggested by the inquiry. Fire safety will also be brought under one government department, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Responding to Ms Rayner’s comments in the Commons, shadow housing secretary Kevin Hollinrake said that the “pace must quicken” in the criminal investigation.
He said that the government’s proposed reforms were a “promising start” but said “it must deliver real accountability”.
