Select committee chair demands urgent answers from housing minister on RAAC

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The chair of a cross-party committee of MPs has written to the Housing Minister to request an update on the government’s assessment of risk from Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in residential buildings.

In his letter, Clive Betts, chair of the levelling up, housing and communities committee, asked Lee Rowley what the department’s current assessment of RAAC risk is in both residential and non-domestic buildings.

This was one of several questions, including a request for details of the latets gudiance to local authorities, information about the funding avaulable for RAA risk mitigation and for an update on what the government is doing to identiy and mitigate risks.

Betts said that given the “urgency of these matters” he would like a response before parliment’s recess on Tuesday.

Betts said: “There are well-publicised concerns about the use of RAAC in public buildings such as schools and hospitals but there is also concern about the use of RAAC in housing.

“It’s important the government spells out its assessment of the risk in residential buildings, in social housing and local authorities’ estates and what guidance it is giving to residents and landlords on the risk of RAAC.”

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