Grenfell inquiry will NOT be including broader context and attitudes towards social housing tenants.

[HelenaDove]

Statement from Emma Dent Coad.

kensingtonlabour.com/2017/08/15/grenfell-inquiry-terms-of-reference/amp/

The general attitudes towards tenants are part of the problem. Yet its not to be included?!

The broader the enquiry the easier it is to bury stuff. More than one enquiry is the answer.

Ive never claimed to know all the answers. The main point of these boards are to stimulate discussion..........yes. Whether MNers choose to partake or not is entirely up to individual users of the site.

Of course the secondary point here is that articles , tweets, timelines etc to do with Grenfell all get logged in one place so are easier for any interested parties to find should they wish to.

And there are also plenty of people who lurk and dont post.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/23/grenfell-british-media-divide

Good god we all have news feeds why the cutting and pasting?
There are those out there who will not be satisfied until this enquiry is being lead by Jeremy Corbyn with a pre-determined outcome that it was all thatchers fault. I exaggerate a little, but not that much. The cause of public safety is not served by this nonsense. The terms look entirely appropriate for a JUDICIAL enquiry

"For every Grenfell action blog that we find there will be many more that we dont"

Jon Snow.

twitter.com/jonsnowC4/status/900431375387557891

Helena If the residents were simply assigned properties, I'm sure there would be complaints about the lack of choice. I'm a retired housing worker.

They would have to consider whether any places offered were near their workplaces or childrens schools.

Of course there would, Gran22. I think there would be complaints whatever the council did, to be honest.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41037805

"A teenager who sat her chemistry GCSE the day after she escaped from the Grenfell Tower fire has been awarded an A grade in the subject.
Ines Alves, who lived on the 13th floor, fled the blazing block holding her chemistry notes and sat the exam in the clothes she left in.
Speaking at her school in Hammersmith, the 16-year-old said she was "quite happy" with her grades.
She also gained top marks in maths and Spanish.
The teenager now plans to study chemistry, maths, economics and sociology when she starts her A-levels later this year.

In the days after the fire, Ines missed exams in history, RE and physics which has affected her overall grades."

Cathf they are just trying to get on with their lives. And this

Helena, I appreciate your collation of information on the subject. I also find the lack of interest of others depressing but not surprising given the demographic of this site. Jon Snow was spot on with his observations of the class divide.

I also find the displays of defensiveness and criticism of the left-wing view kind of puzzling; it just pangs of guilty conscience.

It will be like Hillsborough, mark my words.

Research project to identify and expose the legal gaps exposed by the Grenfell fire.

nearlylegal.co.uk/2017/08/research-project-identify-expose-legal-gaps-exposed-grenfell-fire/

It will be like Hillsborough, mark my words
Yes.

Noted too that May wouldn't allow a public enquiry into the Battle of Orgreave this year. Related accountability issues arise.

But Grenfell will not be allowed to be swept under the carpet.

Jon Snow speaking on the talented children and young people who died in it.

In April this year, I was involved, alongside Bill Gates, in judging a schools debating competition in London. I was there to judge the best floor speech. I had little difficulty in deciding – the winner was Firdows Hashim, a remarkably poised, headscarf-wearing 12-year-old from west London. She was confident, and used language beautifully. Two months later, reporting from Grenfell, I spotted a picture of Firdows on a missing poster

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/23/grenfell-british-media-divide.

Two weeks ago it was confirmed that the remains of Firdows and her father had been found in their flat, their identities confirmed using DNA. Firdows has been described as “the most intelligent, wise and eloquent girl”. I was fortunate enough to witness that first-hand, and since then I often think what she might have become. Could she have prevailed over the fractures in our society, and succeeded?

Britain is not alone in this – the organic links within our society are badly broken. In part this is because the echelons from which our media are drawn do not, for the most part, fully reflect the population among whom we live and to whom we seek to transmit information and ideas.

Grenfell speaks to us all about our own lack of diversity and capacity to reach into the swaths of western society with whom we have no connection.

www.theguardian.com/media/2017/aug/23/jon-snow-grenfell-mactaggart-media-diversity

www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2017/aug/25/national-housing-regulator-silent-grenfell-inquiry-law-hca?CMP=share_btn_tw

"As the scope of the Grenfell inquiry begins to take shape many, including reporters, politicians and campaigners, have asked why we do not have a national regulator for housing.

As a housing solicitor and one of many legal aid lawyers who volunteered to help North Kensington Law Centre in the weeks following the Grenfell fire, I know there is one, but such is its anonymity that few seem to know of its existence. The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) was created under the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008. It has a statutory duty to regulate social housing providers and uphold standards in the sector.

It is the state regulator responsible for all social housing; both via housing associations and local authorities. It is supposed to ensure that housing is “well-managed and of appropriate quality” and social housing tenants have an appropriate degree of protection and can hold their landlords to account.

The difficulty in bringing complaints to the regulator is that its power to intervene is limited to cases of “serious detriment”. This phrase has no statutory definition, but the HCA chose a narrow interpretation of “a risk of or actual harm to tenants”. If a complaint from a tenant falls short of this test then the regulator need take no further action – of 461 consumer complaints in 2015-16 only four led to a finding of serious detriment (pdf).

The 2008 act gave the HCA the power to launch a statutory inquiry, where it believes there may have been provider mismanagement or where it has reasonable grounds to suspect that a failure of the regulatory standards has led to serious detriment – this function that has never been used. There are powers to compensate a tenant or groups of tenants where a provider has failed to meet the standards. It can replace councils, Almos (arm’s length organisations), TMOs (tenant management organisations) and housing associations as property managers where there is social housing mismanagement.

And yet, the regulator has a record of non-intervention. In 2013the HCA was taken to task by a parliamentary select committee over its handling of the near-collapse of Cosmopolitan housing. The regulator was found to have had “interpreted his remit as narrowly as possible” and was accused of an unwillingness to use its statutory powers. Four years on, the lack of response to the management of Grenfell Tower seems a graphic example of an ongoing reluctance by the HCA to exercise its regulatory powers of intervention.

Despite the withering select committee report Julian Ashby, chair during the Cosmopolitan crisis, remains in post as both HCA board member and chair of the regulatory committee. Alongside him as HCA board member is Anthony Preiskel. He is also director for Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), the landlord that the HCA has a statutory duty to regulate.

No investigative case against KCTMO was ever opened by the HCA, yet Grenfell Action Group could not have made its concerns any clearer in a series of complaints that included power surges in Grenfell Tower in 2013; issues around emergency service access to the estate; and fire safety risks following the neighbouring Adair Tower fire in 2015. Those concerns were raised with KCTMO at board meetings, which Prieskel regularly attends as its director, and could not have more graphically foretold of the threat of disaster. Even applying the HCA’s own definition of serious detriment – a risk of harm to tenants – this was somehow ignored.

Two board members of Shelter resigned in the wake of Grenfell. Shelter is a homeless charity, yet the institutional embarrassment (over links to KCTMO and the cladding supplier) was too great for them to remain in post. The HCA is not a charity. It is the state regulator for social housing. Yet not only are there no resignations, there is no public statement, no inquiry, no public presence. The regulator, amid its sector’s greatest catastrophe, appears to be airbrushing itself from existence. As part of the ongoing search for justice, this must be brought to light"

Grenfell fire: 228 buildings at risk across UK

No buildings in UK known to have combination of cladding, filling and insulation fire safety tests deem safe

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/25/grenfell-fire-228-buildings-at-risk-across-uk

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/04/grenfell-tower-fire-lawyers-warn-theresa-may-she-may-be-breaching-inquiry-laws

Lawyers acting for the family of one of the victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster have written to the prime minister, warning her that she may be in breach of key laws relating to the public inquiry.

They have given the prime minister until Thursday afternoon to respond to their concerns.

Hesham Rahman, 57, who lived on the top floor of Grenfell Tower, was identified using dental records and DNA. He suffered from diabetes and had difficulty using the stairs. An inquest into his death opened last week at Westminster coroner’s court, where coroner Fiona Wilcox heard that his death was consistent with the effects of fire.

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The letter to the prime minister expresses concern about her failure to abide by clauses in the Inquiries Act 2005 requiring her to announce membership of the panel advising the inquiry.

While the inquiry chair, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, who has been copied into the letter, has proposed appointing people whose experience extends to occupation and management of social housing and the administration of local government, as well as matters of a more technical scientific nature, there is no mention of panel members who reflect the religious and racial diversity of those who died in the fire and those who survived it.

The lawyers have also reminded the prime minister of her duty under the Equality Act 2010 – the public sector equality duty. This requires her to have “due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it”.

The letter states: “Given the context, and the background of a large number of the victims, we consider that you can only achieve this by appointing an ethnically and religiously diverse panel who have the relevant expertise to assist the chair and ensure public trust and confidence in the inquiry.”

It adds: “As you are aware, there has been notable criticism of the appointment of the chair to the inquiry. It is important that there is trust and confidence in the inquiry by the bereaved families, survivors and affected local residents, otherwise this could undermine the inquiry, its findings and any recommendations. Given the concerns already expressed by those affected we are sure that you would wish to avoid any further criticisms we ask that you appoint panel members who have the ability to reflect the diverse multi-faith community who will make up the majority of the core participants for the inquiry.”

The lawyers’ letter is supported by BME Lawyers 4 Grenfell, an umbrella organisation that includes leading British BME lawyers and community justice groups, backed by survivors, residents, the community and volunteers.

Peter Herbert OBE, from BME Lawyers 4 Grenfell, said: “We welcome this letter from a prominent firm acting for the family of Hesham Rahman who sadly perished in the Grenfell Tower fire. The letter has echoed the concerns of survivors, families and the communities about the failures to consult and the importance of ensuring trust and confidence in the Inquiry in order to achieve justice. We fully endorse and support its recommendations and urge the prime minister and the chair to the inquiry, Sir Martin-Moore Bick, to respond and act swiftly.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/grenfell-inquiry_uk_59ba36a8e4b02da0e13f43ec

In my view the purpose of the enquiry should be to establish the facts, and whether there was any negligence on the part of any of the agencies involved. Hopefully, the outcome will prevent any further tragedies occurring. This needs to be done fairly quickly.

No doubt the chairperson will have the power to order any necessary further enquiries into the wider social angle in due course. Bogging this enquiry down could (and probably would) mean that it would drag on for decades and that isn't going to help anyone right now.

Let's just find out what happened first.

I just want to know exactly what the exploding fridge was being used to store and where the owner of said fridge has vanished to.
We need a very narrow judicial process to find the cause of the fire, and then whynthe fire spread as it did, someone somewhere is responsible for cladding the building is flammable material and should probably face corporate manslaughter charges.

However....
I would also welcome a wider scope investigation into how many social housing tenants were milking tax payers by sub-letting to illegal immigrants who also directly contributed to this tradegy. If the numbers talked about by victims are true, then most of these 1 and 2 bed flats must have been hugely overcrowded.
But hey, if they are poor, ethnic and vote Labour then I guess criminality can be overlooked.

Oh for the love of Christ.

Yesterdays venue wasnt even wheelchair accessible.

twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/908450331905814529

Thank you for your posts Helena

I will read them all properly later when home from work.

You are right Notlabeled, some groups want a wider enquiry but only if it addresses the issues they want so they get the outcome they want. Some groups want the opportunity to complain about class, racism and politics but won't want to look at sub letting for example.

And were is the owner of the fridge and what happened in those first few hours?