Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has today set out the government's response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, detailing measures designed to fix building safety and strengthen accountability.

The devastating Grenfell tragedy in 2017 resulted in the deaths of 72 people.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry published its second and final report into the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the disaster in September last year.

The government said it has accepted the findings and today set out its plans to act on all 58 recommendations, driving a “sweeping transformation” to enhance building and fire safety standards.  

The government has accepted 49 of the 58 recommendations in full. Regarding the remaining nine recommendations, the government accepts them in principle and the response document sets out how they will be implemented.

Under the proposals, it said industry will be held to account for failure, with new regulatory measures to prevent a tragedy like the events at Grenfell Tower from ever happening again.  

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said: “The Grenfell Tower tragedy claimed 72 innocent lives in a disaster that should never have happened.

“The final report exposed in stark and devastating detail the shocking industry behaviour and wider failures that led to the fire, and the deep injustices endured by the bereaved, survivors and residents.

“We are acting on all of the inquiry’s findings, and today set out our full response, detailing the tough action we are taking to drive change and reform the system to ensure no community will ever have to face a tragedy like Grenfell ever again.  

“That means greater accountability, stronger regulation, and putting residents at the heart of decision-making. We must deliver the fundamental change required. We owe that to the Grenfell community, to the country, and to the memory of those who lost their lives.”

The Grenfell Inquiry’s final report exposed a system that ignored safety risks and failed to listen to residents.

Inquiry chairman, the Rt Hon Sir Martin Moore-Bick, said the deaths of 72 people in the Grenfell Tower fire were “all avoidable”, and that those who lived in Grenfell Tower were “badly failed over a number of years by those who were responsible for ensuring the safety of its occupants”.

Reforms set out today include:

• A new single construction regulator to ensure those responsible for building safety are held to account.  
• Tougher oversight of those responsible for testing and certifying, manufacturing and using construction products with serious consequences for those who break the rules.
• A legal duty of candour through a new Hillsborough Law, compelling public authorities to disclose the truth, ensuring transparency in major incidents, and holding those responsible for failures to account. 
• Stronger, clearer, and enforceable legal rights for residents, making landlords responsible for acting on safety concerns.
• Empowering social housing residents to challenge landlords and demand safe, high-quality housing, by expanding the Four Million Homes training programme. Make it easier for tenants to report safety concerns and secure landlord action by taking forward the Make Things Right campaign.
• Ensuring lasting transparency and accountability by creating a publicly accessible record of all public inquiry recommendations.

As well as changes in regulation, in December 2024, the government launched its Remediation Acceleration Plan which sets out tough new measures to get buildings fixed quicker and ensure rogue freeholders are held to account.  

Today the government set out the next steps of its review to identify where the inquiry’s report found failings by specific named organisations in relation to the Grenfell fire.

New powers under the Procurement Act will be used to investigate seven of the organisations criticised in the report.

If certain grounds are met, their names will be added to a published debarment list which must be taken into account by contracting authorities when awarding new contracts. 

Changes will be brought in through a phased approach, the government said, with the initial stage focusing on delivering its current programme of regulatory reform.

The second phase, 2026 to 2028, will develop proposals to deliver recommendations and wider reform, including through legislation. From 2028 onwards, the government will implement these reforms. 

A green paper was also launched today which includes detailed proposals for system wide reform of the construction products regime. 

Earlier this month the government announced Grenfell Tower will be taken down.

The government said it was committed to taking the next steps "respectfully and carefully".

The process is expected to take around two years and will be done "sensitively ", with no changes to the building before the eighth anniversary of the disaster in June.

To read the government's full response, click here