Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities appeared before the Housing, Communities & Local Government Select Committee in Parliament on 8 November 2021 to answer questions.

Topic areas for the session included building safety and remediation, levelling up and planning reform, as well as changes to the Department’s remit since the Secretary of State’s appointment.

The Committee also raised questions around the sustainability of local government funding, taking into account announcements in the Spending Review.

On building safety and remediation Mr Gove said he wanted to review current plans to force leaseholders to take out loans to pay for dangerous cladding to be replaced, following the Grenfell fire which would have seen leaseholders facing significant monthly charges to repay loans for the cost of remedial works.

Mr Gove stopped short of promising a full review, but said he had requested a “pause” to establish whether loans are “a necessary way” of resolving fire safety issues saying “I’m still unhappy with the principle of leaseholders having to pay at all, no matter how effective a scheme might be in capping their costs” but he admitted he might return to the Select Committee having “tried and tried and tried” only to conclude that “it is too difficult” to free leaseholders from paying the costs.