Health and safety | UK Regulatory Outlook February 2025

Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill completes committee stage in the House of Lords 

On 12 February 2025, the committee stage of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill concluded in the House of Lords after four days of debate. While no amendments to the bill were agreed during the committee stage, concerns were raised over aspects of the bill, notably over the duties that it would place on smaller, non-enhanced premises and one-off temporary events run by volunteers. Concerns were also raised around the accessibility and cost of training in relation to the duties under the bill, and how the government would ensure that training providers were of an appropriate standard. 

Proposed amendments included raising the threshold for standard duty premises and the introduction of statutory exceptions for certain community events. While these amendments were not passed, it is clear that concerns remain over the extent of the regulatory burden on small businesses and community groups, which are likely to be raised again as the bill continues its passage through Parliament. 

The report stage for the bill is scheduled for 4 March 2025. 

HSE questioned by the Work and Pensions Committee 

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) was recently questioned by the Work and Pensions Committee on its current work. The regulator was asked about various areas, including inspections, recent restructuring, decline in productivity, its role as the Building Safety Regulator and the use of AI. 

Regarding the decline in productivity over the past few years, the HSE informed the committee that it has been struggling with the ratio of inexperienced to experienced inspectors. Productivity fell as experienced inspectors focused on mentoring and training new recruits. However, the recent restructuring of the regulatory division aims to improve efficiency and effectiveness in criminal investigations and regulatory inspections. Due to ongoing resource and finance constraints, the HSE is striking a balance between proactive inspections and responding to complaints, driven by prioritisation and resource allocation. 

The HSE commented that the Building Safety Regulator faced "teething troubles" but is making progress in reducing application processing times. 

The committee closed the session by asking the HSE about AI and its use in this space. The HSE stated that businesses using AI need to understand the hazards posed and address associated health and safety risks in the same way they would with any other risk. 

The full recording of the session can be found here. 

Overall, it was evident from the session that the HSE is still grappling with resource and financial constraints, which have ultimately affected its productivity. However, the HSE is working to improve this, and with the recent restructuring, it seems they are taking steps to ensure appropriate enforcement action is taken where necessary.  

Government's response to the Grenfell Final Report  

On 26 February, the deputy prime minister addressed parliament in response to the recommendations of the Grenfell Final Report. Simultaneously, the government published its formal written response to that report.

The government will adopt all 37 of the recommendations that were directed at it, including:

• The creation of a single construction regulator and a chief construction advisor. The regulator will deliver all of the functions specified in the report with two exceptions: Testing and certification of construction products and the issue of certificates of compliance will not be undertaken by that regulator to avoid a conflict of interest by policing its own compliance. Concerns have already been voiced that this means testing and certification will remain a function carried out by private companies, despite major criticism of this system in the inquiry's report.
• Reform of the construction products regulation system (see more on the green paper, also published yesterday, below). New powers under the new Procurement Act will be used to investigate Arconic, Kingspan, GCP UK Ltd (the then owners of Celotex) and four other firms to decide whether they should be debarred from the public procurement regime.
• Further plans for the ongoing review of the definition of Higher Risk Buildings (HRBs) will be set out this summer.
• As previously announced, a reform of statutory guidance to the building regulations, particularly Approved Document B, with interim findings published in summer 2025 and a full list of recommendations in 2026.
• Independent panel to review the building control sector and whether the function should be performed by a national authority.
• Measures to improve the competence and professionalism of those involved in building safety, including fire engineers, fire risk assessors and building control professionals.
• Greater regulation and certification requirements for professionals: fire risk assessors will be required to be certified, there will be new requirements for principal designers, consideration of a licencing scheme for principal contractors on HRBs and consideration of the regulation of the fire engineer profession.
• A statutory requirement that senior managers of principal designers provide a statement to confirm in their application for building control approval that they have complied with their existing duties and consideration of whether this should apply to all building control, not just HRBs.
• Implementing a new residential personal emergency evacuation plan policy to improve the fire safety and evacuation of vulnerable and disabled residents in high-rise and high-risk residential buildings.
• Bringing fire safety functions under a single government department (see more below).

The government will publish quarterly reports on its progress and update parliament annually, with a publicly accessible record of progress against all of the inquiry's recommendations.

Changes will be brought in a phased approach, with the initial stage focusing on delivering its current programme of regulatory reform. From 2026-2028 the government will develop proposals to deliver recommendations and wider reform, including through legislation. From 2028 onwards it will implement these reforms. 

Government takes first step in implementing recommendations from Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, has announced that the Ministry of House Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) will be taking over from the Home Office to lead on fire safety. This follows one of the recommendations set out in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report which raised concerns that "arrangements under which the construction industry was regulated had become too complex and fragmented". The Phase 2 Report recommended a more unified approach to fire safety compliance by bringing these responsibilities under a single government department.

At the time of the fire, as well as the Home Office having oversight for fire and rescue services, the Department for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy was responsible for regulating products and the MHCLG was responsible for building regulations and statutory guidance.

It is hoped that bringing oversight for fire services within the same government authority that issues building regulations and statutory guidance (the MHCLG) should assist businesses, by providing a joined-up approach to building regulations and their connection to fire safety risks.