Grenfell Tower fire: Sajid Javid refuses to say if apartment blocks will be fitted with sprinklers

‘People will be saying that every answer is looking to the future, looking to a report. These are not the things that people want to hear,’ says presenter

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid struggled to answer questions about whether the Government will retrofit apartment blocks with sprinklers as he faced accusations that ministers have been too slow to respond to the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

Mr Javid admitted the Government did not currently know how many tower blocks across the UK were fitted with dangerous cladding, which is banned in the US and Germany.

The minister told BBC Breakfast that his department would do “everything we possibly can” to reassure those living in similar blocks.

But he appeared to avoid presenter Charlie Stayt’s question about fitting sprinklers, insisting he would have to listen to fire investigators first before taking action.

“People are saying retrofitting of sprinklers, which could possibly have stopped the fire initially, should be brought into place now,” Mr Stayt told the minister. “We don’t have to wait for an inquiry, what harm could it do?”

Mr Javid conceded that people did not “want to wait months and years for a report”.

But he insisted that an “emergency review of similar buildings is starting right away”.

He said, however, “the fire investigation has to inform that action, that’s what should be driving the Government’s response”.

When pressed by Mr Stayt on whether he was prepared to reassure people that retrofitting would be carried out “regardless”, the minister said: “I’m saying, this may not be just about sprinklers. We will do whatever it takes but we have to listen first to the investigators.”

Mr Javid said he was “particularly concerned” to ensure that everyone that needs to be rehoused is given quality temporary accommodation, that their new houses are local and that everyone affected is “looked after”.

The minister said he would spend the day talking to people directly affected by the tragedy, after Theresa May was criticised for failing to do so.

Emergency inspections will be carried out at 4,000 tower blocks across the UK, Mr Javid confirmed. “We need to be led by the experts,” he said.

Nick Paget-Brown, the leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council, which is responsible for the tower, said sprinklers were not fitted during the refurbishment of the block because residents did not want the prolonged disruption it would have caused.