Campaigners welcome widening of scope but have concerns broader social issues have been excluded despite PM’s promises

The public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire will examine the actions of Kensington and Chelsea council but will not deal with broader questions of social housing policy, the government has said.

No 10 said the decision not to include social housing policy in the terms of reference, published on Tuesday, was taken by the inquiry chair, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, but added that the prime minister was determined that questions relating to the issue would not be seen as a lower priority.

Campaign groups said they were pleased that, after submissions from survivors and activists, the remit had been extended beyond the cause of the fire in west London and why it spread so fast, but expressed concerns that it was not wide enough.

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Yvette Williams from Justice4Grenfell said: “He [Moore-Bick] is not looking at the broader social issues for one, which we think is majorly central to this situation, and if he goes on with no community advisory rep, we would have a lot to say about that.”

Moore-Bick, a former court of appeal judge, has proved an unpopular choice with many of the survivors of the fire, which is believed to have killed about 80 people.

Last month, a number of them, backed by BMELawyers4Grenfell, wrote to Theresa May outlining a list of demands with respect to the inquiry, including that he be removed. They cited comments by Moore-Bick that suggested the inquiry’s scope would be restricted.

Zita Holbourne, the national chair of Black Activists Rising Against Cuts, which is part of the BMELawyers4Grenfell coalition, said the terms were better than expected, but added: “It’s not included the wider issues around social housing, socioeconomic issues, the issues of race, religion and equality in relation to adequate housing, the impact of austerity and cost-cutting leading to the neglect of residents.”

Peter Herbert, the chair of the Society of Black Lawyers, said the coalition would be meeting survivors on Thursday to get their responses to the terms of reference, warning that they might challenge them in court if their demands were not met.

He said the inquiry needed to tackle “the background causes, the wholly inadequate public provision of social housing, which is the context in which this avoidable tragedy occurred”. Holbourne and Herbert also called for advisers to the panel to be diverse with respect to ethnicity and expertise.

Jocelyn Cockburn, the joint head of civil liberties at the law firm Hodge Jones & Allen, which is representing some residents, said: “The chair should not be ruling out issues, at this early stage, which may prove to be relevant to the causes of the disaster.”

Labour said it would press for an amendment to the terms or reference, accusing May of trying to “hoodwink the public” by suggesting people would still get answers to key questions about social housing policy.

Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, said: “It isn’t Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea that is failing to build social and council housing across the country. It is this government, which has created a climate of hostility towards all immigrants, and those perceived to be immigrants even when they have been born here.”

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said some key concerns were not being addressed, which needed to be tackled in a parallel process if not in the main inquiry.

Emma Dent Coad, the Labour MP who represents the west London neighbourhood, said the development was “precisely what we feared”.

She said: “We were told ‘no stone would be unturned’, but instead are being presented with a technical assessment which will not get to the heart of the problem: what effects, if any, the lack of investment into social housing had on the refurbishment project.”



The shadow housing secretary, John Healey, offered his views on Twitter.



John Healey MP (@JohnHealey_MP) Deeply unsatisfactory for PM to set Grenfell Inquiry terms of ref to exclude housing policy failings - closing off criticism of govt policy https://t.co/7oJabxLscU

Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrat spokeswoman on local government, said the inquiry was too narrow, describing it as a “shameful wasted opportunity”.

There was also criticism from the Lancaster West residents’ association, which represents tenants evacuated from blocks surrounding Grenfell Tower after the fire, and the Radical Housing Network.

Beinazir Lasharie, a Kensington and Chelsea Labour councillor who lived in the tower, said: “The issue of social housing continues with the families of Grenfell Tower, as only a handful have been rehoused. Surely this is an issue that needs some investigation.”

Joe Delaney, who has worked with the Grenfell Action Group and was evacuated from an adjoining block after the blaze, described the scope as “decent enough”, but said it would come down to whether the relevant issues were covered with sufficient rigour.

In a letter to May, Moore-Bick set out two reasons why he felt it was inappropriate to include broader issues of social housing policy within the scope of his inquiry. The first was the length of time it would add to the inquiry and the second was that it would “raise questions of a social, economic and political nature which, in my view, are not suitable for a judge-led inquiry”.

The full terms of reference of the inquiry, which began on Tuesday, are:

The design, construction and refurbishment of Grenfell Tower.



The scope and adequacy of the relevant regulations relating to high-rise buildings.

Whether the relevant legislation and guidance were complied with in the case of Grenfell.

The actions of the local authority and other bodies before the disaster.

The response of London fire brigade to the blaze.

The response of central and local government in the aftermath.

May said she was “determined that the broader questions raised by this fire, including around social housing, are not left unanswered”.

The housing minister, Alok Sharma, would be meeting social housing tenants to discuss the challenges they faced, she added, with a view to shaping national policy.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled to take place on 14 September.