Conclusions of public inquiry into fire that claimed 72 lives to be published on 30 October

The long-awaited public inquiry report into what happened on the night of the Grenfell Tower fire is to be released the day before Britain is due to leave the EU, which survivors and the bereaved described as “deeply frustrating”.

Conclusions about the disaster in west London on 14 June 2017, which claimed 72 lives, will be published and laid before parliament on 30 October, raising fears important lessons will be overshadowed by the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.

The chair of the inquiry, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, and his legal team have been drafting the report since the first phase of the inquiry hearing ended in December 2018. The prime minister, Boris Johnson, wrote to the retired high court judge this month saying he must publish the report no later than 30 October.

The inquiry said in a statement on Friday that core participants including the bereaved, survivors and families will receive the report 36 hours earlier “under strict embargo”.

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But Grenfell United, the group representing the survivors and bereaved, demanded it was released sooner, saying “to publish the report on 30 October risks burying it in Brexit”.

In a letter to Moore-Bick stressing the timing had caused upset to many families, the group added: “This is the most significant constitutional moment for our country in living memory. Laying the report in parliament on 30 October will guarantee that the report will not receive the attention it deserves.

“We expect that your report will contain substantial findings, and make recommendations of the utmost importance. Recommendations that will bring in changes that could save lives.

“These must have an opportunity to be properly considered and debated in the media and parliament, if there is any hope that they will be taken up by those in authority.”

The original plan had been to publish the report this spring, but it was delayed when the team realised it was a “far more complex and time-consuming task than originally anticipated”. That led families to complain: “A slow justice is a painful justice.”

The focus of the inquiry so far has been on the events of 14 June 2017, encompassing London fire brigade’s response, the decision to order residents to stay put while fire engulfed the building, and communication between residents and 999 emergency call operators.

The inquiry report is expected to draw conclusions about the leadership of the LFB, including its commissioner, Dany Cotton, who has already announced her retirement, and its preparedness for a cladding fire. Cotton angered survivors when she said planning for such an event was akin to planning for a “space shuttle landing on the Shard”.

It also investigated in detail how the fire started in a fourth-floor flat and spread to the top of the building in less than 30 minutes through the largely combustible cladding system installed in 2016.

Some of the bereaved and survivors who are core participants in the inquiry hope Moore-Bick will reach a determination about whether or not the building met building regulations, something that has remained unclear since the disaster.

The second phase of the inquiry is due to start in January and will examine the lead-up to the night of the fire, including decisions made by the owner of the 24-storey tower, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and the landlord, the Kensington and Chelsea Tenants Management Organisation, the architects, Studio E, the contractor Rydon and material suppliers including Celotex and Arconic.

It has already taken 200,000 documents and the conclusions are not expected until at least 2021, which means any decisions on charges of manslaughter or corporate manslaughter by the Crown Prosecution Service are not likely to take place until after that.