There is a ‘Real and rising risk’ that Palace of Westminster will be destroyed by catastrophic event before it is restored, says Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
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… progress has been painfully slow with ‘years of procrastination’…
UK Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee writes:
- “Incredible” lack of clarity 5 years after agreed way forward was enacted by Parliament
- £2 million a week spent on “patching up” while list of health and safety incidents grows
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- Read the report summary
- Find all publications related to this inquiry, including oral and written evidence
In a report today the Public Accounts Committee says that, after decades of broad consensus on the critical need to repair and restore the Palace of Westminster, progress has been painfully slow with “years of procrastination” and significant parliamentary decisions being reopened and overturned. The Committee says that, to date, the focus has been on Members of Parliament rather than the thousands of staff and visitors who use the building.
The Committee calls it “incredible” that, five years after the House determined a course of action, questions about what a restored palace might look like and how the work will be undertaken remain unanswered. The timeframe and cost also remain uncertain except that the cost will be high and that further delays are hugely costly to the taxpayer. Parliament is spending up to £2 million a week patching up the Palace but there is still a growing list of health and safety incidents, including some involving asbestos.
The Committee says the Clerks of both Houses “finally seem to acknowledge publicly the enormity of this task, for which they are now personally accountable”, but it remains unclear how they will manage their legal responsibilities to the programme alongside those to individuals working in and visiting the Palace.
The Clerks and newly created programme structures “need to build confidence in their ability to deliver a programme of this magnitude and complexity”. Timely transparency and compliance with health and safety protocols, particularly around asbestos, urgently needs to improve before more significant works and potentially more serious incidents occur.
Chair’s comments
Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Committee said:
“After years of procrastination and debate, resolutions of the House overturned and the exploding costs we saw in restoring just the Elizabeth Tower, it is difficult to have confidence in the future of the project to repair and restore this iconic world heritage site that thousands of people work in and visit every day.
But without Parliament and the public having that confidence these critical works will continue to stall, with the real risk that the whole building will be destroyed by a catastrophic incident before the work is done, or perhaps even begun. There are already people on decades-long risk watchlists after being exposed to asbestos in the building; a building that’s leaking, dropping masonry and at constant risk of fire.
Given the uncertainties over how the Clerks will manage their legal responsibilities, who will really be held responsible and accountable if the unthinkable happens? In response to this report the PAC expects a lot more clarity on those critical issues and, finally, a clear indication of the cost and timeline for getting this massive job done before it becomes too late to do so.”
