{"id":36586,"date":"2023-05-26T17:26:23","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T16:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogsnew.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=36586"},"modified":"2023-05-26T17:26:23","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T16:26:23","slug":"mps-warned-by-pac-that-westminster-could-collapse-before-restoration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=36586","title":{"rendered":"MPs warned by PAC that Westminster could collapse before restoration"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intro\">\n<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-23346\" src=\"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/parliament_works_2019-300x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" \/>There is a \u2018Real and rising risk\u2019 that Palace of Westminster will be destroyed by catastrophic event before it is restored, says Public Accounts Committee (PAC).<\/h3>\n<h6><em>image: Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament<\/em><\/h6>\n<h3><!--more--><\/h3>\n<h2 style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em><span style=\"color: #800080;\">\u2026 progress has been painfully slow with \u2018years of procrastination\u2019\u2026<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n<p>UK Parliament&#8217;s Public Accounts Committee writes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cIncredible\u201d lack of clarity 5 years after agreed way forward was enacted by Parliament<\/li>\n<li>\u00a32 million a week spent on \u201cpatching up\u201d while list of health and safety incidents grows<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"body\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/publications.parliament.uk\/pa\/cm5803\/cmselect\/cmpubacc\/1021\/report.html\">Read the full report (HTML)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/committees.parliament.uk\/publications\/39929\/documents\/194658\/default\/\">Read the full report (PDF)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/publications.parliament.uk\/pa\/cm5803\/cmselect\/cmpubacc\/1021\/summary.html\">Read the report summary<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/committees.parliament.uk\/work\/7196\/restoration-and-renewal-recall\/publications\/\">Find all publications related to this inquiry, including oral and written evidence<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>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 \u201cyears of procrastination\u201d 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.<\/p>\n<p>The Committee calls it \u201cincredible\u201d 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 \u00a32 million a week patching up the Palace but there is still a growing list of health and safety incidents, including some involving asbestos.<\/p>\n<p>The Committee says the Clerks of both Houses \u201cfinally seem to acknowledge publicly the enormity of this task, for which they are now personally accountable\u201d, but it remains unclear how they will manage their legal responsibilities to the programme alongside those to individuals working in and visiting the Palace.<\/p>\n<p>The Clerks and newly created programme structures \u201cneed to build confidence in their ability to deliver a programme of this magnitude and complexity\u201d.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n<h2>Chair&#8217;s comments<\/h2>\n<p>Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Committee said:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-quote\">\u201cAfter 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-quote\">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\u2019s leaking, dropping masonry and at constant risk of fire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-quote\">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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/committees.parliament.uk\/committee\/127\/public-accounts-committee\/news\/195220\/real-and-rising-risk-that-palace-of-westminster-will-be-destroyed-by-catastrophic-event-before-it-is-restored-says-pac\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read more&#8230;.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is a \u2018Real and rising risk\u2019 that Palace of Westminster will be destroyed by catastrophic event before it is restored, says Public Accounts Committee (PAC). image: Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36586"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36587,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36586\/revisions\/36587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}