Scottish Government efforts to remove potentially dangerous Grenfell-style cladding are in “disarray” as new documents reveal the success of the project is in “doubt”.
Scottish Labour has criticised the handling of the cladding replacement scheme as internal documents, obtained through Freedom of Information requests, reveal the future of the project is at risk.
The harmful insulating material was partially blamed for the fatal London high-rise block fire in 2017, which claimed the lives of 72 people.
The Delivery Confidence Assessment revealed the programme in Scotland to replace cladding had been downgraded to “amber/red” – which means “successful delivery of the project in doubt with major risks or issues apparent”.
It said “urgent action” is required to establish whether a resolution is achievable.
The report from June 2022 revealed there is “no business case and accompanying plan” and that the review team was “disappointed” to learn recommendations from the previous report had not been implemented.
It said: “Resources are scarce, particularly with budget concerns around the ability to scale up staffing, this is common across SG [Scottish Government] with competition for key staff.
“This is compounded by the lack of clear priorities and appropriate planning.”
A similar document from October 2021 said it would take up to five years to assess the 780 high-rise buildings and low-rise buildings with cladding – with remedial work taking even longer.
The 2021 document also said the ministerial timeframe of a 100-day target to commence delivery and remediation was clearly “heroic and impossible” to achieve.
Ministers have already faced a backlash over the removal of cladding after taking four years longer than the UK Government to ban the material which encases some buildings.
Scottish Labour housing spokesman Mark Griffin said: “These damning documents show a project in total disarray.
“Ministers are playing fast and loose with people’s safety by making promises they can’t keep while letting a vital programme fall into chaos.
“The SNP wasted years refusing to ban this dangerous cladding, and now this essential work is being threatened once again by their reckless negligence.
“There is no time to waste learning the lessons of the awful Grenfell tragedy – the SNP need to get a grip of the mess they have made of this programme and make it work.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government regularly uses a risk assessment register approach to ensure any issues can be identified and rectified, as happened with this review.
“Addressing cladding issues is a highly complex process and the Housing Secretary was clear in her statement to Parliament in May that progress had not been quick enough for many homeowners.
“We have since expanded our Single Building Assessment programme - announced last year as a pilot - meaning that more than 100 buildings in total will be part of the scheme.
“A new streamlined process for commissioning the assessments will help identify at-risk buildings more quickly; we expect the vast majority of buildings assessed through this programme to be found to be safe.
“We are also in discussion with some of the country’s largest housing developers to work together to address cladding issues, giving affected homeowners a clear path to ensuring their homes are safe.”
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