§ Mr. ChaytorTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what evaluation he has made of the adequacy of the resourcing levels of the Building Inspectorate to allow it to carry out all its statutory monitoring functions in respect of the current building regulations. [142451]
§ Phil HopeDistrict and unitary local authorities in England and Wales are responsible for administering and enforcing the Building Regulations. Persons carrying out building projects subject to control by these regulations must use one of two Building Control Services—that provided by the local authority in whose area the work is taking place or by an approved inspector, a private sector alternative. It is the responsibility of local authorities to resource their building control departments, as appropriate, in order to be in a position to carry out their duties under the Building Regulations when they are called upon to provide the Building Control Service.
The Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 1998 make local authorities responsible for fixing their own charges for those functions carried out under the Building Control Service, and require them to ensure that the revenue from charges fully recovers the costs of carrying out the functions. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in conjunction with the Welsh Assembly Government conducts an annual monitoring exercise 852W with all local authorities in England and Wales to ascertain the degree to which revenue from their building control functions is fully recovering their costs.