Part 10: Response and recovery

Chapter 98: Introduction to Part 10

¶98.1 The Grenfell Tower fire was one of the worst post-war civil disasters in the UK. As the emergency services fought the fire, hundreds of people were displaced from their homes in the tower and surrounding properties. Many of those affected felt that in the hours and days that followed the fire they were abandoned by the authorities at the time of their greatest need.

¶98.2 This Part of the report is concerned with the response of the local authority and the government in the days immediately following the fire.¹¹ Paragraph 1(h) of the Terms of Reference. We have examined the legal and organisational framework for responding to emergencies with a view to finding out what plans were in place for responding to a major emergency of that kind, what the response was, in particular by way of emergency relief, when the emergency struck and whether that response was adequate.

¶98.3 We have examined those matters through the lens of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 ("the Act") and its associated regulations and guidance which establish the duties and responsibilities of the government and local authorities to prepare for and respond to emergencies of all kinds. That includes consideration of the statutory duties to assess risk, develop and maintain emergency plans and ensure that those who have the task of responding to emergencies are adequately trained, practise putting their plans into action and have sufficient staff to meet their responsibilities. Some of the bodies identified in the List of Issues, including the government and the TMO, were not subject to duties under the Act, but in view of their importance we have included them in our investigation. As far as the Act itself is concerned, the overriding question is whether the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea ("RBKC") complied with its duties and (if it did) whether it was sufficiently prepared for, and responded adequately to, the fire.

¶98.4 That is the context in which we have examined the provision of emergency relief in the days immediately following the fire. There is no statutory definition of "emergency relief" and we have therefore drawn on the guidance published by the government to accompany the Act entitled Emergency Response and Recovery, which defines "humanitarian assistance" as the provision of proper care for those involved in and affected by a major incident. We have concentrated on the following aspects of emergency relief: a. Shelter and accommodation. b. Basic provisions and financial assistance. c. Psychosocial support. d. Meeting the needs of specific groups. e. Public communication. f. The provision of information to the family and friends of those affected. g. Co-ordination of the activities of different responders.

¶98.5 The most important question we have had to consider is whether those affected by the fire received adequate emergency relief and assistance from the authorities. We examine that through the evidence of those most directly affected, which is considered in relation to the various categories of emergency relief set out above.

¶98.6 In examining the adequacy of the response to the fire, we have concentrated on the actions of the government, the council and the TMO in the seven days following the fire. That is long enough to allow us to consider the key decisions made in those early hours and days that had significant consequences for the response and recovery effort. Those seven days cover both the initial period during which RBKC was in control of the response and the period that began in the afternoon of 16 June 2017 when London Local Authority Gold ("London Gold") took control as part of the London-wide resilience arrangements. However, although our investigations have concentrated on that relatively short period, we recognise that the appalling after-effects of the fire continue to this day.

¶98.7 An important and striking feature of the response to the Grenfell Tower fire was the substantial involvement of community, voluntary and faith groups in providing sanctuary and support to those most seriously affected. We describe the circumstances in which that took place and the extent to which it filled a vacuum left by the authorities.