Background
As described on the Local Government Association's website, the national Joint Inspection Team (JIT) was set up following the Grenfell fire tragedy to assist councils in England in taking enforcement action against private landlords that were slow to remediate high-rise residential blocks with Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding:
The team inspects blocks using the Housing Act 2004 and associated powers of the 'host authority'. The JIT assesses the fire hazard and advises the 'host' council via an extensive report and Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) risk assessment. Where there are serious problems, councils usually take enforcement action against landlords, using the evidence from JIT. The team can provide advice on wording of Improvement Notices and assistance with any subsequent appeals to the first-tier tribunal.
The JIT is funded as a joint venture by the Government's Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).
FOI response
In September I asked the LGA for a copy of the most recent indemnity and funding agreement for the Joint Inspection Team. Last month the LGA provided this information, with some minor redactions of personal data.
The FOI release consists of a second funding agreement dated June 2021 and a variation dated May 2022:
JIT_LGA_FOI_response_20231019.zip (0.6 MB zipped)
I was interested in the JIT agreement and indemnity mainly because the LGA withheld a draft version in its earlier response to my request for meeting papers of the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA)'s Company Board – on the basis that the information was commercially sensitive, legally privileged, and confidential. I was therefore surprised but pleased to receive this new disclosure without any of those exemptions raised.
Key points
The original grant funding agreement was made in July 2019 when DLUHC agreed to fund the work of a Joint Inspection Team (JIT) to be operated by the LGA through the IDeA.
According to the recitals, this second agreement was made because DLUHC wished to continue and enlarge the scope of the work of the JIT. The LGA was willing, but required DLUHC to indemnity it and the IDeA against some liabilities that might arise from further work of the JIT.
DLUHC recognised that the LGA and the IDeA were unable to accept responsibility for further work by the JIT unless they were confident that they are not at any financial risk from any contingent liability that may arise from the JIT work.
The agreement provided for a grant of £1,200,000 to cover the period from April 2021 to March 2022. This would be "used to staff a team comprised of a team leader, a principal environmental health officer, three environmental health officers, a fire engineer and a building controller and is able to draw on relevant legal expertise and have access to intelligence/data analyst, administrative and communications support."
The May 2022 variation had the purpose of continuing the work of the JIT but expanding its size and scope from one national team to three, with funding for two further financial years, and with more inspections being completed and training sessions and advice being provided for local authority officers. The variation provides for an £4.6 million in grant funding over the two financial years to March 2024.