Final Grenfell report to be published in September

The final report into the Grenfell Tower fire will be published at the start of September.

Yesterday police confirmed 19 companies or organisations and 58 individuals are considered criminal suspects over the tragedy in west London.

The news comes less than a month before the seventh anniversary of the fire, which claimed 72 lives on June 14, 2017.

The inquiry team said the phase two report will be published on Wednesday September 4.

An update posted on its website said: "The Inquiry has written to core participants to inform them that the Phase 2 report will be published on Wednesday September 4 2024. Further information about the arrangements for publication will be published in due course.

"In accordance with rule 17 of the Inquiry Rules 2006, core participants will be provided with copies of the report on Tuesday September 3 2024 under embargo."

The final hearing of the second phase of the inquiry, which examined how the tower block came to be in a condition that allowed the fire to spread, took place in November 2022.

The report into phase one, which focused on the factual narrative of the events on the night of the blaze, was published in October 2019.

It concluded the tower's cladding did not comply with building regulations and was the "principal" reason for the rapid and "profoundly shocking" spread of the blaze.

Acknowledging the delay in publication, having hoped to publish before the anniversary, the inquiry team had previously described the "process of notifying those who may be subject to criticism in our report and considering their responses" as having been "significantly larger and more complex than we had originally expected", having involved writing to some 250 people.

Over the course of both phases, the inquiry said it had held more than 300 hearings and received more than 1,600 witness statements.

Bereaved and survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire said they are hopeful the inquiry's final report will "give us the truth we deserve".

They said change must follow, with recommendations fully implemented to make a real difference.

Grenfell United, a bereaved families and survivors group, said: "We said 10 years until justice only yesterday, and today's update has confirmed that. We now have a long-awaited date for publication and wait in anticipation of the findings.

"When the report is finally released, we need to know that Sir Martin Moore-Bick's recommendations will be implemented by the new government in power. Nearly five years since the publication of the first report, the Tory government has failed to implement four of the phase one recommendations.

"That is why we are calling for a national oversight mechanism; an independent public body responsible for collating, analysing and following up on recommendations from inquiries into state-related deaths.

"Hundreds of vital recommendations are made following inquiries and millions of pounds are spent, but what is the point if there is no system in place to make sure changes are made?

"If Government implemented the recommendations following the Lakanal House Fire in 2009, our experience on the 14th June could have been very different.

"The public inquiry phase two report will hopefully give us the truth we deserve, but it needs to bring the change we so desperately need to see. This change is the legacy for our loved ones. And to ensure no-one suffers like us."

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