Scottish government will “carefully examine” recommendations of Grenfell report

The nearly 1,700-page report was published on Wednesday. The inquiry's chair, Sir Martine Moore-Bick, claims that “decades of failure” led to the loss of 72 lives at the west London high-rise in 2017.

The 58 recommendations included the creation of a single regulatory authority for construction products, testing and certification.

Responding to the report, Paul McLennan said: “The tragic fire at Grenfell Tower has highlighted the importance of building and fire safety.

“The safety of residents and homeowners is our top priority and we are taking action to protect lives by ensuring the assessment and remediation of buildings with potentially unsafe cladding.

“We will carefully consider all the recommendations in the Grenfell Tower inquiry report.

“Yesterday I met with UK Government ministers to discuss how we can work together to take appropriate action to implement the recommendations of the inquiry and keep residents and homeowners in Scotland safe.”

Following the Grenfell tragedy, the Scottish Government set up a cladding restoration programme to prevent such a fire from occurring north of the border.

Earlier this year, a bill was passed to speed up the process, which had been criticized as being too slow.

Mr McLennan added: “Scotland already has strict safety regulations in place to keep people safe, but we are not resting on our laurels.

“Where immediate action is required to protect people, we will ensure that appropriate risk management measures are in place until longer-term remediation work is completed.

“Subject to the devolution of the necessary powers, we will introduce a building safety levy in Scotland, equivalent to one that the UK Government will introduce in England.

“The levy will provide important revenue to help finance our facade cladding refurbishment program.”

Meanwhile, one of the most senior officials of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has commented on the report.

Appearing before Holyrood's Criminal Justice Committee on Wednesday, Police Commissioner Ross Haggart said: “The thoughts of the SFRS are with the victims and families of Grenfell every day, but today especially.

“(The report) will in itself create a lot of work for the fire and rescue service, the fire and rescue sector and the SFRS.

“While we have not yet seen the report, rest assured that we will examine it in detail. We will work with the relevant partners to ensure that all recommendations are fully implemented and that Scotland benefits from the lessons learned.”