I propose to take Questions Nos. 649, 650 and 651 together.
The Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (the Act) was commenced on 22 June 2023 which contains the enhanced grant scheme and adopted the related Regulations on 29 June 2023.
An Appeals Panel has been established to assess appeals made under the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the use of Defective Concrete (DCB) Blocks Grant Scheme.
Oversight and accountability of the Appeals Panel is outlined in Part 5 of The Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022.
The Appeals Panel is statutorily independent in the performance of their functions of myself as Minister, my Department and of the Housing Agency. Timelines for the processing of appeals are a matter for the Chair and the Panel. My Department provides limited administrative support during the initial stage of the process, in that appeals submitted by homeowners are forwarded to the Panel. Funding for an additional administrative resource within the Panel itself has also been provided to assist in ensuring the panel can carry out its work as quickly as possible.
It is my understanding that the Appeals Panel is very much aware of the understandable desire of applicants to have their cases dealt with in as expeditious a manner as possible. The time taken to assess appeals has been in many cases longer than originally envisaged. However, I understand that some of the time taken to consider and issue decisions has been taken up by requests for further information either from the appellants themselves or from other stakeholders. The Panel have taken this approach, I am informed, in order to allow appellants to have the full facts of their situation properly assessed. A corollary of this inclusive and holistic approach is that this has unfortunately added time onto the overall process.
I understand that a number of Decisions have now begun to issue in recent weeks as the Panel accelerates its work and seeks to meet the legitimate expectations of appellants. My Department will continue to do all it can given the statutory framework the process operates under, to support the Panel to ensure that the timeframes in which appeals are assessed continue to improve towards a satisfactory level for appellants.
