Open call for evidence

Building Control Independent Panel - informing recommendations to government

Published 29 July 2025

Applies to England

The Building Control Independent Panel (BCIP) provides analysis and advice to government on the future of the building control system in England.

Following the publication of the panel’s problem statement, we are inviting stakeholders to share their views to inform its future recommendations.

How to respond

You can respond to the call for evidence by completing the online survey.

If you have any questions about completing the form, email William.Richardson@communities.gov.uk.

This call for evidence closes at 23:59 on 29 August 2025.

Call for evidence questions

1. Do you agree with the BCIP problem statement? Are there other areas of concern that you think we have missed? 

2. Do you agree that Building Control (BC) should retain a balance between advice and enforcement and if so, how should this be achieved? Should enforcement powers be extended to the private sector? 

3. Are you supportive of the changes which have already been made in bringing BC (public and private) under the Building Safety Regulator’s (BSR) control and oversight? What more could be done to monitor performance of BC and build public trust? 

4. How should resources be deployed most effectively to minimise conflict of interest and to ensure appropriate levels of oversight of building works? 

5. Should there be a minimum number of inspections prescribed for different types of buildings and if so, at what stages should these take place? 

6. How can we ensure that BC is managed consistently with timely interventions, proportionate approaches and risk-based targeting? 

7. How can we best monitor and measure performance of all BC activities? 

8. What are the key minimum skill sets required in any Building Control Body (BCB)? 

9. What action should be taken against BCBs who are found to be failing in delivering their functions? Where it is necessary to do so where and how should caseloads be transferred? 

10. Is there effective oversight and enforcement of the Competent Person Scheme (CPS) self-certification schemes? What changes would improve compliance and enforcement? 

11. Where BC is linked to the provision of warranties does this lead to better standards of building work and if not, why?  

12. Are you aware of particular examples of good practice internationally that you would recommend we look at? 

13. How do we improve effectiveness and efficiency whilst delivering better standards of BC? 

14. How can the system develop to deliver increases in competence and skills? 

15. What are your views on the benefits/risks of the government’s local government reorganisation proposals? Would there be benefits in having fewer shared services operating across a wider area? 

16. Would enforcement functions be better served by a more centralised system working in partnership with local authorities where action is necessary?

About this call for evidence 

This call for evidence document and process have been planned to adhere to the Consultation Principles issued by the Cabinet Office.  

Representative groups are asked to give a summary of the people and organisations they represent, and where relevant who else they have consulted in reaching their conclusions when they respond. 

Information provided in response to this call for evidence may be published or disclosed in accordance with the access to information regimes (these are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and UK data protection legislation.  In certain circumstances this may therefore include personal data when required by law. 

If you want the information that you provide to be treated as confidential, please be aware that, as a public authority, the Department is bound by the information access regimes and may therefore be obliged to disclose all or some of the information you provide. In view of this it would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Department. 

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will at all times process your personal data in accordance with UK data protection legislation and in the majority of circumstances this will mean that your personal data will not be disclosed to third parties. A full privacy notice is included below. 

Individual responses will not be acknowledged unless specifically requested. 

Your opinions are valuable to us. Thank you for taking the time to read this document and respond. 

Are you satisfied that this call for evidence has followed the Consultation Principles?  If not or you have any other observations about how we can improve the process please contact us via the complaints procedure.

Personal data 

The following is to explain your rights and give you the information you are  entitled to under UK data protection legislation.  

Note that this section only refers to personal data (your name, contact details and any other information that relates to you or another identified or identifiable individual personally) not the content otherwise of your response to the call for evidence.  

1. The identity of the data controller and contact details of our Data Protection Officer     

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is the data controller. The Data Protection Officer can be contacted at dataprotection@communities.gov.uk or by writing to the following address:

Data Protection Officer,
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government,
Fry Building,
2 Marsham Street,
London
SW1P 4DF

2. Why we are collecting your personal data    

Your personal data is being collected as an essential part of the call for evidence process, so that we can contact you regarding your response and for statistical purposes. We may also use it to contact you about related matters. 

We will collect your IP address if you complete a call for evidence online. We may use this to ensure that each person only completes a survey once. We will not use this data for any other purpose. 

Sensitive types of personal data 

Please do not share special category personal data or criminal offence data  if we have not asked for this unless absolutely necessary for the purposes of your call for evidence response. By ‘special category personal data’, we mean information about a living individual’s: 

• race 

• ethnic origin 

• political opinions 

• religious or philosophical beliefs 

• trade union membership 

• genetics 

• biometrics  

• health (including disability-related information) 

• sex life; or 

• sexual orientation. 

By ‘criminal offence data’, we mean information relating to a living individual’s criminal convictions or offences or related security measures. 

3. Our legal basis for processing your personal data 

The collection of your personal data is lawful under article 6(1)(e) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation as it is necessary for the performance by MHCLG of a task in the public interest/in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller.  Section 8(d) of the Data Protection Act 2018 states that this will include processing of personal data that is necessary for the exercise of a function of the Crown, a Minister of the Crown or a government department i.e. in this case a call for evidence. 

Where necessary for the purposes of this call for evidence, our lawful basis for the processing of any special category personal data or ‘criminal offence’ data (terms explained under ‘Sensitive Types of Data’) which you submit in response to this call for evidence is as follows. The relevant lawful basis for the processing of special category personal data is Article 9(2)(g) UK GDPR (‘substantial public interest’), and Schedule 1 paragraph 6 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (‘statutory etc and government purposes’). The relevant lawful basis in relation to personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences data is likewise provided by Schedule 1 paragraph 6 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

4. With whom we will be sharing your personal data 

MHCLG may appoint a ‘data processor’, acting on behalf of the Department and under our instruction, to help analyse the responses to this call for evidence.  Where we do we will ensure that the processing of your personal data remains in strict accordance with the requirements of the data protection legislation. 

5. For how long we will keep your personal data, or criteria used to determine the retention period.  

Your personal data will be held for two years from the closure of the call for evidence, unless we identify that its continued retention is unnecessary before that point.

6. Your rights, e.g. access, rectification, restriction, objection 

The data we are collecting is your personal data, and you have considerable say over what happens to it. You have the right: 

a. to see what data we have about you 

b. to ask us to stop using your data, but keep it on record 

c. to ask to have your data corrected if it is incorrect or incomplete 

d. to object to our use of your personal data in certain circumstances 

e. to lodge a complaint with the independent Information Commissioner (ICO) if you think we are not handling your data fairly or in accordance with the law.  You can contact the ICO at https://ico.org.uk/, or telephone 0303 123 1113.  

Please contact us at the following address if you wish to exercise the rights listed above, except the right to lodge a complaint with the ICO: dataprotection@communities.gov.uk or

Knowledge and Information Access Team,
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government,
Fry Building,
2 Marsham Street,
London
SW1P 4DF

7. Your personal data will not be sent overseas. 

8. Your personal data will not be used for any automated decision making. 

9. Your personal data will be stored in a secure government IT system.