More than 20,000 social housing tenants still trapped in blocks with Grenfell-style cladding, says Labour

Of these, 20,160 are estimated to be living in social housing. This is based on government figures showing that 108 blocks in the sector, out of a total of 158 with ACM cladding, are still to be remediated. The numbers of dwellings in total is 8,400.

In the private sector, 93% of blocks with ACM cladding – 164 buildings – are yet to see remediation work, meaning an estimated 39,360 people remain at risk.

Mr Brokenshire last month committed £200m towards funding the removal of ACM cladding on private blocks.

But as Inside Housing revealed this morning, hundreds of leaseholders living in non-ACM blocks are still facing bills worth tens of thousands of pounds. Inside Housing is running a campaign – End Our Cladding Scandal – aimed at getting the government to help end the misery for those trapped in private blocks with dangerous cladding.

In her letter, Ms Jones said the £200m was welcome but “overdue”.

She added: “I am concerned that the government sees the latest fund as a panacea to the cladding scandal. But this is not the end – it is the start of a large body of work which should have been completed long ago.”

Last year the government committed £400m to remove ACM cladding from social housing blocks over 18 metres high.

However, Ms Jones claimed that this funding has still to be fully allocated and the removal and replacement of cladding has been too slow. Among a series of questions to Mr Brokenshire, she asked: “Can you confirm when both cladding funds will be fully distributed? And will you agree to Labour’s calls for a deadline to remove all flammable cladding from both private and social sector blocks?”

The MP for Croydon Central, where a high-profile dispute erupted over who should pick up the bill for recladding on the Citiscape block, also asked why non-ACM testing has not finished when the contract was due to end last November.

The government is currently testing high-pressure laminate cladding to the British Standards approved pass/fail criteria, according to Ms Jones’ letter. But she asks for all remaining non-ACM cladding to be tested to the same standard.

Meanwhile, Labour has committed to retrofit sprinklers in social housing tower blocks, through a £1bn fire safety fund. Ms Jones asked the government to match this commitment, in light of the fact that sprinklers are a legal requirement in all new high rises.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “There is nothing more important than making sure people are safe in their homes.

“That is why we have committed up to £600m to fund the removal and replacement of unsafe ACM cladding on high-rise social and private residential buildings.

“We have been clear that there are no more excuses and we expect buildings to be remediated as quickly as possible.

“We are backing local authorities to take enforcement action where building owners are refusing to remediate high-rise buildings with unsafe ACM cladding.”