Brandon Lewis is first government minister to give evidence at inquiry in London

Calls to regulate against the potential incompetence of people who check fire risks in buildings before the Grenfell Tower disaster were dismissed by government ministers because of an “ideological” aversion to increasing red tape, the public inquiry has heard.

Two coroners investigating earlier fire fatalities, the London fire brigade commissioner and the government’s own chief fire adviser were among experts who asked ministers to toughen scrutiny of fire risk assessors, according to testimony heard during cross-examination of Brandon Lewis, the first government minister to give evidence.

In evidence to inquiry, Anthony Burd denies there was a cover-up of the results of taxpayer-funded tests

A senior official has admitted the government knew 15 years before the Grenfell Tower disaster that plastic-filled cladding panels – which fuelled the fatal fire – burned “fast and fierce” and he believed they should not be used on tall buildings.

But the results of tests were not published, and on Monday Anthony Burd, the principal fire safety professional and later head of technical policy in the government’s building regulations division from 2000 to 2013, denied there was a cover-up.

KCTMO censored blog by Grenfell Action Group which warned of a potentially disastrous fire, inquiry hears

Grenfell Tower’s landlord blocked staff computers from accessing a residents’ blog which raised concerns about the building’s refurbishment and warned of a potentially disastrous fire, the inquiry into the 14 June 2017 blaze has heard.

The Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) considered the Grenfell Action Group blog “scaremongering and potentially frightening to the residents”. It blocked access to it on its servers so staff working on the project could not view posts from around 2013 onwards.

Inquiry hears Arconic failed to share results with certifiers despite being ‘legally obliged’ to do so

The company that made the cladding panels used on Grenfell Tower did not tell certifiers about a “disastrous” failed fire test on one of its products despite being “legally obliged” to do so, the inquiry into the fire has heard.

Claude Schmidt, the president of Arconic’s French arm, denied the test results were “deliberately concealed”, but agreed the omission amounted to a “misleading half truth” during proceedings on Wednesday.