appointed the director of development and property at the Barnet Group<\/a>, which manages the borough\u2019s 13,000 council homes, on a salary of \u00a3157,078, a move described by bereaved families and survivors as \u201coutrageous and disrespectful\u201d.<\/p>\nIn a letter to Joe Powell, the Labour MP for Kensington and Bayswater where Grenfell Tower stood, the company confirmed that Johnson was \u201cno longer employed by The Barnet Group\u201d.<\/p>\n
Eamon McGoldrick, the chair of the board, said in the letter: \u201cWe fully recognise the depth of feeling surrounding the Grenfell Tower tragedy and its continuing impact on bereaved families, survivors, residents and the wider community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also fully acknowledge legitimate public interest concerning governance of senior appointments.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he could not go into specific details about Johnson\u2019s situation and it is not clear exactly what led to Johnson\u2019s job being terminated.<\/p>\n
It is understood that Angela Rayner, the housing secretary, wrote to the Barnet Group last month asking for further information about Johnson\u2019s appointment and on what basis it was made.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Grenfell United, which represents survivors and bereaved families, welcomed the news and said it was a \u201cscandal\u201d Johnson had been given the role.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than nine years after Grenfell, it should not take bereaved families and survivors campaigning for a housing organisation to take the inquiry\u2019s findings seriously,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this does not end with Johnson. Others whose conduct was singled out by the Grenfell Tower public inquiry continue to hold positions of authority, have responsibility for health and safety, and draw large salaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe inquiry\u2019s findings are there for everyone to read, yet those criticised continue their careers as though nothing has happened. It is an outrage that such damning findings have done nothing to stop them being entrusted with public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Powell said: \u201cIt\u2019s totally inappropriate for any individual criticised by the inquiry to continue to work in housing, particularly while criminal investigations are ongoing. It\u2019s right that Laura Johnson is no longer in such a position.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Grenfell Tower inquiry was clear about the failings of the RBKC and senior individuals involved in the management of their housing, including the tower.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last month, a Barnet Group spokesperson insisted Johnson was the \u201cstrongest candidate\u201d for the role in a competitive field, and that it had considered her \u201cprofessional experience, subsequent performance, references, qualifications and overall suitability for the role\u201d.<\/p>\n
A Barnet Group spokesperson said: \u201cWe can confirm that Laura Johnson is no longer employed by The Barnet Group.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn common with any employer, we owe obligations of confidentiality to those working for us, applying for, or being considered for any role at any level. For that reason, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last month the Metropolitan police said it had asked prosecutors to consider charges including manslaughter and fraud<\/a> against 54 individuals, and 20 companies and organisations, in relation to the Grenfell fire.<\/p>\nThe Crown Prosecution Service said charging decisions would be made before the 10th anniversary of the disaster on 14 June 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A housing director who oversaw cost cutting at Grenfell Tower before the fatal fire has left a \u00a3150,000-a-year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-800293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}