Hello and welcome to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry podcast with me, Kate Lamble.

This week, the inquiry heard from senior managers at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

about the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire.

And we heard that the chief executive initially rejected offers of support because he had

great confidence in the council. However erroneously, I thought that the borough could achieve the

tasks immediately in front of it. And the inquiry heard reports that on the night after the fire,

some residents who'd been evacuated from nearby buildings

ended up sleeping in their cars or in parks.

There were people who unfortunately did not receive the level of care

that they should have done on that night of the 14th of June.

Let's get started with the evidence then.

In 2013, Nicholas Holgate was made Executive Director of Finance and shortly afterwards, Chief Executive and Town Clerk of the Royal

Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. That meant in normal times he was responsible for ensuring

good governance within council decisions. But during an emergency, it would be Nicholas

Holgate's responsibility to lead the council's response. Remember, local authorities hold a legal

responsibility to assess the risk of an emergency occurring and maintain plans to ensure they can

react in such a situation. On the morning of the 14th of June 2017,

Nicholas Holgate heard the news of a fire at Grenfell Tower around three in the morning.

He said he immediately called colleagues before arriving at Grenfell around 4.30.

I thought the most urgent thing was to via housing officers and social workers get practical support

to as many of the survivors as we could. Financial support, non-financial support where, for instance,

someone needed a medical prescription and that needed sorting out very quickly, and of course, shelter

...