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

This week, the inquiry turned to how central government responded to the aftermath of the disaster.

An email was shown written by the then Prime Minister, Theresa May,

containing some damning criticism of Kensington and Chelsea Council.

The one message that came over from my meeting, this PM, loud and clear, is about the utter

uselessness of K&C Council. They haven't been communicating with anyone.

Let's get started with the evidence then.

Catherine Hammond was the director of the civil contingencies secretariat or CCS

in the cabinet office which helps coordinate government departments. The first ministerial meeting on

Grenfell Tower wasn't held until four in the afternoon on the 14th of June around 15 hours

after the first 999 call. Despite regarding it as a serious incident,

Catherine Hammond said she was reassured

because there had been no requests that day for government assistance.

I think at that moment there wasn't a clear decision for central government to take.

There wasn't a clear ask for resources or for help.

We were certainly expecting that might come in the days ahead

as it headed into recovery phase, but there was no immediate and urgent thing that we needed to do.

But during the following day, concerns within government seem to have risen. In his written

statement, Stuart Wainwright, who led the Grenfell response

for the CCS unit, said that on the 15th of June, he became more concerned about whether

individuals affected by the fire were being looked after. A second meeting was held at 3.30

...