Fire safety official admits tests showed cladding danger 15 years before Grenfell

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.