The Joint Committee on the Palace of Westminster was a Joint Select Committee appointed to assess the options contained within an independent assessment report on a proposed major restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster and "make recommendations on a preferred way forward".
[2] In July 2016 Construction News reported: A crucial report on the Palace of Westminster's multi-billion-pound restoration project has been delayed to an unspecified date, The Grade-I listed building, which forms part of a Unesco world heritage site, needs urgent repairs and building work to safeguard it from fire, water damage, security threats and dilapidation.
But a parliamentary committee report recommending a way forward – expected in “early 2016” – has been delayed until at least the autumn and there is no date scheduled for its publication.
A spokesperson from the joint committee on the Palace of Westminster confirmed that it would not be published before the summer recess, which started on Thursday [21 June].
[4] In September 2016, SNP member Neil Gray proposed "the Joint Committee declines to consider a draft Report until it has given full consideration to the possibility of constructing a permanent new Parliamentary building, while finding an alternative future use for the Palace of Westminster; notes that this option was included in the Pre-Feasibility Study and Preliminary Strategic Business Case published in October 2012 but was rejected by the House of Commons Commission and the House of Lords House Committee at that stage; and resolves to apply the same rigorous scrutiny to the possible construction of a new Parliamentary building as it has applied to the other options for delivering the Restoration and Renewal Programme, before making a recommendation about the best option for carrying out the works" the committee voted 11/1 against this proposal.