Local government secretary Michael Gove has urged councils to commit to providing their housing enforcement teams with the ‘resources and tool they need to act now’.

The letter comes after two-year-old Awaab Ishak’s inquest found he died from a respiratory condition in a one-bedroom housing association flat in Rochdale, which prompted Mr Gove to request councils assess ‘damp and mould hazards in private rented properties in your areas and the action you have taken to remediate them’.