Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

The government does not believe that the New Homes Bonus is an effective incentive. It often rewards authorities for housebuilding that would have occurred in the absence of any incentive, and its efficacy is further blunted by the interactions with the remainder of the Settlement.

Local councils are responsible for their own spending. The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities.

The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that planning policies should pay particular regard to facilitating development to meet the needs of a modern economy, including by identifying suitable locations for uses such as data centres.

We laid the draft Infrastructure Planning (Business or Commercial Projects) (Amendment) Regulations in Parliament on 15 October which, if approved, will enable developers of certain proposed data centres on request to ‘opt in’ to the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects consenting regime. To support this change, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will prepare a new National Policy Statement for data centres which will set out the national policy for this sector and the policy framework for decision-making for data centre developments under that regime.

We are exploring whether further measures may be appropriate to support the delivery of AI infrastructure and will engage with the sector on this.

The government recognises that well-designed, suitable housing can help support older people to live independently for longer.

We will shortly set out our policy on accessible new build housing, reinforcing our commitment to ensuring everyone has access to a safe, suitable home.

The government is committed to enhancing provision and choice for older people in the housing market and we will continue to consider this issue as we develop our long-term housing strategy.

My Department purchases data from Glenigan covering planning applications for residential developments.

While the data contains some information on site starts, we do not judge this to be a robust and comprehensive picture of building starts and therefore do not use the data for this purpose.

Local planning authorities are required to maintain a register of brownfield sites that they have assessed as appropriate for residential development.

My Department has no current plans to undertake an annual audit of such registers.

My Department engages regularly with a range of stakeholders about our ongoing reforms to the planning system, including proposals to increase build out rates.

I refer the hon. Member to the proposals set out in the consultation on strengthening leaseholder protections over charges and services published on 4 July 2025 which can be found on gov.uk here. The consultation closed on 26 September, and we are analysing responses.

My Department publishes a quarterly release entitled ‘Housing supply: Indicators of New Supply, England’, which includes estimates of new build starts and completions in London. Statistics to the quarter ending June 2025 can be found in Table 217 on gov.uk here.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 63197 on 7 July 2025.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 69040 on 24 July 2025.

I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the government’s initial response to the independent New Towns Taskforce report published on 28 September which can be found on gov.uk here.

The New Homes Bonus has been paid in respect of over 2.9 million net additional homes since its introduction in 2011. This includes over 745,000 affordable homes and 65,000 long-term empty properties returned to use.

The government published its response to the Licensing Taskforce Report on 14 August. We continue to keep permitted development rights under review.

My Department has made no such assessment.

The purpose of the Common Ground Resilience Fund is set out in the Pride in Place Strategy. A key strand of the Fund is the Common Ground Award details of which can be found on gov.uk here.

The funding is for the 2025-26 Financial Year.

On 25 September, the government launched its overarching Pride in Place Strategy, committing up to £5 billion in funding and support to 339 communities.

The flagship Pride in Place Programme will provide up to £20 million in flexible funding and support to 244 places over the next decade. This will serve as the cornerstone of this government’s support for communities, incorporating the existing 25 trailblazer areas announced at Spending Review and the 75 Phase 1 Plan for Neighbourhoods programme areas that were announced in March.

The Long-Term Plan for Towns programme was launched in September 2023 by the previous administration. This programme was an unfunded commitment for which the previous administration had no plan as to how that promise would be delivered.

All 75 towns across the UK that were originally selected to receive Long-Term Plan for Towns funding will receive the funding under the Plan for Neighbourhoods package, which is now part of the Pride in Place Programme.

The Department has not issued any guidance to Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) to cover the circumstances where the Mayor cannot find a constituent member to act as their statutory deputy mayor. This situation has not arisen to date and no authority has requested advice.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 30^th October 2025 to question 85357 where I confirmed that the government has no plans to amend the current restrictions regarding Automatic Number Plate Recognition for local authorities.

The Government is committed to fixing the foundations of our electoral processes.

As set out in the policy paper, Restoring trust in our democracy: Our strategy for modern and secure elections (17/07/2025), the Government will introduce a package of measures intended to improve the resilience and capacity of the postal voting system overall. These measures include moving the postal vote application deadline forward by three working days. The deadline for candidate nominations will also be moved forward in order to allow returning officers more time to proof the ballot papers for printers, in turn giving more time for the next part of the process to get underway, and in particular to enable postal ballot papers to be printed and issued to postal voters at an earlier point.

These changes will benefit all administrators and voters, including those living overseas.

We recognise there have been operational challenges within the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), which is why we announced a series of reforms to strengthen it in June. Improvements to ensure applications are processed within the intended timeframes are already underway. These include:

• An Innovation Unit which assembles multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) in house to accelerate the processing of new build applications. The Innovation Unit is already demonstrating progress, with the majority of applications currently meeting or exceeding the 12-week service level agreement (SLA).
• A new ‘batching’ process for allowing applications from the same developer or organisation to be grouped. This consolidates the multi-disciplinary teams used to review applications into one organisation, significantly reducing processing delays while retaining BSR as the regulatory lead;

• Freeing up Class 3 Registered Building Inspectors to focus on new builds and remediation by enabling Class 2 Registered Building Inspectors to take on reviews of less complex building work;

• Improved communication with applicants, recruiting 100 additional staff, and greater use of staged and approvals with requirements to allow construction to begin safely.

The BSR previously committed to improving operations by December, with faster processing of new build applications and decisions on most of the existing new-build caseload. To increase transparency and accountability, the BSR published performance data on 16 October and will continue to do so on a monthly basis to track progress against this commitment.

My Department is regularly contacted by organisations with an interest in local government reorganisation. My officials also conduct regular meetings with a wide range of stakeholders to hear their views and insights, as part of the Department’s public engagement on the issue.

Officials must adhere to the Civil Service code at all times and abide by the Nolan Principles, which set out the standards expected of those in public life.

On 25 September, the Government launched its overarching Pride in Place Strategy, committing up to £5 billion in funding and support to 339 communities.

The flagship Pride in Place Programme will provide up to £20 million in flexible funding and support to 244 places over the next decade. This will serve as the cornerstone of this Government’s support for communities, incorporating the existing 25 trailblazer areas announced at Spending Review and the 75 Phase 1 Plan for Neighbourhoods programme areas that were announced in March. This Government is delivering in contrast to the empty unfunded promises that were made by the previous administration.

The Pride in Place funding is separate from programmes announced by the previous administration, including the Levelling Up Fund, and forms part of this Government’s new regeneration agenda to help build strong, resilient communities in areas facing the most entrenched social and economic challenges.

Single foundation strategic authorities will be non-mayoral. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill makes provision for the Secretary of State to designate a unitary council or county council, which is not covered by an existing strategic authority, as a single foundation strategic authority, subject to the consent of the council involved. The deepest powers and functions will be available to strategic authorities led by a mayor, as set out in the English Devolution White Paper.

I refer the Rt. Hon member to the answer given to Question UIN 78670 on 21 October 2025.

Worcester received £2.3m funding for only some of the activity within its original programme. This amendment was determined on the basis of representations received to the consultation. Prioritisation of funding considered a series of factors including: significant progress of work to date, imminent delivery, and/or the wider strategic impact of withdrawing funding on local regeneration efforts, as well as potential to boost economic growth.

Coventry, Worcester and Newport have been approved, and V&A Dundee, Venue Cymru, Conwy and Shore Road Skills Centre, Belfast are being processed.

The auction is the final stage of the High Street Rental Auction process which supports councils to reoccupy vacant commercial units. These powers were introduced in December 2024 and early adopter councils confirmed in March 2025. Since then, no council has reached the auction stage, but there are a number of councils that have reported closer engagement with landlords after designating the high street resulting in new lettings and sales of long term vacant units.

Since the powers were recently introduced, no specific assessment has yet been made, but the government is working closely with early adopter councils to support and monitor delivery.

The auction is the final stage of the High Street Rental Auction process which supports councils to reoccupy vacant commercial units. These powers were introduced in December 2024 and early adopter councils confirmed in March 2025. Since then, no council has reached the auction stage, but there are a number of councils that have reported closer engagement with landlords after designating the high street resulting in new lettings and sales of long term vacant units.

Since the powers were recently introduced, no specific assessment has yet been made, but the government is working closely with early adopter councils to support and monitor delivery.

Part O of the Building Regulations ensures new housing is built to mitigate the risk of overheating. This came into effect in June 2022.

Since October 2023, the Building Safety Regulator has a statutory duty under the Building Safety Act 2022 to keep the safety and standard of buildings under review. This includes continuous review of the Building Regulations and the Approved Documents, which provide statutory guidance on how to meet the functional requirements on the Regulations.

In the Future Homes and Buildings Standards consultation, which ran from December 2023 – March 2024, the Government sought views on whether the current overheating standards are appropriate or require amendment. We are reviewing proposals and feedback from the consultation and will publish the Government response in the coming months.

We are also engaging with industry via the Future Homes Hub to gain greater insight into how Part O is being implemented in practice.

Simplifying local government structures in Surrey will ensure a strong foundation for devolution. We are committed to working with partners across Surrey, including new unitary authorities once established, to establish a strategic authority for the area. This strategic authority would receive the functions at the appropriate level, whether Foundation or Mayoral, as set out in the devolution framework, subject to Royal Assent of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.

A strategic authority across Surrey will ensure that relevant functions held at the county level can continue to be delivered on that geographic footprint where possible, such as transport and adult skills. The establishment of a strategic authority will be subject to the relevant statutory tests being met and local consent. We will also ensure fire and rescue functions continue to be governed on the same geography.

My Department has had no recent discussions with Northumberland County Council, Hexham Town Council or relevant stakeholders regarding ‘inactive’ landlords in Northumberland or the wider North East.

My Department has had no recent discussions with Northumberland County Council, Hexham Town Council or relevant stakeholders regarding ‘inactive’ landlords in Northumberland or the wider North East.

Through Pride in Place we will rejuvenate high streets and tackle unwanted shops by giving local communities greater control to influence their high streets. We have announced a suite of tools including a Community Right to Buy for communities to take ownership of local buildings they value and streamlining the compulsory purchase process to help local authorities regenerate high streets.

Where units are vacant for a long time, councils can hold a High Street Rental Auction to ensure they are occupied and can choose whether to exclude certain uses to curate more diverse high streets. We will refresh the best practice guidance for councils’ powers under section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which will better enable councils to deal with street frontages in disrepair.

And by the end of the year, we will consult on a new set of planning reforms that make the system clearer, more rules-based, and easier to navigate - this includes ways to strengthen the long-term vitality and viability of town centres.

Article 13 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requiresthose responsible for fire safety in their premises to, where necessary, ensure it is equipped with appropriate fire-fighting equipment.

We published guidance for short term lets in April 2023 titled A Guide to making your small paying-guest-accommodation safe from fire which expands on this requirement and states the following:

In the event of a fire, evacuating the premises is the safest thing to do and guests should not be expected to use firefighting equipment. If you have staff on the premises, or if they regularly visit the premises, firefighting equipment should be provided, and staff should be trained on how to use the equipment. You should make sure that the instructions on how to use any firefighting equipment are clear, that there is a warning that evacuation is preferable, and that staff should not put themselves at risk or tackle anything other than a very small fire. In self-catering accommodation, although guests are not expected to use fire-fighting equipment, you may wish to provide a small fire extinguisher and/or fire blanket in the kitchen area.

We also published an update in 2024, which provides more detail on application of the Fire Safety Order to short term lets and expected fire safety standards in such premises.

I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 77534 on 17 October 2025.

It is the responsibility of fire and rescue authorities to ensure firefighters receive the training they need to safely respond to incidents, and to do so in light of their individual areas’ risk profiles and Community Risk Management Plans.

We will continue to work closely with stakeholders across the sector to ensure fire and rescue services have the resources they need to protect communities. Standalone fire and rescue authorities will see an increase in core spending power of up to £69.1 million in 2025-26: including the National Insurance Contribution Grant, this is an increase of 3.6% in cash terms compared to 2024-25. Decisions on how their resources are best deployed to meet their core functions and mitigate risks in their local areas are a matter for each fire and rescue authority.

Leaseholders involved in disputes may contact the government-funded Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) which provides free initial legal advice and information on leasehold, building safety, commonhold and park home issues for consumers.

The government is committed to ensuring that those living in the rented and leasehold sectors are protected from abuse and poor service at the hands of unscrupulous property agents.

Property agents must already belong to a government-approved redress scheme. This legislative requirement is currently enforced by local authorities and by the National Trading Standards’ Lettings and Estate Agency Team, who have the power to issue warnings and banning orders to rogue estate and letting agents.

The redress schemes publish data on the number of complaints they receive, the amount awarded to consumers, and maintain a public list of agents that have been expelled from their respective schemes.

Many leaseholders face persistent delays and high costs when trying to sell their properties. Currently, freeholders and managing agents are responsible for providing essential sales information, but they often have little incentive to do so efficiently. Homeowners living on private or mixed tenure estates, who contribute to the maintenance and upkeep of communal areas, can face similar challenges when trying to obtain relevant information from their estate manager. The government will take forward measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (LFRA) which will speed up the provision of information for leaseholders and homeowners on private or mixed tenure estates who wish to sell their property, and protect sellers from unreasonable fees when requesting this information.

The previous government committed to regulate the property agent sector in 2018 and asked a working group Chaired by Lord Best to advise them how to do it, yet it failed to respond to their findings from 2019. Managing agents play a key role in the maintenance of multi-occupancy buildings and freehold estates, and their importance will only increase as we transition toward a commonhold future, and so we are looking again at Lord Best’s 2019 report on regulating the property agent sector, particularly in light of the recommendations in the final Grenfell Inquiry report.

On 4 July 2025, we launched a wide-ranging consultation on proposals to hold landlords and managing agents to account for the services they provide and the charges and fees they levy. This included a number of proposals recommended by Lord Best, including the introduction of mandatory qualifications for managing agents and estate managers on freehold estates. We are clear that this consultation is not the final step in the regulation of managing agents and we will continue to reflect on the various other recommendations made in the 2019 report.

We will set out our full position on regulation of estate, letting and managing agents in due course.

The government is committed to ensuring that those living in the rented and leasehold sectors are protected from abuse and poor service at the hands of unscrupulous property agents.

Property agents must already belong to a government-approved redress scheme. This legislative requirement is currently enforced by local authorities and by the National Trading Standards’ Lettings and Estate Agency Team, who have the power to issue warnings and banning orders to rogue estate and letting agents.

The redress schemes publish data on the number of complaints they receive, the amount awarded to consumers, and maintain a public list of agents that have been expelled from their respective schemes.

Many leaseholders face persistent delays and high costs when trying to sell their properties. Currently, freeholders and managing agents are responsible for providing essential sales information, but they often have little incentive to do so efficiently. Homeowners living on private or mixed tenure estates, who contribute to the maintenance and upkeep of communal areas, can face similar challenges when trying to obtain relevant information from their estate manager. The government will take forward measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (LFRA) which will speed up the provision of information for leaseholders and homeowners on private or mixed tenure estates who wish to sell their property, and protect sellers from unreasonable fees when requesting this information.

The previous government committed to regulate the property agent sector in 2018 and asked a working group Chaired by Lord Best to advise them how to do it, yet it failed to respond to their findings from 2019. Managing agents play a key role in the maintenance of multi-occupancy buildings and freehold estates, and their importance will only increase as we transition toward a commonhold future, and so we are looking again at Lord Best’s 2019 report on regulating the property agent sector, particularly in light of the recommendations in the final Grenfell Inquiry report.

On 4 July 2025, we launched a wide-ranging consultation on proposals to hold landlords and managing agents to account for the services they provide and the charges and fees they levy. This included a number of proposals recommended by Lord Best, including the introduction of mandatory qualifications for managing agents and estate managers on freehold estates. We are clear that this consultation is not the final step in the regulation of managing agents and we will continue to reflect on the various other recommendations made in the 2019 report.

We will set out our full position on regulation of estate, letting and managing agents in due course.

The English Devolution White Paper and the Statutory Invitation set a guiding principle that new unitary councils should have a population size of 500,000 or more. We have been clear on the need for flexibility and there may be exceptions to ensure new structures make sense for an area. For the areas going through local government reorganisation, decisions will therefore be taken individually and proposals will be carefully considered against the criteria set out in the invitation letter of 5 February, alongside the responses to the consultation, all representations and all other relevant information to assess the proposals.

The White Paper also set out that the default assumption is for Strategic Authorities to have a combined population of 1.5 million or above, but we accept that in some places, smaller authorities may be necessary. Decisions on strategic authorities will also be on a case-by-case basis. Instead of presenting a top-down solution for each area, our starting point is to support and empower local leaders and to respect their knowledge, expertise and insight.

The Flexible Use of Capital Receipts general direction was introduced in 2016 by the previous government and remains substantively unchanged.

As set out in the general direction and guidance, local authorities intending to use the discretionary freedoms must provide the government with details of their planned use of the flexibility. This is to make sure that the government is adequately sighted on the use of the flexibility and can monitor how it is used. Government does not, however, approve the plans or any specific use of the flexibility. Local authorities remain responsible for appropriately complying with the direction and guidance, and ensuring their decisions are in the best interests of local residents.

Since 4 July 2025, MHCLG has received new and updated plans from 16 local authorities.

The government does not publish a list of authorities that have submitted plans or details that authorities have provided on the intended use of the flexibility – in some cases authorities may have chosen not to make this information public for reasons such as commercial sensitivity.

I refer the Rt. hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN: 77631 on 13 October 2025.

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill makes provision to prevent the creation of any new directly elected local authority mayors, whilst allowing for the continuation of 13 existing ‘legacy’ directly elected council mayors. The English Devolution White Paper made clear that single foundation strategic authorities will be non-mayoral. The Government will consider non-mayoral devolution arrangements for a single local authorities by exception. The Government’s preference remains for strategic authorities which bring together more than one local authority over a larger, strategic geography.

The Government regularly engages with small business representative organisations to garner their views. The ongoing Law Commission work, as set out in my answer to PQ UIN(s): 77535, has already involved a formal consultation with the commercial sector and is likely to include more engagement. There are currently no plans to require commercial landlords to publish standardised information on rent or service charges.