Asked by: Lord Hunt of Wirral (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment it has made of the practical incentives, other than retention payments, available to ensure good building construction practices.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Since 2023, dutyholders, including clients, principal contractors and principal designers, are regulated through the building control process. Prosecutions may be brought for breaches of the building regulations under Section 35 of the Building Act 1984 where appropriate. The government has also accepted a recommendation of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Report to introduce principal contractor licensing, to ensure principal contractors working on higher-risk buildings are appropriately competent. We are progressing work to develop this recommendation, which includes a review of the dutyholder regime and whether it is working as intended. This will inform the design of an effective licensing scheme. We expect to publish the findings from the review in late 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what requests, if any, Homes England has made to (1) the National Housing Federation, and (2) registered providers of social housing, to reduce bids in the first three years following the implementation of the Social and Affordable Homes Programme.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
During the competitive assessment process for strategic partnerships under the Social and Affordable Homes Programme, Homes England asked bidders to consider how much of their grant funding would be drawn down each year. They were not asked to reduce the total grant they had bid for.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of paragraph 5.9 of the Explanatory Memorandum to the Local Authorities (Changes to Years of Ordinary Elections) (England) Order 2026, whether they will publish the representations received from councils, elected representatives, and political groups.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has no plans to publish the representations received.
Asked by: Lord Gilbert of Panteg (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the press release New PM says government can bring back hope to Britain, and launches drive to end rough sleeping at the earliest opportunity, published on 20 July, whether additional funding has been allocated to the MHCLG budget over and above (1) its existing spending review settlement, and (2) planned homelessness funding; what is the profile of the announced £340 million funding in each individual year; and whether any other programmes have been reprofiled or deprioritised to finance the rough sleeping programme.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Spending Review 2025 set MHCLG’s departmental budgets until 2028-29 for resource spending and 2029-30 for capital investment. No additional funding has been allocated to MHCLG beyond that settlement for this announcement. We have already provided record levels of funding to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. The £340 million is from within existing MHCLG budgets that had not yet been committed to specific spending plans. This means that the announcement does not require the reprofiling or reprioritisation of programmes already underway. The profile of the £340 million will be finalised in due course.
Asked by: Lord Murphy of Torfaen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Welsh government regarding the executive co-operation between Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent councils as a plausible model for English local government.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We are not aware of any discussions which have taken place with the Welsh Government regarding the specifics of the executive co-operation arrangements of Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent councils. With Local Government being devolved, this would be a matter for Welsh Government to consider. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is continuing to work with the Welsh Government and local authorities in Wales to deliver a range of funded programmes to support communities and local growth, including through the Pride in Place Programme and Local Growth Fund.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what evidence they have gathered in support of their position against rent controls, including regarding their impact on likely levels of (1) rent, and (2) property to rent in the private sector.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department regularly reviews research and evidence related to various aspects of the private rented sector.
The government has no plans to introduce rent controls in the private rented sector.
Rent inflation in England has been easing since the end of 2024. Average rents in England increased by 3.4% in the 12 months to June, down from a peak of 9.2% in November 2024. In England, annual rent inflation was lowest in London, at 2.2%.
Asked by: Lord Caine (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications for Northern Ireland of the Prime Minister's stated intention to end rough sleeping across the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Housing and homelessness policy and legislation are devolved matters. The Northern Ireland Executive is responsible for homelessness policy, legislation and services in Northern Ireland, including the development of its own homelessness strategies. MHCLG's homelessness strategy applies to England only.
We continue to engage with counterparts in the devolved administrations to share learning and discuss issues of common interest, including homelessness.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether it remains their policy to deliver 1.5 million new homes over the duration of this Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Yes, the government remains committed to its ambitious Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England in this Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are considering introducing statutory zero-carbon building standards.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In March 2026, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published an update to the energy efficiency standards in the Building Regulations: the Future Homes Standard (FHS).
Under this new standard, which will come into force from March 2027, all new homes will need to have excellent insulation, low carbon heating systems, and in most cases, solar panels to boost our energy security with clean, homegrown power. New homes built to these standards will be zero carbon ready, meaning they will become zero carbon once the national grid is fully decarbonised and will require no further retrofitting to meet net zero.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 14 July (HL1444) what assessment they have made of the need, if any, to collect information about the number of houses being built with air conditioning in future years.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Part O of the Building Regulations requires that new residential buildings are built to mitigate the risk of overheating. Mechanical cooling, including air conditioning, may be used to meet the Part O requirements where all reasonably practicable steps have been taken to minimise overheating through passive means. Part O, like other Building Regulations, is set in performance terms rather than mandating or prohibiting particular technologies or design solutions.
The Government recognises the value of good quality evidence to support the effective operation of the Building Regulations and has committed to a full technical review of Part O to ensure it is effective and proportionate. As part of this review, we will consider what information may be useful to better understand how industry is complying with the overheating requirements.