Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to introduce a requirement for local planning authorities to include targets for social rented housing within their local plans.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 107221 on 28 January 2025.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January, Question 107071, whether his Department or any body administering Government-backed loan guarantees or financing facilities have undertaken any quantitative modelling or formal assessment of the impact of the rent review provisions in the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 on (a) cash-flow certainty, (b) valuation assumptions or (c) default risk for build-to-rent developments.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 107071 on 28 January.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department will respond to the consultation entitled Reforms to the statutory consultee system which closed on 13 January 2026.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
A government response will be published in due course.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when the new local plan-making regulations will be introduced.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 27 November 2025 (HCWS1104).
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his department is taking to expand leaseholder right of first refusal.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to implementing measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 to make enfranchisement cheaper and easier.
The Act sets the method for calculating the price of a statutory lease extension or freehold acquisition, known as the valuation process. It removes the requirement for marriage value to be paid, caps the treatment of ground rents in the valuation calculation at 0.1% of the freehold value, and allows government to prescribe the rates used to calculate the enfranchisement premium.
Valuation rates used to calculate the enfranchisement premium will be set by the Secretary of State in secondary legislation. We will consult on valuation rates and commence the relevant provisions as soon as possible.
As per my Written Ministerial Statement of 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), primary legislation will be required to rectify a small number of specific flaws in the 2024 Act before the Act’s enfranchisement provisions are commenced.
Once brought into force, these measures, together with the already implemented removal of the two-year qualifying rule for enfranchisement, will mean leaseholders will be able to buy their freehold at any time, at a fair price.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 17 November 2025 to Question 87778 on Affordable Housing: Construction, what proportion of funding from the new Programme will be used to purchase homes that have (a) already been started and (b) built through different schemes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The new Social and Affordable Homes Programme will permit a limited number of acquisitions.
For further information, please see the policy statement published by the Department on 7 November which can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to issue guidance to local authorities on pursuing Community Infrastructure Levy charges where homeowners have become liable as a result of administrative errors.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 105228 on 21 January 2026.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment has been made of the effectiveness of national planning policy in securing the long-term management and maintenance of public open spaces in residential developments.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is currently consulting on a new National Planning Policy Framework that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making. The consultation includes proposals relating to the provision of new or improved open space.
The consultation on changes to the NPPF is available on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
I also refer my hon. Friend to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 18 December 2025 (HCWS1210).
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the telecommunication cables by the Royal Mint site will be amended or moved when the Chinese Embassy is built.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Details of the development for which planning permission has been granted in the case in question are set out in the relevant decision letter which can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the number of social rented homes built through the planning system in Bedford and in England over the past five years.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The number of social rented homes delivered in each local planning authority through Section 106 agreements (S106) since 1991-92 is available in Live Table 1011, on gov.uk here.
I otherwise refer the hon. Member to the answers given to Questions UIN 101017 on 6 January 2026 and UIN 107221 on 28 January 2026, and to the Written Ministerial Statements made on 2 July 2025 (HCWS771) and 28 January 2026 (HCWS1283 and HCWS1286).