The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities supports communities across the UK to thrive, making them great places to live and work.
This inquiry is looking at how better planning and building and urban design in England could enhance the health and …
Oral Answers to Questions is a regularly scheduled appearance where the Secretary of State and junior minister will answer at the Dispatch Box questions from backbench MPs
Other Commons Chamber appearances can be:Westminster Hall debates are performed in response to backbench MPs or e-petitions asking for a Minister to address a detailed issue
Written Statements are made when a current event is not sufficiently significant to require an Oral Statement, but the House is required to be informed.
A Bill to make provision to prevent public bodies from being influenced by political or moral disapproval of foreign states when taking certain economic decisions, subject to certain exceptions; and for connected purposes.
A bill to prohibit the grant or assignment of certain new long residential leases of houses, to amend the rights of tenants under long residential leases to acquire the freeholds of their houses, to extend the leases of their houses or flats, and to collectively enfranchise or manage the buildings containing their flats, to give such tenants the right to reduce the rent payable under their leases to a peppercorn, to regulate the relationship between residential landlords and tenants, to regulate residential estate management, to regulate rentcharges and to amend the Building Safety Act 2022 in connection with the remediation of building defects and the insolvency of persons who have repairing obligations relating to certain kinds of buildings.
A Bill to make provision for expenditure by the Secretary of State and the removal of restrictions in respect of certain land for or in connection with the construction of a Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre.
A Bill to make provision changing the law about rented homes, including provision abolishing fixed term assured tenancies and assured shorthold tenancies; imposing obligations on landlords and others in relation to rented homes and temporary and supported accommodation; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to make provision for the setting of levelling-up missions and reporting on progress in delivering them; about local democracy; about town and country planning; about Community Infrastructure Levy; about the imposition of Infrastructure Levy; about environmental outcome reports for certain consents and plans; about regeneration; about the compulsory purchase of land; about information and records relating to land, the environment or heritage; for the provision for pavement licences to be permanent; about governance of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors; about vagrancy and begging; and for connected purposes.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 26th October 2023 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to make provision about non-domestic rating.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 26th October 2023 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to make provision about the regulation of social housing; about the terms of approved schemes for the investigation of housing complaints; and for connected purposes.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 20th July 2023 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to make provision about the safety of people in or about buildings and the standard of buildings, to amend the Architects Act 1997, and to amend provision about complaints made to a housing ombudsman.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 28th April 2022 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to make provision about the administration and conduct of elections, including provision designed to strengthen the integrity of the electoral process; about overseas electors; about voting and candidacy rights of EU citizens; about the designation of a strategy and policy statement for the Electoral Commission; about the membership of the Speaker's Committee; about the Electoral Commission's functions in relation to criminal proceedings; about financial information to be provided by a political party on applying for registration; for preventing a person being registered as a political party and being a recognised non-party campaigner at the same time; about regulation of expenditure for political purposes; about disqualification of offenders for holding elective offices; about information to be included in electronic campaigning material; and for connected purposes.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 28th April 2022 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to make provision about the rent payable under long leases of dwellings; and for connected purposes
This Bill received Royal Assent on 8th February 2022 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to make provision about matters attributable to coronavirus that may not be taken account of in making certain determinations for the purposes of non-domestic rating; and to make provision in connection with the disqualification of directors of companies that are dissolved without becoming insolvent.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 15th December 2021 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to confer relief from non-domestic rates for hereditaments in England and Wales
This Bill received Royal Assent on 29th April 2021 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to make provision to change the dates on which non-domestic rating lists must be compiled; and to change the dates by which proposed lists must be sent to billing authorities, the Secretary of State or the Welsh Ministers.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 15th March 2021 and was enacted into law.
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
Make swift bricks compulsory in new housing to help red-listed birds
Gov Responded - 1 Dec 2022 Debated on - 10 Jul 2023Swifts have declined by over 50% in the UK. Adult swifts, known for site-fidelity, return to the same nests. We want swift bricks to be required in all new housing, to provide homes for these birds. Surveys show these are used by red-listed swifts, house martins, starlings and house sparrows.
Require councils to suspend council tax payments during the coronavirus outbreak
Gov Responded - 15 Apr 2020During the coronavirus outbreak it is important that people have money for essentials such as utilities and food. The Government should require councils to suspend council tax payments, and directly fund local government operations, for the duration of the outbreak.
Mark Allen's Law - we want throwline stations around all bodies of open water
Gov Responded - 1 Jul 2021 Debated on - 24 Jan 2022Mark Allen, aged 18, drowned after jumping into a freezing reservoir on a hot day in June 2018.
In May 2019 we watched whilst 3 throwlines were installed where he died.
Mark could have possibly been saved if they were in place beforehand.
Commons Select Committees are a formally established cross-party group of backbench MPs tasked with holding a Government department to account.
At any time there will be number of ongoing investigations into the work of the Department, or issues which fall within the oversight of the Department. Witnesses can be summoned from within the Government and outside to assist in these inquiries.
Select Committee findings are reported to the Commons, printed, and published on the Parliament website. The government then usually has 60 days to reply to the committee's recommendations.
Since the Council was announced in the Safeguarding the Union Command Paper, UK Government officials have been engaging with The Executive Office to establish the first meeting of the Council. The Secretary of State will be setting out further details about the Council soon.
The Secretary of State is establishing The Supported Housing Advisory Panel in accordance with the duty set out in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023. The primary focus of the Panel will be delivering better outcomes for people, and a fairer, more just approach to supported housing for the most vulnerable, as the measures in the Act are developed and implemented.
We will be recruiting the members through open competition and the advert will be open shortly.
It is for local planning authorities to determine the type of employment land that is needed in their area, and local plans should make sufficient provision for employment and other commercial development. Local policies are expected to be supported by a robust evidence base to understand existing business needs, reflecting local circumstances and market conditions.
The department does not hold the information requested.
The Government is supporting local authorities to reduce homelessness and rough sleeping through, for example, the Homelessness Prevention Grant (HPG) and the Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI). Allocations of Government funding are published on gov.uk.
DLUHC’s dedicated team of homelessness and rough sleeping advisers also work regularly with local authorities to provide expert support in tackling homelessness and rough sleeping in their area.
85 local authorities that received Levelling Up Parks Fund funding were invited to apply for the chess tables funding. In total, 55 local authorities applied for the funding. We have provided funding to those 55 local authorities to install 99 chess tables across England.
We have asked local authorities to consider how the location they choose creates new opportunities, helps to strengthen relationships, builds local social cohesion and provides opportunities for people to come together in a joint activity.
Prior to the announcement of funding, we engaged stakeholders across Government, as well as local authorities and the English Chess Federation.
Local authorities know their communities best and are best placed to manage the use and assess the effects of the chess tables locally, if they choose to do so.
Any decisions to provide chess sets are for local authorities to take.
Further announcements will be set out in the usual way.
85 local authorities that received Levelling Up Parks Fund funding were invited to apply for the chess tables funding. In total, 55 local authorities applied for the funding. We have provided funding to those 55 local authorities to install 99 chess tables across England.
We have asked local authorities to consider how the location they choose creates new opportunities, helps to strengthen relationships, builds local social cohesion and provides opportunities for people to come together in a joint activity.
Prior to the announcement of funding, we engaged stakeholders across Government, as well as local authorities and the English Chess Federation.
Local authorities know their communities best and are best placed to manage the use and assess the effects of the chess tables locally, if they choose to do so.
Any decisions to provide chess sets are for local authorities to take.
Further announcements will be set out in the usual way.
85 local authorities that received Levelling Up Parks Fund funding were invited to apply for the chess tables funding. In total, 55 local authorities applied for the funding. We have provided funding to those 55 local authorities to install 99 chess tables across England.
We have asked local authorities to consider how the location they choose creates new opportunities, helps to strengthen relationships, builds local social cohesion and provides opportunities for people to come together in a joint activity.
Prior to the announcement of funding, we engaged stakeholders across Government, as well as local authorities and the English Chess Federation.
Local authorities know their communities best and are best placed to manage the use and assess the effects of the chess tables locally, if they choose to do so.
Any decisions to provide chess sets are for local authorities to take.
Further announcements will be set out in the usual way.
85 local authorities that received Levelling Up Parks Fund funding were invited to apply for the chess tables funding. In total, 55 local authorities applied for the funding. We have provided funding to those 55 local authorities to install 99 chess tables across England.
We have asked local authorities to consider how the location they choose creates new opportunities, helps to strengthen relationships, builds local social cohesion and provides opportunities for people to come together in a joint activity.
Prior to the announcement of funding, we engaged stakeholders across Government, as well as local authorities and the English Chess Federation.
Local authorities know their communities best and are best placed to manage the use and assess the effects of the chess tables locally, if they choose to do so.
Any decisions to provide chess sets are for local authorities to take.
Further announcements will be set out in the usual way.
The Culture Top Slice of the Levelling Up Fund has now been allocated. Details were set out at Budget. Further announcements will be set out in the usual way.
We are currently consulting on changes to the householder permitted development rights to allow bin and bike stores in front gardens without the need for a planning application.
The consultation is open until 9 April 2024 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changes-to-various-permitted-development-rights-consultation.
We are taking action to speed up determinations for planning applications in a number of ways. Reforms in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act seek to streamline the development management process and support decisions which are timely, transparent, and of high quality.
The Government has also recently increased planning fees and provided a range of new funding streams through the Government’s capacity and capability programme, including the £29 million Planning Skills Delivery Fund to provide local planning authorities with additional resources needed to deliver a high quality and timely planning service.
In addition to this, on 6 March the Government launched an Accelerated Planning Service consultation. This sets out measures to offer a new application route with accelerated decision dates for major commercial applications and fee refunds wherever these are not met. It also includes measures to more closely monitor the performance of local planning authorities in making decisions within statutory periods rather than using extension of time agreements.
The department’s most comprehensive measure of housing supply is our annual release entitled ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’. This includes estimates of new homes added in each local authority, but does not show figures at the constituency level.
You can find data for Oldham Council here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-net-supply-of-housing.
Information on the number of shared owners who have staircased to full ownership is publicly available from our live tables on social housing sales.
The department collects information on the number of households living in Shared Ownership homes via the English Housing Survey.
It is not possible to distinguish between Rent to Buy – Shared Ownership and other Shared Ownership products in these datasets.
Information on the number of shared owners who have staircased to full ownership is publicly available from our live tables on social housing sales.
The department collects information on the number of households living in Shared Ownership homes via the English Housing Survey.
It is not possible to distinguish between Rent to Buy – Shared Ownership and other Shared Ownership products in these datasets.
We have committed to strengthening national planning policy so that it better supports the needs of Research and Development, and will consult on these changes in due course.
We are also working to make investment in this sector more attractive. This includes working with local planning authorities to encourage the use of proactive planning tools, such as Local Development Orders, to make it easier to bring forward development.
To support this, the Autumn Statement announced £5 million of funding to help local planning authorities prepare Local Development Orders for commercial development.
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 16908 on 11 March 2024.
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 16908 on 11 March 2024.
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 16908 on 11 March 2024.
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 16908 on 11 March 2024.
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 16908 on 11 March 2024.
As the Government’s housing and regeneration agency, Homes England is tasked with accelerating house building and regeneration in all areas of the country. The brownfield regeneration scheme being supported at Canary Wharf includes over 500 homes in an area of high demand, responding to significant local need.
The Home Building Fund – Infrastructure Loans (HBF-IL) programme which supports this scheme provides infrastructure loans for mixed-use developments throughout England. Details of selection criteria can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/home-building-fund-infrastructure-loans.
We expect developers that signed the developer remediation contract with Government to meet their obligation to remediate the buildings for which they are responsible as quickly as reasonably practicable.
The length of time it may reasonably take to remediate a building will vary depending on factors such as the scale of works required, cooperation of third parties in finalising a works contract, and risk-based prioritisation by the developer of the buildings which the developer is responsible for remediating.
Developers are obliged to send regular progress reports to the department. The latest progress report is available on gov.uk and the next report will be published this month. The department monitors progress closely. Any developer that fails to comply with its obligations will face consequence.
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 16976 on 7 March 2024.
I wish to be clear with the Hon Member once more. My visit to Tamworth was a political visit. It was arranged through political channels.
I notified the Hon Member ahead of visiting her constituency as per parliamentary protocols.
Furthermore, she should note that the cost of answering a written ministerial question has previously been estimated to be in region of £150. I have so far answered multiple questions on this subject.
To put it in perspective, the train ticket I purchased to visit Tamworth (at no cost to the taxpayer) cost £5.60.
If the honourable lady would like to meet me to discuss any of these matters further, at a far cheaper cost to the taxpayer, I am happy to facilitate such a meeting.
But I would prefer to discuss how this Government can level up all parts of this great country, including of course Tamworth.
I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 14293 on 26 February 2024.
Current leaseholder protection guidance published 21 July 2022 on gov.uk sets out that leaseholder-owned buildings includes:
(a) collectively enfranchised buildings – where some, or all, of the qualifying leaseholders have bought the building’s freehold;
(b) any building where leaseholders directly own the freehold, including through a company, where there is no separate freeholder; and,
(c) other circumstances where the freehold is owned 100% by one or more leaseholders.
The effective date in relation to the leaseholder protections under the Building Safety Act 2022 is 14 February 2022.
Current leaseholder protection guidance published 21 July 2022 on gov.uk sets out that leaseholder-owned buildings includes:
(a) collectively enfranchised buildings – where some, or all, of the qualifying leaseholders have bought the building’s freehold;
(b) any building where leaseholders directly own the freehold, including through a company, where there is no separate freeholder; and,
(c) other circumstances where the freehold is owned 100% by one or more leaseholders.
The effective date in relation to the leaseholder protections under the Building Safety Act 2022 is 14 February 2022.
Current leaseholder protection guidance published 21 July 2022 on gov.uk sets out that leaseholder-owned buildings includes:
(a) collectively enfranchised buildings – where some, or all, of the qualifying leaseholders have bought the building’s freehold;
(b) any building where leaseholders directly own the freehold, including through a company, where there is no separate freeholder; and,
(c) other circumstances where the freehold is owned 100% by one or more leaseholders.
The effective date in relation to the leaseholder protections under the Building Safety Act 2022 is 14 February 2022.
I refer the Noble Lady to the answer given to Question UIN 16272 on 5 March 2024.
I refer the Hon Member to paragraph 2.13 of the Ministerial Code which states: “The fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised and the content of their advice must not be disclosed outside Government without their authority”.
The Government is committed to supporting housing co-operatives and other providers of community-led housing. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out the Government's planning policies for England and how these are expected to be applied, and was most recently revised in December 2023. The National Planning Policy Framework now includes several measures that will support the diversification of the housing market, including the growth of the community-led housing sector. These new measures include:
Community-based groups (or their partner organisations) who are registered as providers of social housing may apply for capital grant through the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme (AHP).
In addition, in 2023, we provided £3 million to support a social finance fund to provide equity and loan finance for community-led housing schemes across England. This fund is expected to support the delivery of 1587 homes over ten years.
The Government has committed to updating a number of National Policy Statements which will support the Government’s long-term ambitions to improve infrastructure, productivity and energy generation across the country.
Whilst we do not have current plans to introduce a National Policy Statement for visitor attractions, we would be happy to receive further representations on this issue.
Certain business and commercial projects, which could include projects relating to leisure and tourism, can, on request, be directed into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects consenting regime, provided the Secretary of State is satisfied that such projects are ones of national significance.
I refer the Hon member to the answer given to Question UIN 14293 on 26 February 2024.
The Government is committed to safeguarding the UK’s elections and already has established systems and processes in place, to protect the democratic integrity of the UK.
The Government has established the Defending Democracy Taskforce, which has a mandate to safeguard our democratic institutions and processes from the full range of threats, including digitally manipulated content. The Taskforce is an enduring government function which is ensuring we have a robust system in place to rapidly respond to any threats during election periods, including novel threats from artificial intelligence (AI).
The new digital imprints regime, introduced by the Elections Act 2022, will increase the transparency of digital political advertising, including AI-generated material.
Additionally, it is already an election offence for a person to make a false statement about a candidate which provides a reasonable check and balance against malicious smear campaigns.
The threat to democracy from artificial intelligence was discussed at the AI Safety Summit in November 2023, reinforcing the Government’s commitment to international collaboration on this shared challenge.
By law all variable service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate to works or services, the works or services must be of a reasonable standard and leaseholders may challenge them at the property tribunal. It is also a legal requirement for managing and letting agents in England to belong to one of the two Government approved redress schemes.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will make it easier for leaseholders to scrutinise costs and challenge the services provided by both landlords and property managing agents. The Bill includes measures to require landlords to provide further information to leaseholders upfront and increase the transparency of their service charges and administration charges, as well as providing more information to leaseholders when requested.
For those homeowners on private and mixed tenure freehold estates, the Bill will also give them rights to challenge costs at the tribunal and improved rights of transparency of costs and services.
The Government intends to work closely with stakeholders to determine the detail of how the measures will work to protect leaseholders, which will be set out in secondary legislation.
These measures, alongside existing protections and work undertaken by industry, will make property managing agents more accountable to the leaseholders and homeowners on freehold estates that pay for their services, and we will keep under review the need for further regulation in the sector.
By law all variable service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate to works or services, the works or services must be of a reasonable standard and leaseholders may challenge them at the property tribunal. It is also a legal requirement for managing and letting agents in England to belong to one of the two Government approved redress schemes.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will make it easier for leaseholders to scrutinise costs and challenge the services provided by both landlords and property managing agents. The Bill includes measures to require landlords to provide further information to leaseholders upfront and increase the transparency of their service charges and administration charges, as well as providing more information to leaseholders when requested.
For those homeowners on private and mixed tenure freehold estates, the Bill will also give them rights to challenge costs at the tribunal and improved rights of transparency of costs and services.
The Government intends to work closely with stakeholders to determine the detail of how the measures will work to protect leaseholders, which will be set out in secondary legislation.
These measures, alongside existing protections and work undertaken by industry, will make property managing agents more accountable to the leaseholders and homeowners on freehold estates that pay for their services, and we will keep under review the need for further regulation in the sector.
By law all variable service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate to works or services, the works or services must be of a reasonable standard and leaseholders may challenge them at the property tribunal. It is also a legal requirement for managing and letting agents in England to belong to one of the two Government approved redress schemes.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will make it easier for leaseholders to scrutinise costs and challenge the services provided by both landlords and property managing agents. The Bill includes measures to require landlords to provide further information to leaseholders upfront and increase the transparency of their service charges and administration charges, as well as providing more information to leaseholders when requested.
For those homeowners on private and mixed tenure freehold estates, the Bill will also give them rights to challenge costs at the tribunal and improved rights of transparency of costs and services.
The Government intends to work closely with stakeholders to determine the detail of how the measures will work to protect leaseholders, which will be set out in secondary legislation.
These measures, alongside existing protections and work undertaken by industry, will make property managing agents more accountable to the leaseholders and homeowners on freehold estates that pay for their services, and we will keep under review the need for further regulation in the sector.
The Government is investing over £1.2 billion in the Homelessness Prevention Grant over three years, including a £109 million top-up for 2024/25, which gives councils the funding they need to prevent homelessness and support those at risk.
Local authorities can use the funding flexibly to work with landlords to prevent evictions.
Through our Renters (Reform) Bill, we will abolish ‘no fault’ evictions (Section 21), giving tenants greater security of tenure and thus reducing the risk of homelessness.
The Government has no plans to reform the council tax system in this Parliament. A council tax revaluation would be expensive to undertake and could result in increases in bills for many households as well as disrupting the operation of the local government funding system. Council Tax levels are set by local authorities who are required to put in place council tax reduction schemes to help those in financial hardship. When setting out the resources available to local authorities, the annual Local Government Finance Settlement takes account of their differing abilities to generate income through council tax.
I refer the Noble Lord to the written statement made by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities HCWS241 and by the Minister for Local Government HCWS300 on 5 February.
The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 makes available up to £64.7 billion, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion or 7.5% in cash terms on 2023-24 – an above inflation increase. This Settlement includes additional measures worth £600 million announced on 24 January.
On the 29 February, the Government published details of financial flexibilities agreed with a small number of other councils that requested financial support on an exceptional basis, due to specific local issues that they are unable to manage themselves. Nearly three quarters of the support announced relates to six councils where there has been severe local failure, forcing the government to step in and take action through statutory intervention.
As a result of this action by Government, we anticipate that all councils will be able to set a balanced budget and continue to deliver vital services for their communities.
Individual councils are responsible for managing their budgets, and any decision to issue a Section 114 report is made locally. We stand ready to speak to any council that has concerns about its ability to manage its finances or faces pressures it has not planned for.
The Government monitors the financial health of local authorities on a regular basis using a wide range of data as well as through extensive direct engagement with councils.
The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 makes available up to £64.7 billion, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion or 7.5% in cash terms on 2023-24 – an above inflation increase. This Settlement includes additional measures worth £600 million announced on 24 January.
On the 29 February, the Government published details of financial flexibilities agreed with a small number of other councils that requested financial support on an exceptional basis, due to specific local issues that they are unable to manage themselves.
Government’s £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) for 2021-26 funds the construction of tens of thousands of homes across the country. These include homes for rent, for low-cost home ownership, and specialist and supported housing. It offers strong value for money. The National Audit Offices estimates that for every £1 the programme spent, the programme provides £2.70 in economic and societal benefits.
Since 2010, Government has delivered over 696,100 new affordable homes, including over 482,000 affordable homes for rent, of which over 172,600 were homes for social rent.
We do not collect this information centrally. However, the National Federation of ALMOs’ latest publicity suggests that there are currently 19 arms-length management organisations in England: https://www.almos.org.uk/about-us/our-members/.
The department’s most comprehensive measure of housing supply is our annual release entitled ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’. This includes estimates of new homes added in each local authority, but does not show figures at the constituency level. You can find data for South Holland District Council here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-net-supply-of-housing.
We are currently consulting on a direction to the Regulator of Social Housing to set a Competence and Conduct Standard for social housing, which closes on 2nd April. We will analyse responses and respond in due course.
PAS 8673 (Competence requirements for the management of safety in residential buildings) already sets out a competence framework for people involved in managing residential buildings. This includes support for accountable persons and others in managing building safety risks in higher risk buildings, and for those managing non higher-risk residential buildings.
The Government legislated in the Building Safety Act 2022 to establish a statutory New Homes Ombudsman. They will provide dispute resolution for, and determine complaints by, buyers of new build homes against developments.
The Government legislated in the Building Safety Act 2022 to establish a statutory New Homes Ombudsman. They will provide dispute resolution for, and determine complaints by, buyers of new build homes against developments.