Baroness O'Neill of Bexley

In March 2025, the government announced a £2 billion down-payment as part of the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP). Homes England has already secured over 4,200 starts in 2025/26 through their portion of this.

In August 2026, the government announced initial funding allocations for the SAHP, with £9.58 billion being awarded to 33 Strategic Partners outside London.

In August 2026, the government announced the initial Strategic Partnership funding allocations for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP).

Across England (excluding London), 33 providers will receive funding totalling £9.58 billion to invest in new social and affordable housing and deliver 73,600 homes. These 33 providers included PRPs and councils. No funding has been allocated directly to Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSA), and whether an area has an MSA was not a factor in decision making.

Established Mayoral Strategic Authority (EMSA) areas outside London are able to set the strategic direction of the Programme in their areas. To support this, we have published an estimate of how many homes and how much funding providers expect to deliver in each of the initial six EMSA areas.

In designing its support offer for local government reorganisation, the Department engaged with a range of local government stakeholders to understand how to best support the capacity of statutory officers. In response to that feedback, this year the Department put in place a broad support offer including dedicated sector advisers and a wider programme of support to build capacity and capability in councils led by the Local Government Association. This support will continue to be available to councils during the local government reorganisation review. Depending on the outcome of the review, the Department will consider how to best target future support to statutory officers.

Prior to the Secretary of State's oral statement to Parliament on 7 September 2026 on local government reorganisation, six Judicial Review claims had been issued in relation to decisions. The decisions that were the subject of those proceedings have since been withdrawn.

The Department has also received pre-action correspondence in relation to a number of other local government reorganisation decisions.

The government has committed to replace grants from central government with a share of local income tax for every mayoral strategic authority from April 2028, and for greater retention of the revenue from business rates for local councils and strategic authorities from April 2027. In addition, all strategic authorities will be provided with the ability to introduce an Overnight Visitor Levy, with mayors able to set out their plans from March 2028. Further details will be set out in a Fiscal Devolution Roadmap, to be published alongside autumn budget. Please refer to the ‘Rewiring the State’ Cabinet Statement (and attached) published on 31 July 2026.

As set out by the Secretary of State in her oral statement of 7 September, the Government has withdrawn the March 2026 decisions for Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, and paused activity for 14 areas while a full review of the local government reorganisation programme is conducted. We recognise the need for clarity and will set out next steps as soon as possible.

We keep all aspects of local government finance under review.

Where unlawful occupation of social housing properties occurs, the government expects landlords to take active steps to tackle fraud and ensure social housing is used fairly – this may include taking legal action.

The Department collects data on the number of properties recovered where there was evidence that the tenant had been illegally sub-letting the property in Section G of the Local Authority Housing Statistics, published here. The Department does not monitor how social housing landlords are using the powers available under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013.

The government has commissioned a review examining how effectively social housing providers manage their stock, including tackling issues such as fraud, under-occupation, overcrowding and empty homes. Findings will be published later this year.

Where unlawful occupation of social housing properties occurs, the government expects landlords to take active steps to tackle fraud and ensure social housing is used fairly – this may include taking legal action.

The Department collects data on the number of properties recovered where there was evidence that the tenant had been illegally sub-letting the property in Section G of the Local Authority Housing Statistics, published here. The Department does not monitor how social housing landlords are using the powers available under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013.

The government has commissioned a review examining how effectively social housing providers manage their stock, including tackling issues such as fraud, under-occupation, overcrowding and empty homes. Findings will be published later this year.

Where unlawful occupation of social housing properties occurs, the government expects landlords to take active steps to tackle fraud and ensure social housing is used fairly – this may include taking legal action.

The Department collects data on the number of properties recovered where there was evidence that the tenant had been illegally sub-letting the property in Section G of the Local Authority Housing Statistics, published here. The Department does not monitor how social housing landlords are using the powers available under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013.

The government has commissioned a review examining how effectively social housing providers manage their stock, including tackling issues such as fraud, under-occupation, overcrowding and empty homes. Findings will be published later this year.

Where unlawful occupation of social housing properties occurs, the government expects landlords to take active steps to tackle fraud and ensure social housing is used fairly – this may include taking legal action.

The Department collects data on the number of properties recovered where there was evidence that the tenant had been illegally sub-letting the property in Section G of the Local Authority Housing Statistics, published here. The Department does not monitor how social housing landlords are using the powers available under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013.

The government has commissioned a review examining how effectively social housing providers manage their stock, including tackling issues such as fraud, under-occupation, overcrowding and empty homes. Findings will be published later this year.

Where unlawful occupation of social housing properties occurs, the government expects landlords to take active steps to tackle fraud and ensure social housing is used fairly – this may include taking legal action.

The Department collects data on the number of properties recovered where there was evidence that the tenant had been illegally sub-letting the property in Section G of the Local Authority Housing Statistics, published here. The Department does not monitor how social housing landlords are using the powers available under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013.

The government has commissioned a review examining how effectively social housing providers manage their stock, including tackling issues such as fraud, under-occupation, overcrowding and empty homes. Findings will be published later this year.

Where unlawful occupation of social housing properties occurs, the government expects landlords to take active steps to tackle fraud and ensure social housing is used fairly – this may include taking legal action.

The Department collects data on the number of properties recovered where there was evidence that the tenant had been illegally sub-letting the property in Section G of the Local Authority Housing Statistics, published here. The Department does not monitor how social housing landlords are using the powers available under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013.

The government has commissioned a review examining how effectively social housing providers manage their stock, including tackling issues such as fraud, under-occupation, overcrowding and empty homes. Findings will be published later this year.

The Government believes that by extending the right to vote to 16- and 17-year-olds and building a strong foundation for democratic participation among young people, we can establish democratic participation habits which will continue as they grow older. We believe that young people should be much more involved in decisions that affect them. Decisions the Government makes now will not only affect young people today but will have an enduring impact on their entire lives.

The Government also recognises the importance of equipping young people with the knowledge and skills needed to participate confidently in democratic life. The Government wants everyone to understand the value of their voice and the role they can play and we will promote a deeper understanding of why democracy matters. To support this, the Government will look for the earliest opportunity to make it a legal requirement to teach citizenship at key stages 1 and 2 – focussed on the most essential content. This includes democracy and government, as well as media literacy, law and rights, financial literacy, and climate education. The second curriculum will build on primary content and fit with the content in other subjects to ensure that all pupils get an essential grounding in a range of topics.

A strong and value the democratic institutions and the democratic process. Citizenship education, reinforced across the curriculum, can play a vital role in making sure young people feel the democratic process is relevant to themcitizenship curriculum should include democratic institutions. The Government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review response recognised this and highlighted that that it is vital to ensure that young people understand, and that they understand how constitutional principles such as the rule of law protect them and benefit their lives.

The Government believes that by extending the right to vote to 16- and 17-year-olds and building a strong foundation for democratic participation among young people, we can establish democratic participation habits which will continue as they grow older. We believe that young people should be much more involved in decisions that affect them. Decisions the Government makes now will not only affect young people today but will have an enduring impact on their entire lives.

The Government also recognises the importance of equipping young people with the knowledge and skills needed to participate confidently in democratic life. The Government wants everyone to understand the value of their voice and the role they can play and we will promote a deeper understanding of why democracy matters. To support this, the Government will look for the earliest opportunity to make it a legal requirement to teach citizenship at key stages 1 and 2 – focussed on the most essential content. This includes democracy and government, as well as media literacy, law and rights, financial literacy, and climate education. The second curriculum will build on primary content and fit with the content in other subjects to ensure that all pupils get an essential grounding in a range of topics.

A strong and value the democratic institutions and the democratic process. Citizenship education, reinforced across the curriculum, can play a vital role in making sure young people feel the democratic process is relevant to themcitizenship curriculum should include democratic institutions. The Government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review response recognised this and highlighted that that it is vital to ensure that young people understand, and that they understand how constitutional principles such as the rule of law protect them and benefit their lives.

We have committed to consult this Spring on the impact of removing a limited number of statutory consultees. A publication date is yet to be confirmed.

I refer the noble Baroness to the response given to Question UIN 47703 on 30 April 2025. Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Mayors who hold the PCC function are disqualified from standing for election or continuing to hold office if they become Members of Parliament. Government has laid out proposals to extend similar arrangements to Mayors of a combined authority, combined county authority or the Greater London Authority who do not hold the PCC function. There are no plans to similarly change disqualification criteria for other elected mayors or councillors.

The Best Value Inspection of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets report was published on 12^th November 2024. Inspectors found that “[council] meetings have, at times, been fractious, the tone has been occasionally aggressive and sometimes there has been filibustering… it is our view that this has, unfortunately, over-shadowed and impaired the quality of debate in the chamber.” (paragraph 3.42)

The Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution has appointed three Ministerial Envoys to work with the Council to address the issues found in the Inspection Report, and intends to publish their first report on the Council’s progress this summer.