Baroness Scott of Bybrook

The Terms of Reference and appointment process for the Special Representative on anti-Muslim hostility will be published in due course.

The Government has consistently opposed the BDS movement and does not consider such motions to further community cohesion or integration. While we have no plans to carry out a formal review of local authorities on this matter, we have been clear that councils must operate within existing procurement law and guidance, which prevents the use of procurement or investment decisions to pursue politically motivated boycotts.

The UK Government is firmly committed to upholding the legal protections established by the Equality Act 2010, including those which protect people against unlawful discrimination and harassment based on the characteristics of sex and gender reassignment.

We have always been clear that the For Women Scotland Supreme Court ruling brought clarity to the definition of ‘sex’ for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.

Protecting What Matters makes clear that the UK is a diverse, pluralistic, and equal society. Its reference to “people of all races, religions, sexualities, and genders” refers to the fact that UK society respects and values people of all backgrounds.

As is standard practice in government policy making, officials undertook limited and focused informal engagement with selected stakeholders as the government considered the advice submitted by the Working Group.

The Social Cohesion Action Plan sets out the steps that Government is taking to improve social cohesion. The Social Cohesion Measurement Framework will be available to local government, civil society and impact investors across England to assess cohesion in a robust and comparable way. Work on the framework is underway and we will publish fuller details in due course. MHCLG does not own the Index of Dissimilarity and there are no plans to update the data produced and published by the Local Government Association.

The UK government's adoption of a definition of anti-Muslim hostility applies to England only. It is for the Devolved Governments to decide on their approach to a definition of anti-Muslim hostility.

The Anti-Muslim Hatred/ Islamophobia Working Group launched a Call for Evidence which closed on Sunday 20 July. It was open to the public and any individual or organisation was able to submit evidence. The government does not routinely publish the details of individual respondents to calls for evidence.

As is standard practice in government policy making, officials undertook limited and focused informal engagement with selected stakeholders as the government considered the advice submitted by the Working Group.

The Anti-Muslim Hatred/ Islamophobia Working Group launched a Call for Evidence which closed on Sunday 20 July. It was open to the public and any individual or organisation was able to submit evidence. The government does not routinely publish the details of individual respondents to calls for evidence.

As is standard practice in government policy making, officials undertook limited and focused informal engagement with selected stakeholders as the government considered the advice submitted by the Working Group.

Employer contributions for the Local Government Pension Scheme are set every three years as part of a triennial valuation process. Administering Authorities work with actuaries to set contribution rates, and there is a period of consultation with employers before rates are finalised. This is a locally managed process, and we expect employers and Administering Authorities to work together to set a rate that is fair and sustainable for both employers and the Fund.

The department works closely with councils in receipt of Exceptional Financial Support and ensures that a wide range of factors are reviewed to support long-term financial sustainability.

I understand that the noble Baroness is referring to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) November 2025 forecast of net additions to the housing stock. The OBR is independent from government, and their forecast is not directly comparable to the government's target to deliver 1.5 million safe and decent homes this parliament.

We expect housing supply to ramp up over the parliament as our ambitious reforms, including those contained in the revised National Planning Policy Framework, take effect.

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Regulations 2010 (as amended) make a number of provisions for charging authorities to grant exemptions from the levy. This includes those who extend their own homes or erect residential annexes within the grounds of their own homes. Further information is set out in the CIL guidance.

Councils are ultimately responsible for their own decisions on charging and enforcement, but we expect them to consider each case carefully. The government recognises that there are issues with how some exemptions from the levy are working in practice, and is therefore giving serious consideration to these issues as part of our commitment to making the developer contributions system as clear and effective as possible.

On routes to challenge or seek review of a CIL calculation, I refer the Noble Baroness to the answer to Question UIN 58857 on 19 June 2025.

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Regulations 2010 (as amended) make a number of provisions for charging authorities to grant exemptions from the levy. This includes those who extend their own homes or erect residential annexes within the grounds of their own homes. Further information is set out in the CIL guidance.

Councils are ultimately responsible for their own decisions on charging and enforcement, but we expect them to consider each case carefully. The government recognises that there are issues with how some exemptions from the levy are working in practice, and is therefore giving serious consideration to these issues as part of our commitment to making the developer contributions system as clear and effective as possible.

On routes to challenge or seek review of a CIL calculation, I refer the Noble Baroness to the answer to Question UIN 58857 on 19 June 2025.

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Regulations 2010 (as amended) make a number of provisions for charging authorities to grant exemptions from the levy. This includes those who extend their own homes or erect residential annexes within the grounds of their own homes. Further information is set out in the CIL guidance.

Councils are ultimately responsible for their own decisions on charging and enforcement, but we expect them to consider each case carefully. The government recognises that there are issues with how some exemptions from the levy are working in practice, and is therefore giving serious consideration to these issues as part of our commitment to making the developer contributions system as clear and effective as possible.

On routes to challenge or seek review of a CIL calculation, I refer the Noble Baroness to the answer to Question UIN 58857 on 19 June 2025.

Employer contribution rates are set as part of the triennial valuation process which is undertaken by all administering authorities in the Local Government Pension Scheme. Regulation 64a of the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 2013 sets out the process to be followed by an administering authority when an employer requests an interim review of its contribution rate.

This is intended to allow flexibility for administering authorities in managing employer contribution rates in response to changes in an employer’s ability to pay its contributions between valuations. In order to clarify when this flexibility should be used, the government intends to consult on changes to the regulations in due course.

I refer the noble Lady to the Written Statement UIN HCWS712 which sets out that the National Housing Bank will be established as a new subsidiary under Homes England because we believe this is a good first step to ensure strategic coherence in our housing investment activities to deliver our ambitions, and build on its impressive track record.

The investment criteria and detailed investment strategy for the Bank – which will form a key part of Homes England’s overall strategy – will be jointly agreed by my Department, Homes England and HM Treasury and will be published in due course. Furthermore, we have already committed to providing the National Housing Bank with £2.5 billion to issue low interest loans to housing associations to deliver social housing, which means the homes built through this intervention will be genuinely affordable. We will share further details on operational costs and investment profile of the National Housing Bank and the number of additional homes it is estimated to deliver in due course.

I refer the noble Lady to the Written Statement UIN HCWS712 which sets out that the National Housing Bank will be established as a new subsidiary under Homes England because we believe this is a good first step to ensure strategic coherence in our housing investment activities to deliver our ambitions, and build on its impressive track record.

The investment criteria and detailed investment strategy for the Bank – which will form a key part of Homes England’s overall strategy – will be jointly agreed by my Department, Homes England and HM Treasury and will be published in due course. Furthermore, we have already committed to providing the National Housing Bank with £2.5 billion to issue low interest loans to housing associations to deliver social housing, which means the homes built through this intervention will be genuinely affordable. We will share further details on operational costs and investment profile of the National Housing Bank and the number of additional homes it is estimated to deliver in due course.

I refer the noble Lady to the Written Statement UIN HCWS712 which sets out that the National Housing Bank will be established as a new subsidiary under Homes England because we believe this is a good first step to ensure strategic coherence in our housing investment activities to deliver our ambitions, and build on its impressive track record.

The investment criteria and detailed investment strategy for the Bank – which will form a key part of Homes England’s overall strategy – will be jointly agreed by my Department, Homes England and HM Treasury and will be published in due course. Furthermore, we have already committed to providing the National Housing Bank with £2.5 billion to issue low interest loans to housing associations to deliver social housing, which means the homes built through this intervention will be genuinely affordable. We will share further details on operational costs and investment profile of the National Housing Bank and the number of additional homes it is estimated to deliver in due course.

I refer the noble Lady to the Written Statement UIN HCWS712 which sets out that the National Housing Bank will be established as a new subsidiary under Homes England because we believe this is a good first step to ensure strategic coherence in our housing investment activities to deliver our ambitions, and build on its impressive track record.

The investment criteria and detailed investment strategy for the Bank – which will form a key part of Homes England’s overall strategy – will be jointly agreed by my Department, Homes England and HM Treasury and will be published in due course. Furthermore, we have already committed to providing the National Housing Bank with £2.5 billion to issue low interest loans to housing associations to deliver social housing, which means the homes built through this intervention will be genuinely affordable. We will share further details on operational costs and investment profile of the National Housing Bank and the number of additional homes it is estimated to deliver in due course.

I refer the noble Lady to the Written Statement UIN HCWS712 which sets out that the National Housing Bank will be established as a new subsidiary under Homes England because we believe this is a good first step to ensure strategic coherence in our housing investment activities to deliver our ambitions, and build on its impressive track record.

The investment criteria and detailed investment strategy for the Bank – which will form a key part of Homes England’s overall strategy – will be jointly agreed by my Department, Homes England and HM Treasury and will be published in due course. Furthermore, we have already committed to providing the National Housing Bank with £2.5 billion to issue low interest loans to housing associations to deliver social housing, which means the homes built through this intervention will be genuinely affordable. We will share further details on operational costs and investment profile of the National Housing Bank and the number of additional homes it is estimated to deliver in due course.

I refer the noble Baroness to the answer given to Question UIN 16492 on 04 December 2024 and the answer to Question UIN 24046 on 11 February 2025.

A full list of all live and closed consultations is published on GOV.UK.

The Department’s Planning Capacity and Capability programme already funds successful and well-established initiatives for bringing planners into the public sector, which we will seek to build on. This includes working with two delivery partners, Pathways to Planning a programme run by the Local Government Association and Public Practice. Pathways to Planning have delivered more than 80 new graduate planners, and Public Practice are recruiting 20 more experienced professionals into their Autumn 2024 cohort.

To rapidly increase these numbers, at the Budget the Chancellor announced a £46 million package of investment to support capacity and capability in local planning authorities. We are therefore working with delivery partners to understand how we can scale up this delivery even further and, fund the recruitment and training of an additional 300 planners. This includes expansion of the Pathways to Planning programme which has had significant interest from prospective graduates wanting to take up roles in local planning authorities and train while they work. This will be further underpinned by increases in planning fees we are introducing in the coming months that will help improve the resourcing of planning services. This activity will include monitoring measures to ensure this commitment is met.

Modern methods of construction (MMC) provides an important opportunity to improve productivity in the construction sector, and quickly deliver high quality, energy efficient, homes whilst creating new and diverse jobs in the sector.

We will reflect on views from across the sector to establish how best to increase the use of MMC and will set out more details on this in due course.

Modern methods of construction (MMC) provides an important opportunity to improve productivity in the construction sector, and quickly deliver high quality, energy efficient, homes whilst creating new and diverse jobs in the sector.

We will reflect on views from across the sector to establish how best to increase the use of MMC and will set out more details on this in due course.

Modern methods of construction (MMC) provides an important opportunity to improve productivity in the construction sector, and quickly deliver high quality, energy efficient, homes whilst creating new and diverse jobs in the sector.

We will reflect on views from across the sector to establish how best to increase the use of MMC and will set out more details on this in due course.

To meet the Government’s commitment to deliver 1.5 million homes over this Parliament, alongside net zero and housing quality objectives, we will need to expand and upskill the construction workforce. We are working with the construction industry to ensure we have the workforce necessary to meet our housebuilding ambitions through the delivery of sufficient high-quality training opportunities which will build a diverse workforce that is fit for the future.

The government has inherited an extremely difficult fiscal environment and has a responsibility to fix the foundations of our economy, to ensure economic stability.

The department will set out further details on next steps and confirmation of the revised timelines in due course.