Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will be taking to overcome labour supply challenges faced by the construction sector.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The government aims to ensure that people are able to get the skills that will enable them to have good, well paid jobs and enable the economy to grow.

Access to a skilled workforce is crucial for the dual missions of growing the economy and making Britain a green energy superpower.

It is essential that all construction trades working within the built environment have the right level of skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours.

The Government will be working with the industry over the short and long term to ensure the sector has access to skilled labour. We have already announced the introduction of Skills England and launched the Office for Green Jobs, so the next generation of construction workers can deliver the built environment.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of their housing policy on existing labour supply challenges in the construction sector.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

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.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact modern methods of construction could have on achieving their housebuilding targets early.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

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.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to financially support the modern methods of construction sector as part of their housebuilding programme.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

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.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role modern methods of construction might play in speeding up the delivery of housing.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

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.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether all 75 towns that have been chosen to receive £20 million of funding through the Long-term Plan for Towns, including Harlow, will receive the full amount; and if so, when.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

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.