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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 8 April (HL15918), what progress they have since made in further improving HM Land Registry application processing times.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Improving speed of service remains the top priority for HM Land Registry (HMLR) and I’m pleased to report that good progress is being made.

Since the previous response on 8 April 2026, HMLR has continued to improve processing times by investing in its people and technology, increasing automation of simple application types and improving the information received from customers through further pre-submission validation checks. HMLR is also developing the use of artificial intelligence to undertake administrative tasks, allowing the expertise and experience of their skilled civil servants to be focused on applications that are more complex or require legal judgement.

The age of outstanding post-completion applications is now less than 9 months across all service lines. In the first six months of 2026/27, HMLR completed over 338,000 more applications than in the same period last year. Building on this progress, HMLR is finalising plans to tailor its services to better reflect the different needs of its customers.

HMLR processing times are publicly available on gov.uk here: HM Land Registry: processing times - GOV.UK.

Anyone who is concerned that a delay to their application may cause financial, legal, or personal problems or put a property sale at risk, can apply to have their application expedited free of charge. So far this financial year, HMLR has processed around 1,700 expedited applications every day, and processed more than 95% of them as far as possible within 10 working days. This means that HMLR either ensured the property was fully registered, or requested information needed from other parties including on related previously received applications, before they could fully register the expedited application.

HMLR also prioritise time-critical pre-completion information services that are needed before a property transaction can take place. HMLR receive over 22 million of these each year with almost all completed within three working days, and over 90% delivered instantly.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 28 September (HL3483), what public interest reason there is for not publishing in full the presentations received from councils, elected representatives, and political groups regarding the planned cancellation of the May 2026 local elections.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government considers that councils and other stakeholders should be able to provide their frank views and local perspectives to inform decision-making, and routine publication of individual representations could affect the willingness of stakeholders to do so. A summary of the representations received was published, and the Government also published the former Secretary of State's correspondence setting out his responses to councils. The Government currently has no plans to publish individual representations.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 15 September (HL2868), whether, where an authority can demonstrate a five-year housing land supply and has achieved a Housing Delivery Test result of at least 75%, the presumption in favour of sustainable development would not be engaged even where there is an identified need for additional social housing.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), published in August 2026, introduces a revised presumption in favour of sustainable development which, in combination with new policies on development inside and outside of development boundaries, promotes a sustainable pattern of development.

It does this by steering proposals to appropriate locations: maximising the use of suitable land within urban areas and taking a more selective approach to the types and locations of development outside settlements.

The Housing Delivery Test (HDT) and five-year housing land supply (5YHLS) policies are important mechanisms within the planning system to ensure homes are delivered in line with needs. While failing against either HDT or 5YHLS is one of the circumstances in which housing outside settlements may be allowed, it does not mean that planning permission for housing will be automatically granted, and local planning authorities must consider a range of factors when determining planning applications.

Equally, while the presence of a 5YHLS and an HDT score above 75% are not in themselves circumstances in which development outside settlements may be acceptable under policy S5, there may be case-specific circumstances which support approval.

As set out in the government response to the NPPF consultation, the government will publish updated guidance in due course to assist local authorities in assessing the housing needs of different groups. This will include how unmet for housing should be considered for the purposes of policy S5 in the new NPPF.

You can find the full government response and new NPPF on gov.uk here (and attached).

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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 7 September (HL Deb col 506), what the cost of local government reorganisation has been so far to (1) central government, and (2) local authorities.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government provided a total of £7.6m in 25/26 to support the 21 areas undergoing local government reorganisation to develop proposals.

The Government also paid out £1.8m in August 2026 to Surrey, with new councils taking on responsibilities from April 2027. This was part of the committed £63 million capacity funding to councils undergoing reorganisation.

As part of the Review announced on 7 September, the Government will consider the approach to costs and funding given that areas will have committed some resources to reorganisation.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 6 August (HL2668), what public interest reason there is for not publishing the presentations received from councils, elected representatives, and political groups regarding the planned cancellation of the May 2026 local elections.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

A summary of the representations received was published here. The Government currently has no plans to publish the individual representations received.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 13 July (HL1406), whether they intend to publish the technical specification of the data that is requested from local housing authorities on local authority housing waiting lists via continuous recording of lettings by local authorities data; and whether they have reviewed the data collection in this regard given its accredited official statistics status of the social housing lettings in England publication.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Data on the number of households on the housing register (waiting lists) is collected as a snapshot at 31 March each year via the Local Authority Housing Statistics (LAHS). While commentary on the findings is included in the Social Housing Lettings statistical release, no data on housing registers is collected via the Continuous Recordings of Social Housing Lettings.

The latest guidance for the LAHS is published on gov.uk here. The LAHS data is quality assured by my department’s statisticians, as per the publication’s technical notes and in line with Code of Practice for statistics. The latest available are the 2024-25 technical notes which can be found on gov.uk here.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 2 September (HL Deb col 118), what estimate they have made of the total value of the donations under investigation by the Electoral Commission in the years 2023–24, 2024–25 and 2025–26.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Electoral Commission is operationally independent of Government and is responsible for regulating political finance and conducting investigations into potential breaches of the political finance framework.

In line with its Enforcement Policy, it may open an investigation where it has reasonable grounds to suspect an offence or other breach of the rules. Information on recently closed investigations is published by the Commission on its website. This information does not always include the value of the donation under investigation.

Found: BARONESS TAYLOR OF STEVENAGE ★_ Schedule 1, page 134, line 36, at end insert— “PART 3 CANVASS CONDUCTED

Found: During the second reading debate, Baroness Taylor of Stevenage stated: “In addition to introducing

Found: Mark TAMI MP Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip), House of Commons Baroness TAYLOR of Stevenage

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Found: 54 List of Ministers’ Interests - October 2026 The Baroness Taylor of Stevenage

Found: We look forward to working with our minister, Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, as we engage with developers

Found: We look forward to working with our minister, Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, as we engage with developers

Found: Letter dated 21/10/2026 from Baroness Taylor of Stevenage to Lord Jamieson regarding issues raised during

Found: Letter dated 21/10/2026 from Baroness Taylor of Stevenage to Lord Jamieson regarding issues raised during

Found: Letter dated 21/09/2026 from Baroness Taylor of Stevenage to Baroness Thornhill regarding the chronology

Found: Letter dated 18/09/2026 from Baroness Taylor of Stevenage to Baroness Coffey, Baroness Parminter of Godalming

Found: Letter dated 23/09/2026 from Baroness Taylor of Stevenage to Lord Jamieson regarding an oral question