Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to change the threshold for on-site affordable housing from 10 to 50 units.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government retains a strong preference for, and commitment to, on-site delivery of social and affordable housing, reflecting the benefits this provides in terms of the delivery of mixed communities, controlled land prices, and secure cash flow for developers of all sizes.
At the same time, the government also wishes to provide for a more proportionate and streamlined planning system for SME housebuilders, to help bring competition and diversity to the market, and support faster build out.
As such, the government has decided to explore further the potential benefits and drawbacks of enabling developers to discharge social and affordable housing requirements through cash contributions in lieu of direct delivery in the category of “medium” sites as part of the consultation on the draft National Planning Policy Framework, published on 16 December 2025.
Further information is set out in the Government’s consultation ‘National Planning Policy Framework: proposed reforms and other changes to the planning system’ which can be found on gov.uk (attached) here.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the relevant councils following the cyber attacks on Westminster Council, Hammersmith and Fulham Council and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council, including in relation to the people or organisations behind the attacks.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the National Cyber Security Centre and law enforcement have been working closely with the impacted councils, to understand the risk to their services and to wider government, and to support effective remediation and restoration of services for the public. Councils have been working diligently with specialist support to validate the security of their networks and bring essential services back online. We are aware that some council data may have been stolen by criminal actors. The impacted councils, government and law enforcement are thoroughly investigating the accuracy and potential impact of any data loss. There is an ongoing law enforcement investigation which the councils and MHCLG are fully supporting.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure charitable contributions and relief efforts for Jamaica are coordinated effectively.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
I refer the Noble Lord to the written statement I made to the House on the Government's response to Hurricane Melissa on 11 December (HLWS1160).
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to amend public procurement rules and procedures to allow building contractors to be involved with housing development schemes at an early stage.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The current procurement rules, which came into force on 24 February 2025, encourage contracting authorities to engage with the market before commencing a procurement. 5,000 pre-market engagement notices have now been published. This engagement is of particular importance under the new rules, where contracting authorities have significant flexibility to design and tailor their competitive procurement procedures.
We have consulted on procurement reforms to further boost domestic supply chains and create more opportunities for businesses across the UK, including across the housing sector. We will be publishing the consultation outcome - and legislative proposals - soon.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of social housing tenants in London are not in work.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
My Department collects data on the economic activity of households by tenure in England, through the English Housing Survey, which can be found in Annex table 1.3 (attached) here English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025: headline findings on demographics and household resilience - GOV.UK.
In England, 59% of social rented households had a household reference person (HRP) who was not in work. Of all social rented households 1% of HRPs were in full-time education, 7% were unemployed, 26% were retired and 25% were ‘other inactive’, a group that includes those with a long-term illness or disability and those who were looking after the family or home.