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 steps they will take to ensure that their intention to repeal the Vagrancy Act 1824 by spring 2026 does not cause an increase in homelessness and rough sleeping; and what plans they have to offer additional financial support to local authorities in England to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Vagrancy Act 1824 does nothing to tackle the root causes of homelessness, which is why we will be the government which repeals this punitive legislation.
At the same time, homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected. We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The government is looking at these issues carefully and will develop a new cross government strategy to get us back on track to ending homelessness.
The government have already taken the first steps to getting back on track to ending homelessness, including making a £1 billion investment in homelessness and rough sleeping services this year (2025/26), a £233 million increase on the previous year.
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 assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the leasehold property system and what plans they have to reform it; and what assessment they have made of the case for making commonhold the primary model of ownership for flats in England and Wales.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As set out in my Written Ministerial Statement of 21 November 2024, for far too many leaseholders, the reality of home ownership has fallen woefully short of the dream. As set out in our manifesto, we are determined to bring the feudal leasehold system to an end, reinvigorate commonhold and take the first steps towards making it the default tenure by the end of this Parliament.
Draft legislation and a consultation on the best approach to banning new leasehold flats will be published later this year.
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 London is on track to deliver its share of the target to build 1.5 million homes in this Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government has set a target of 88,000 new homes per year in London through the new standard method and remains committed to working in partnership with the London Mayor, boroughs, and wider stakeholders to achieve a step change in building in the capital.
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 plans they have to approve the sale of allotment sites by councils in England.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
There are strict criteria in place to control the sale of statutory allotments – these are sites covered by the Allotment Act 1925. Councils have to seek approval from the MHCLG Secretary of State and a legal threshold must be met before approval. This includes: the allotment to be surplus to requirements, any waiting lists to be considered, public consultation to have occurred, and other local policies to have been considered.
We are content with the effectiveness of this clearly defined legal process and there is no current government plan to change policy regarding allotment site sales by councils. The eight approvals granted between July 2024 and July 2025 represented a slight decrease in allotment disposals compared to recent years. The National Allotment Society stated that it had not challenged any of those applications as they had all met the legal threshold with either low take-up of plots or alternative allotment space provided elsewhere.
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 will provide any transition funding to councils in London facing financial cuts due to the implementation of Fair Funding 2.0; and if so, how much will be available to each London council.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The proposals in the Fair Funding Review 2.0 are subject to consultation and decisions have yet to be taken that will determine final allocations and the design of transitional arrangements. These proposals will target central government grant where it is needed most and we expect that the vast majority of councils with social care responsibilities will see their Core Spending Power increase in real terms over the multi-year Settlement.
We are also inviting views on a package of transitional arrangements available over the multi-year Spending Review period. For those councils who would see their funding fall as a result of these changes, our intention is to protect the vast majority of these councils’ income through a ‘flat cash’ (or 0%) funding floor. The consultation is live until 15th August. We will publish further information in the consultation response in autumn, followed by the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement later this year.
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 financial assessment they have made of the impact of the Fair Funding Review 2.0, published on 20 June, on each London council.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The proposals in the Fair Funding Review 2.0 are subject to consultation and decisions have yet to be taken that will determine final allocations and the design of transitional arrangements. These proposals will target central government grant where it is needed most and we expect that the vast majority of councils with social care responsibilities will see their Core Spending Power increase in real terms over the multi-year Settlement.
We are also inviting views on a package of transitional arrangements available over the multi-year Spending Review period. For those councils who would see their funding fall as a result of these changes, our intention is to protect the vast majority of these councils’ income through a ‘flat cash’ (or 0%) funding floor. The consultation is live until 15th August. We will publish further information in the consultation response in autumn, followed by the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement later this year.
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, in regard to the £11.7 billion allocated to London to build homes over the next 10 years, how many homes will be built with that funding; how they will ensure those homes are delivered; what milestones they have set to ensure delivery of those homes within the 10-year period; and what assessment they have made of whether that funding will be sufficient to support delivery of the London building target of 88,000 homes per year.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Delivering historic levels of housebuilding in London is a critical part of this government’s commitment to build 1.5 million homes within this parliament.
At the Spending Review, the Chancellor confirmed £39 billion for a successor to the Affordable Homes Programme over 10 years from 2026-27 to 2035-36. Our ambition is to deliver around 300,000 social and affordable homes over the programme’s lifetime.
Up to 30% of the funding over the programme (up to £11.7 billion over the 10 years) will be delivered by the GLA to use in London. We will set initial targets for Homes England and the GLA after we have received bids from providers, and will review these targets through the lifetime of the new programme to drive progress towards our ambition. It is our intention to publish a full prospectus for the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme in autumn 2025 and open it for bids in the winter.
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 how many hectares of (1) brownfield land, and (2) greenfield land, there are in (a) the Metropolitan Open Land, and (b) the Green Belt, in each local authority in Greater London.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The department does not hold data on Metropolitan Open Land, which is entirely a matter for the Mayor.
The information requested is not recorded in that form. However, our general statistical estimates do record the hectarage of Green Belt land within each local authority that is in Non-Developed Use and Developed Use. These are available here.
For other information on Metropolitan Open Land and Green Belt, I refer the Noble Lord to the answer in the other place to Question 53097 of 28 May 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 assessment they have made of whether the target to build 1.5 million homes in this Parliament is deliverable.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We have always been clear that building 1.5m homes is an ambitious target – which is vital given we have inherited the worst housing crisis in living memory. It will require a rate of housebuilding and infrastructure construction not seen in over 50 years. We recognise the scale of the challenge, and we are taking bold action to deliver the homes our country needs and unlock economic growth, but it will take time before that translates into delivery.
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 assessment they have made of the merits of introducing a two-week timeframe for companies and individuals that offer properties for short-term let to respond to enquiries from the local council.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
While short-term lets can benefit local economies, the government appreciates that excessive concentrations in some areas of the country can impact on the availability and affordability of homes to buy and rent, as well as having a detrimental impact on local services.
That is why we remain committed to introducing a national mandatory registration scheme for short-term lets, which will give local authorities access to valuable data to help address housing impacts and to protect the spirit of our communities. Public testing on the register is due to start in September. This means that we are on track to launch a full version of the scheme by next year. From April 2025, the furnished holiday lettings tax regime was abolished, eliminating the tax advantages that short-term let owners had over private rented sector landlords.
We are considering what additional powers we might give local authorities to enable them to respond to the pressures created by short-term lets.