Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the provision of sufficient affordable housing in rural areas to enable young people to remain in the villages where they live and work, ensuring the long-term viability of those communities.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government recently consulted on a new National Planning Policy Framework, that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making.
That consultation includes proposals to strengthen support for rural exception sites, which deliver affordable housing to meet local needs in rural areas, and to make it easier for authorities to require affordable housing on smaller sites in rural areas.
We have confirmed a new 10-year £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme to kickstart social and affordable housebuilding at scale across the country.
I otherwise refer the noble Lord to the Written Ministerial Statements made on 2 July 2025 (HLWS770 attached) and 28 January (HLWS1283 attached).
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support SME builders in order to diversify the housebuilding sector.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Small and medium sized housebuilders are essential to meeting the government’s housing ambitions and supporting local economies. The government is acting to support SME housebuilders by increasing their access to land, providing further financial assistance and easing the burden of regulation.
To that end, the new £16 billion National Housing Bank, which launched on 1 April, is designed to unlock £53 billion of private investment and support the building of over 500,000 new homes including through loans and financial support for SMEs. We have also doubled the ENABLE Build Guarantee scheme to boost SME access to finance.
We are making more Homes England land available to the sector through SME-only land sales with less bureaucratic sales process.
We have also committed to simplifying the planning system with proposals for a new medium site size definition with corresponding policy and regulatory easements to help SME housebuilders thrive and grow.
The government continues to engage closely with SME developers and representative bodies to better understand the barriers they face and ensure the sector can play a greater role in delivering new homes.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to speed up housing delivery on stalled sites where planning has been granted but development has not started.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In May 2025, the government published a Planning Reform Working Paper: Speeding Up Build Out inviting views on further action the government should take to speed up homes being built. It can be found on gov.uk here.
On the same day, we launched a technical consultation on implementing measures to improve the transparency of build rates from new residential developments, which includes proposals to implement provisions in Section 113 of the LURA on the power to decline to determine applications. That consultation can be found on gov.uk here.
We are now analysing the responses to both consultations, and we will set out our next steps in due course.
Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, we consulted on a new NPPF. The consultation on the revised Framework, which can be found on gov.uk here, included proposals designed to ensure major development proposals are capable of being implemented within a reasonable period – taking into account tenure mix, local market conditions and development history of the site.
We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan for a proportion of their 1.5 million homes target to be met by bringing empty homes back into use.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government wants to see more empty homes brought back into use.
The 1.5 million homes target will be measured in net additional dwellings. Empty homes are not currently included within net additional dwellings figures.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that houses built as part of their 1.5 million homes target are high quality, in an appropriate location, and provided with essential infrastructure, including GP surgeries, schools and community centres.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This government is committed to delivering 1.5 million new safe and decent homes this Parliament. In supporting that aim, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that the purpose of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development.
Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, we consulted on changes to the NPPF. That consultation, which can be found on gov.uk here, included draft policies which support sustainable patterns of development and promote the creation of healthy and inclusive places and support the provision of appropriate public services. We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
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 labour shortages, planning and regulatory rules, and any viability challenges, on the delivery of their target to build 1.5 million homes.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government is committed to a whole system approach to unlock housing growth.
We have already committed £625 million for construction skills, reformed the planning system through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and updated National Planning Policy Framework, and unlocked over 125,000 homes through our New Homes Accelerator.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for 10-year rent settlements for social homes to create certainty for social housing providers.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises the value of longer-term rent certainty for Registered Providers of social housing, and continues to support the principle that social housing rents should be index-linked over the long-term. We will consult on future social housing rent policy in due course. That policy will need to strike an appropriate balance between protecting tenants, protecting taxpayers by limiting the costs associated with social housing rents, supporting investment in and management of social housing and supporting the delivery of new homes.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for establishing a commission on affordable housing to set levels of grant for affordable housing based on expert projections.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government does not set grant rates for affordable housing in our Affordable Homes Programme. Grant rates are assessed on a scheme-by-scheme basis and are benchmarked against national, local and scheme type averages to ensure bids are competitive on both costs and outputs.
It is right that we keep grant rates flexible to best support the sector to deliver a wide variety of interventions, whilst also ensuring that our assessment criteria drives good value for money.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase grant funding for social housing delivery to reflect the decrease in the number of planning applications being made, and a probable decrease in the number of section 106 social homes being built as a result.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The provision of affordable housing is part of the Government's plan to build more homes and provide aspiring homeowners with a step onto the housing ladder.
Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver thousands of affordable homes for both rent and to buy right across the country.
The Levelling Up White Paper committed to increasing the supply of social rented homes and a large number of the new homes delivered through our Affordable Homes Programme will be for social rent.
For the first time we are allowing the use of grant towards replacement homes on regeneration schemes where there is a positive impact on overall housing supply. This will mean that more regeneration schemes become viable and we can begin to replace outdated, inefficient, and poor quality stock with new housing, whilst meeting the Affordable Homes Programme objective of increasing supply.
The housing sector has experienced an increase in the cost of borrowing and materials due to wider economic pressures. The Government continuously works with its delivery agencies to ensure that the Programme is delivering effectively in light of these economic challenges.
Since 2010, we have delivered over 684,800 new affordable homes, including over 475,500 affordable homes for rent, of which over 171,100 homes for social rent.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tackle the issue of damp and mould in homes with children in (1) the social rented sector, and (2) the private rented sector.
Answered by Baroness Penn
Damp and mould can have a serious impact on children’s health and it is unacceptable for anyone to have to live in such conditions.
All rented homes must be free of serious ‘category 1’ hazards, including damp and mould, as defined by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. In the social rented sector homes must also meet the Decent Homes Standard. We have recently tabled amendments to the Renters (Reform) Bill to extend the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time. We are exploring the merits of a standalone damp and mould standard within the Decent Homes Standard that all landlord must meet, to ensure that landlords are clear on their obligations to tenants.
Following the tragic and avoidable death of Awaab Ishak, the Government has also introduced Awaab’s Law in the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023. Awaab’s Law will require social landlords to comply with new requirements regarding timeframes for investigating and repairing hazards, including damp and mould.