Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what evidence they have gathered in support of their position against rent controls, including regarding their impact on likely levels of (1) rent, and (2) property to rent in the private sector.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department regularly reviews research and evidence related to various aspects of the private rented sector.
The government has no plans to introduce rent controls in the private rented sector.
Rent inflation in England has been easing since the end of 2024. Average rents in England increased by 3.4% in the 12 months to June, down from a peak of 9.2% in November 2024. In England, annual rent inflation was lowest in London, at 2.2%.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether it remains their policy to deliver 1.5 million new homes over the duration of this Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Yes, the government remains committed to its ambitious Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England in this Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask The Senior Deputy Speaker how many law report volumes of all types have been purchased since the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary vacated their offices on the Law Lords' corridor; what is the cost of these volumes; what is the justification for purchasing and placing them in that corridor; and what plans there are to remove and sell them.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The Lords of Appeal in Ordinary moved to the Supreme Court in 2009. Since then, the Library has purchased 1,298 volumes of law reports in total, with 446 volumes held in the vicinity of the offices on the Law Lords’ corridor. The cost of all volumes since 2009 is not recorded. The total spend for the current year on volumes stored in that corridor is £3,143. The Library holds the legal collection for both Houses of Parliament, and law reports are an essential part of a law library. The law reports are stored in a number of locations, including on the Law Lords’ corridor, to enable timely retrieval. There are currently no plans to move or sell the law reports. Subscriptions to law reports are reviewed at the point of renewal, and where volumes are deaccessioned from the collection they are offered to other libraries.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (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 reasons for any increase in the number of households living in temporary accommodation; and what estimate they have made of the cost of temporary accommodation to local authorities in the current financial year.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government inherited a homelessness crisis, and recognises that the number of households in temporary accommodation has increased in recent years. On 31 December 2025, 134,210 households were in temporary accommodation, including 85,800 households with children (see published temporary accommodation statistics here.
As set out in the National Plan to End Homelessness, this reflects a combination of factors, including a lack of affordable housing, rising poverty, reduced focus on prevention and wider pressures across public services.
The Department does not produce an estimate of the total cost of temporary accommodation to local authorities for the current financial year. Published Local Government Finance returns provide data on local authority expenditure in previous years. In 2024/25, Local authorities’ net expenditure on temporary accommodation in England was £1.43 billion.
The government is providing £969 million of temporary accommodation funding to local authorities over the period 2026/27 to 2028/29 through the Local Government Finance Settlement, using the new Fair Funding Assessment, which includes a formula reflecting proportional need for temporary accommodation across the country. In addition, the government is investing £950 million through the fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund to increase the supply of good-quality temporary accommodation.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (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 difference between the number of affordable homes required in England and the number delivered in each of the last five years; and what steps they are taking to address any such shortfall.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
304,165 new affordable homes were delivered between April 2020 and March 2025. The government has not set an affordable housing target to date, but we are committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.
National planning policy makes clear that it is for local planning authorities to assess the affordable housing need of their areas, including the need for social rent, and set policies to meet this local need. This includes setting out the proportion and type of affordable housing that should be delivered on new development.
Our new 10-year, £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme is the largest long-term investment in social and affordable housing in recent memory.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to support further progress of the Courts and Tribunals Bill through Parliament.
Answered by Lord Lemos - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government understands the pressure that is currently on the court system. The Crown Court backlog currently stands at over 80,000 cases and over 22,000 of those cases have been open for over a year. Behind each of those cases is someone awaiting justice – defendants seeking to clear their name and victims putting their lives on hold. The Crown Court caseload means that thousands of victims and witnesses are waiting years for their day in court. This cannot be acceptable. The justice system exists to serve the public, and this Government is committed to building a stronger justice system in which the public can have confidence.
The Courts and Tribunals Bill is currently progressing through Parliament and will have report stage in the House of Commons when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many local authorities are currently failing to meet their housing delivery targets; and what assessment they have made of whether existing measures to ensure local authorities comply with their housebuilding targets are effective.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has two tests to determine whether authorities are meeting the housing needs of their areas: the Housing Delivery Test (HDT), which measures delivery against housing requirements over the previous three years, and five-year housing land supply (5YHLS), which assesses whether sufficient deliverable sites exist to meet housing needs over the next five years. Where authorities fail against these tests, the presumption in favour of sustainable development is engaged.
Local planning authorities with up-to-date plans are assessed against their adopted plan housing requirement for the purposes of the HDT and 5YHLS. Where an authority does not have an up-to-date plan, local housing need (calculated using the standard method) is used.
The current HDT results are the 2023 measurement, published on 12 December 2024. These results continue to apply until a subsequent HDT measurement is published. We remain committed to publishing the 2024 and 2025 HDT results as soon as possible. The Department does not formally collect 5YHLS data. The 5YHLS position of any given authority is often in flux and typically determined through planning appeals. As such, there are challenges in capturing comprehensive and robust data at any given time.
The HDT and 5YHLS are important measures which help monitor housing delivery, ensure local authorities maintain a pipeline of sites for housing, and support local authorities to identify and address under-delivery where it exists.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of homes that could be delivered on lower-quality Green Belt land without affecting nationally significant environmental assets; and whether they have assessed the consequences of restricting such development for young people seeking to buy a home.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has not made a specific assessment of the number of homes that could be delivered on lower-quality Green Belt land without affecting nationally significant environmental assets , and has not made a specific assessment about the development of such land and the consequences for young people buying a home.
Safeguards for protected areas in the National Planning Policy Framework continue to apply to development on land released from the Green Belt, as do its wider policies on conserving biodiversity and recognising the wider benefits from natural capital and ecosystem services.
Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, we consulted on a new National Planning Policy Framework. That consultation, which can be found on gov.uk here, included proposals relating to controlling development in the Green Belt. We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.
This government is supporting people into home ownership, including through the shared ownership scheme and the Lifetime ISA, and is consulting on a new first-time buyer ISA product. First time buyers also benefit from paying no Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) up to £300,000 and are able to claim relief on purchases up to £500,000. The government has also introduced a new, permanent Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, available to support and sustain availability of low deposit mortgage products for prospective buyers. Additionally, the Bank of England has been easing the loan-to-income limit, enabling up to 36,000 additional first-time buyers in the first year. The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) ongoing review of the mortgage market means many buyers can now borrow 10% more towards a property purchase.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (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 effect of planning restrictions in London on the delivery of new homes; and what estimate they have made of the difference between the number of new homes built in London and the total housebuilding targets for local authorities in London.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Housebuilding in the capital has faced a range of challenges over recent years including high interest rates, spiralling construction costs, planning and regulatory complexity and wider economic conditions.
The government is therefore working with the Mayor of London to increase housing supply and accelerate delivery. Following consultations, the government and the Greater London Authority (GLA) confirmed a package providing targeted, time-limited support for housebuilders to improve the viability of schemes and get quicker approvals on new housing schemes across every borough. This includes the GLA’s fast-tracked planning process for sites with at least 20 per cent affordable housing, removal of design guidance that constrains density, an expansion of the Mayor’s planning powers, and temporary, partial relief from development levies for schemes able to start promptly and guarantee affordable homes for Londoners.
The package sits alongside the government’s wider reforms to the planning system, significant funding for social and affordable homes and the announcement of New Towns to drive regional growth.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of homes that have not been built as a result of delays in the planning system since 2019; and what assessment they have made of the contribution of delays in the planning system to the housing shortage in England.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has not made a specific assessment of how delays in planning decisions have affected housing supply, but our 2025 planning reforms were judged by the Office for Budget Responsibility to add £6.8bn to the economy and boost UK housebuilding to its highest level in 40 years by 2029/30.
The government recognises the importance of an efficient planning system in supporting housebuilding, which is why it is significantly increasing its ambition to grow the planning workforce. Building on the original commitment to recruit 300 planners, it is now targeting around 1,400 new recruits across the planning system by the end of this Parliament. This is backed by an additional £48 million committed at the 2025 Budget to strengthen public-sector planning capacity, alongside wider support including specialist training through the Planning Advisory Service and targeted funding to help authorities accelerate applications.