Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the statement on X by the Minister for Housing and Planning on 31 January that the Government could not commence the "relevant enfranchisement provisions" in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 until specific flaws within the Act were rectified, what specific flaws he was referring to; what plans they have to rectify these flaws through legislation; whether the Draft Leasehold and Commonhold Bill contains those legislative proposals; and if it does not, for what reason they are not included.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 contains a small number of specific but serious flaws which would prevent certain provisions from operating as intended and that need to be rectified via primary legislation.
The Written Ministerial Statement made on 21 November 2024 HLWS240 (attached) outlined two flaws regarding a loophole in the valuation scheme set out in the Act, and an omission on shared ownership lease extensions.
Primary legislation will also be needed to address the following flaws:
As set out in the WMS of 27 January 2026 HLWS1278 (attached), the government will rectify these flaws in primary legislation.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Minister for Housing and Planning’s statement on 27 January (HC Deb col 750) that an immediate peppercorn cap on lease payments “could carry significant risks”, what are those risks; what assessment of those risks have been made by (1) the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, and (2) the Treasury, and if they will publish these analyses; what meetings ministers have had with representatives of freehold estates and pension funds since taking office; and what risks, if any, they consider an immediate peppercorn cap poses to building remediation and safety.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government is capping ground rent at £250 per year, before changing to a peppercorn in 40 years. These measures, as set out in the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, deliver on the manifesto commitment to “tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rent charges” and “bring the feudal leasehold system to an end”. This policy will directly address cost of living pressures for leaseholders, and issues with buying, selling and mortgaging properties with high ground rents, before ending ground rents for good.
We recognise that these reforms will have a significant impact on freeholders and investors, but the government considers this is a justified and proportionate intervention to address harms and deliver a fair and effective housing market. We have taken investors’ concerns into account when developing this policy, which we believe strikes a fair balance between leaseholders, freeholders and those invested in ground rents.
For further information, I refer the Noble Baroness to the (attached) Policy statement on ground rents published on 27 January 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (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 concerns raised by the Resident Freehold Association that capping ground rents could cause a significant number of professional freeholders to become insolvent and impact remediation on up to 12,000 buildings.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government is capping ground rent at £250 per year, before changing to a peppercorn in 40 years. These measures, as set out in the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, deliver on the manifesto commitment to “tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rent charges” and “bring the feudal leasehold system to an end”. This policy will directly address cost of living pressures for leaseholders, and issues with buying, selling and mortgaging properties with high ground rents, before ending ground rents for good.
We recognise that these reforms will have a significant impact on freeholders and investors, but the government considers this is a justified and proportionate intervention to address harms and deliver a fair and effective housing market. We have taken investors’ concerns into account when developing this policy, which we believe strikes a fair balance between leaseholders, freeholders and those invested in ground rents.
For further information, I refer the Noble Baroness to the (attached) Policy statement on ground rents published on 27 January 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Minister for Housing and Planning’s statement on 27 January (HC Deb col 750) that there is a difference between regulating the creation of new leases and affecting existing contracts and investments, what is the legal basis for this analysis, and what role the ECHR has had, if any, in informing this analysis.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
When considering reforms to leasehold, the government naturally takes account of number of factors including the right to peaceful enjoyment of property under Article 1 of Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights. The courts have held that the government has a wide margin of appreciation in this area, including when making changes that have a purely prospective effect on existing leases.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the removal of the two-child benefit limit to unemployed refugees receiving Universal Credit is perceived as fair by the public.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are strict rules that govern who can access benefits. Parents who are not British or Irish nationals can only access Universal Credit with a valid immigration status of a kind that gives them the right to access public funds. Most migrants with temporary visas cannot access the benefit system. Access to public funds and benefits is usually at the point of settlement, which for most people will be after they have lived in the UK legally for five years, and the Home Office Earned Settlement policy consultation is looking at increasing this to ten years. The Home Office is also consulting on changing the default position to maintain No Recourse to Public Funds at settlement and lifting this only at the point of British citizenship. This would mean that migrants would need to wait longer to access benefits.
DWP also plans to consult on changes to the benefit rules to prioritise access for those who are making an economic contribution to the UK. The consultation will look at how the benefit rules apply to everyone arriving or returning to the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Minister for Housing and Planning’s statement on 27 January (HC Deb col 753) that the Government do not plan to implement a service charge cap but that existing provisions in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 would be “switched on at the earliest possible opportunity”, what assessment they have made of when the referred to provisions will be used.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The consultation on strengthening leaseholder protections under the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 closed on 26 September 2025. We are analysing responses, including on service charges, and will bring the relevant measures into force as quickly as possible thereafter.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (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 impact of the proposal to cap ground rents before changing to a peppercorn after 40 years in the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Through the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill published on 27 January 2026, the government is proposing to cap ground rent at £250 per year, before changing to a peppercorn in 40 years.
We estimate around 770,000 to 900,000 leaseholders pay over £250 per year in ground rent and will save money this Parliament. Leaseholders across nearly 4 million properties pay a ground rent in England and Wales. We estimate they will save a total of £10-12.7bn over the policy’s lifetime as a result of this change.
For further information, I refer the Noble Baroness to the Written Ministerial Statement HLWS1278 on 27 January 2026 (attached), and to the Policy statement on ground rents (attached) published on that date.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of NHS GP appointments that have arisen due to mental health conditions in each of the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England releases monthly statistics on general practice (GP) appointments. However, this data does not identify specific conditions addressed during individual GP appointments. Additionally, while GP clinical systems can collect and code information on conditions being treated, this information is for local management and is not shared centrally
Consequently, it is not possible to determine what proportion of National Health Service GP appointments relate to mental health conditions, or to any other specific conditions.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (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 council officers and councillors are held to account for significant public failings on the part of local authorities.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This Government is committed to ensuring that local government is empowered, fully accountable and deserving of people’s trust and confidence.
Councils must fulfil the Best Value Duty when delivering their responsibilities. Government uses a range of statutory and non-statutory intervention models in cases of failure or risk of failure. In cases of Commissioner-led intervention, where appropriate, this can include powers to appoint and dismiss senior staff.
The Government Response to the Strengthen the Standards and Conduct Framework consultation for Local Authorities in England published on 11 November 2025 sets out our ambition to introduce a clearer and consistently applied conduct system that will help local elected members to hold themselves and their colleagues to account in meeting the high standards and conduct their roles demand and the public have a right to expect. We intend to legislate on local government standards reforms when parliamentary time allows.
Council officers and members may also be subject to investigation by relevant bodies if suspected of serious misconduct, including the police and Serious Fraud Office.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of (1) families, and (2) children, who will be affected by the removal of the two child benefit cap in the next two years, including those whose no recourse to public funds status has been lifted by exemption, broken down by immigration status (a) common travel area and right of abode, (b) EU settlement scheme, (c) humanitarian, (d) refugee, (e) indefinite leave to remain (not EU settlement scheme), and (f) limited leave to remain (not EU settlement scheme).
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not produce forecasts of the impact of removing the two child limit on families or children by immigration status, and the estimate requested is not available. To produce such an estimate would incur disproportionate cost.
As our published information shows, in 2026/27, we estimate around 510,000 and in 2027/28, we estimate 520,000 Universal Credit Households will benefit from this policy change.
Table 5: Estimated number of households benefitting from the policy change
| 2026/27 | 2027/28 | 2028/29 | 2029/30 | 2030/31 |
Already on UC (static) (000’s) | 500 | 510 | 520 | 550 | 560 |
Newly entitled to UC (static) (000’s) | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
Reduction due to exceptions (static) (000’s) | - 20 | - 20 | - 20 | - 20 | - 20 |
Increased take-up of UC (behavioural) (000’s) | 20 | 20 | 30 | 30 | 20 |
Total (000’s) | 510 | 520 | 540 | 560 | 570 |
Note: Caseloads rounded to the nearest 10k and totals may not sum up due to rounding. Great Britain only. | |||||
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament - Regulatory impact assessment template (2023 reforms)
Most migrants with temporary visas cannot access the benefit system. Access to public funds and benefits is usually at the point of settlement, which for most people will be after they have lived in the UK legally for five years, and the Home Office Earned Settlement policy consultation is looking at increasing this to ten years. The Home Office is also consulting on changing the default position to maintain No Recourse to Public Funds at settlement and lifting this only at the point of British citizenship.