Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to reduce child homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has increased funding for homelessness services by £316 million to a total of £1 billion in 2025/26. This includes a recent £84 million top up which included £10.9 million funding to support families and children in temporary accommodation, funding services to improve their quality of life whilst they are homeless.
We are developing a homelessness strategy to deliver the long-term solutions that we need to get back on track to ending homelessness. Our strategy will put prevention at its core, to reduce the number of children who experience homelessness, and will consider the needs of all groups who are at risk of and experience homelessness, including young people. We are taking a cross-government approach, including working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions as they develop the Child Poverty Strategy.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she has taken to help reduce (a) wealth and (b) productivity inequalities in England.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We are committed to reducing wealth and productivity inequalities across England. We are investing in local economic growth, regenerating high streets, supporting communities, and improving transport and cultural infrastructure.
We are giving local leaders the tools they need to deliver growth, boost productivity, and raise living standards in their areas by devolving power and money from central government. This includes strong new powers over housing, planning, transport, energy, employment support and a stronger role in joining up public services locally, backed up with integrated and consolidated funding.
Additionally, our reforms to housing and planning aim to increase affordable housing supply and home ownership, supporting social mobility and job creation.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she has taken to (a) minimise rent increases and (b) increase affordable renting provisions.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The £39 billion announced at the Spending Review for the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme for 2026-27 to 2035-36 is the biggest long-term investment in social and affordable housing in recent memory.
Our ambition is to deliver up around 300,000 social and affordable homes over the programme’s lifetime. If we achieve this ambition and our target of at least 60% of the homes being for Social Rent, the new programme will deliver around 180,000 homes for Social Rent – approximately a sixfold increase on the number of grant-funded Social Rent homes delivered in the decade up to 2024.
We also announced a 10-year rent settlement (that will permit increases by up to CPI+1% each year), which will give providers the financial certainty to invest in new and existing homes, but also crucially protect tenants from excessive rent increases.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many times their Department accepted in full the position of the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s (a) findings and (b) recommendations on (i) issuing an apology and (ii) other forms of redress in the last 10 years.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
In the last 10 years, the Department has not been subject to any findings against it by the Parliamentary Ombudsman, nor has it received any recommendations for redress other than an apology. In 2023/24, the Department accepted a single recommendation from the Ombudsman to issue an apology, which was actioned.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2025 to Question 51319 on Mayors: North of England, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of (a) her Department's funding for devolved services and (b) other forms of Government support for local mayors to reduce (i) economic and (ii) health inequalities in the North West.
Answered by Jim McMahon
We are giving local leaders, including mayors in the North West, the tools they need to deliver growth and raise living standards in their areas by devolving power and money from central government.
This includes strong new powers over housing, planning, transport, energy, employment support and a stronger role in joining up public services locally, backed up with integrated and consolidated funding.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of housing developers that deliver less affordable housing than initially promised when awarded contracts.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to strengthening the existing system of developer contributions, including section 106 planning obligations, to ensure that new developments provide appropriate affordable homes and infrastructure. Further details will be set out in due course.
We are also reviewing the planning practice guidance on viability to ensure that the viability system works to optimise developer contributions, allowing negotiation only where genuinely necessary. We intend to provide a further update before the end of the spring.
Prior to new viability guidance being published, site specific viability assessment should not be used where development is subject to the ‘Golden Rules’ as set out in paragraph 156 of the National Planning Policy Framework.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress her Department has made on developing a long-term housing strategy.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government intends to publish a long-term housing strategy later this year.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment she has made of (a) the adequacy of social housing provision and (b) the length of the waiting lists to access social housing.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
With over 1.3 million people on social housing registers, the government is clear that there is a chronic shortage of social housing in England. That is why we are committed to the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding for a generation.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she has taken to support mayors in cities in the North of England to (a) increase economic growth and (b) improve local infrastructure.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Economic growth is the number one mission of this Government. We are giving local leaders, including mayors in cities in the North of England, the tools they need to improve local infrastructure and increase economic growth in their areas by devolving power and money from central government. We are investing in programmes which drive growth and will set out our refreshed vision for local growth funding at the multi-year Spending Review.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will encourage the Chief Executive of Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council to respond to correspondence from the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish on (a) Denton Community College academisation, (b) Tameside Children’s Services scorecard data and (c) Denton Christmas lights.
Answered by Simon Hoare
Councils are independent, democratic bodies accountable to the communities they serve and responsible for managing correspondence.