Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what policy decisions were set out in Budget 2020 in relation to Help to Buy.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
In February, the Government confirmed details of the new Help to Buy Scheme from April 2021, which included a policy decision to define a first-time buyer as someone who has never previously owned a property. This definition is consistent with other government policies such as Stamp Duty Land Tax exemption. Budget 2020 set out the revised forecast expenditure arising from this decision.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the covid-19 pandemic, what steps he is taking to ensure (a) support and (b) protection for people sleeping rough.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
MHCLG continues to work with local partners, including local authorities and local resilience forums, to assist preparedness to manage the potential impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak. We absolutely recognise the difficulties involved in self-isolation for people who are homeless. That is why Public Health England have now published further guidance for hostels and day centres. We are considering whether further action is required and are working with the sector to develop an appropriate response as a matter of urgency.
£1.6 billion of additional funding will go to local authorities to enable them to respond to other COVID-19 pressures across all the services they deliver, including stepping up support for homeless people.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of whether the decision in Budget 2020 to increase funding for cladding remediation is compliant with the public accounting rules as set out in Managing Public Money.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
On 11 March 2020 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a £1bn Building Safety Fund to support residential building safety remediation in the private and social sector. The fund will support building owners and landlords who are unable to meet the costs of unsafe non-ACM cladding remediation in buildings over 18 metres.
The scheme has only just been announced and we are currently assessing it in detail, prior to launch, to determine its compliance with the public accounting rules as set out in Managing Public Money.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, who was the Accounting Officer for his Department when the decision to include an additional £1 billion for removal of unsafe cladding for residential buildings above 18 metres in the Budget 2020, as set out in paragraph 1.185 of the Budget 2020 Redbook, was approved by his Department.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Jeremy Pocklington CB was appointed Acting Permanent Secretary on 27 February.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has issued guidance for housing sector professionals who regularly interact with other people following the declaration of the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
MHCLG continues to work closely with local authorities to ensure they are prepared to deliver their statutory obligations under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.
The Secretary of State has instructed officials to work with councils to support and maintain their public services, including housing provision via the COVID-19 Response fund, which has initially been set at £5 billion and provides funding so public services are prepared and protected.
Guidance has been issued to assist staff and employers in addressing COVID-19, in a hostel or day centre environment.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether homes funded under the new affordable homes programme from 2021-22 will be required to include a right to shared ownership.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Right to Shared Ownership will give many social housing tenants the opportunity to purchase a stake in their home and take their first step into home ownership.
At Budget we announced £12.2 billion of investment to build affordable homes, which is the biggest cash investment in affordable housing for a decade.
As a condition of this funding, homes built with it must have the Right to Shared Ownership attached.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
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 2 March 2020 to Question 20383 on Affordable Housing, whether the statistics on funding allocations include (a) affordable home ownership, (b) affordable rent and (c) social rented homes funded through the Shared Ownership and Affordable Housing Programme.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government is committed to increasing the supply of social housing and has made £9 billion available through the Affordable Homes Programme to March 2022 to deliver approximately 250,000 new affordable homes in a wide range of tenures, including Social Rent.
We do not break down funding by tenure for the programme however, new affordable home ownership, affordable rent and social rented homes have been funded through the Shared Ownership and Affordable Housing Programme 2016/21.
The Affordable Homes Programme supports councils and housing associations to build more genuinely affordable homes, in areas of acute affordability pressure, with at least 12,500 social rent homes to be delivered in high cost areas to support families struggling to pay their rent.
Further information on affordable housing supply may be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/affordable-housing-supply
Building on this, we announced at budget 2020 that we are investing £12 billion to build affordable homes between 2021/22 - 2025/26. This will be the biggest cash investment in affordable housing for a decade.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of additional homes delivered as a result of the Home Building Fund, by local authority.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Home Building Fund provides lending through a number of vehicles including:
Directly to individual sites
Through a number of large investment funds (national)
Lending alliances (national)
Table 1, below, shows the number of homes completed in each local authority area and the proportion that are classed as additional.
Approximately 40 per cent of homes delivered through the Home Building Fund can be classed as additional supply.
The data that is provided for homes built through lending alliances and large investment funds is not provided at local authority level. Therefore, additional to the figures in the table below, a further 14,130 new homes have been built through these national vehicles. 5,652 of these homes would be classed as additional.
The data is based on projects that have been supported by the investment made through the Home Building Fund since its launch in October 2016.
Table 1. Home Building Fund Delivery by Local Authroity
Local Authority Area | Total completed homes | Proportion classed as additional |
Allerdale | 106 | 42 |
Amber Valley | 82 | 33 |
Ashfield | 12 | 5 |
Barnsley | 36 | 14 |
Barrow-in-Furness | 636 | 254 |
Bassetlaw | 78 | 31 |
Bedford | 200 | 80 |
Birmingham | 80 | 32 |
Blackburn with Darwen | 176 | 70 |
Bolsover | 86 | 34 |
Boston | 130 | 52 |
Bracknell Forest | 28 | 11 |
Bradford | 392 | 157 |
Braintree | 40 | 16 |
Bristol | 52 | 21 |
Broxbourne | 6 | 2 |
Broxtowe | 104 | 42 |
Cannock Chase | 30 | 12 |
Cheshire East | 1,016 | 406 |
Cheshire West and Chester | 828 | 331 |
Chesterfield | 224 | 90 |
Chorley | 20 | 8 |
Cornwall | 578 | 231 |
County Durham | 710 | 284 |
Coventry | 126 | 50 |
Craven | 348 | 139 |
Doncaster | 350 | 140 |
East Hampshire | 32 | 13 |
East Lindsey | 14 | 6 |
East Riding of Yorkshire | 340 | 136 |
Exeter | 12 | 5 |
Fylde | 82 | 33 |
Gravesham | 10 | 4 |
Guildford | 18 | 7 |
Halton | 10 | 4 |
Hambleton | 356 | 142 |
Harborough | 14 | 6 |
Harrogate | 26 | 10 |
Hartlepool | 168 | 67 |
Herefordshire | 20 | 8 |
High Peak | 68 | 27 |
Hounslow | 314 | 126 |
Huntingdonshire | 244 | 98 |
Ipswich | 300 | 120 |
Isle of Wight | 78 | 31 |
Kingston Upon Hull | 36 | 14 |
Kirklees | 226 | 90 |
Lambeth | 240 | 96 |
Lancaster | 272 | 109 |
Leeds | 258 | 103 |
Leicester | 304 | 122 |
Mansfield | 12 | 5 |
Mid Devon | 20 | 8 |
Newcastle-under-Lyme | 28 | 11 |
Newcastle upon Tyne | 378 | 151 |
Northampton | 28 | 11 |
North Devon | 140 | 56 |
North Dorset | 10 | 4 |
North East Derbyshire | 106 | 42 |
North East Lincolnshire | 140 | 56 |
North Lincolnshire | 6 | 2 |
North Tyneside | 36 | 14 |
Northumberland | 274 | 110 |
North Warwickshire | 14 | 6 |
North West Leicestershire | 262 | 105 |
Norwich | 52 | 21 |
Nottingham | 42 | 17 |
Pendle | 48 | 19 |
Plymouth | 322 | 129 |
Preston | 54 | 22 |
Redbridge | 630 | 252 |
Redcar and Cleveland | 28 | 11 |
Ribble Valley | 24 | 10 |
Richmondshire | 40 | 16 |
Rossendale | 74 | 30 |
Rotherham | 48 | 19 |
Rutland | 276 | 110 |
Salford | 1,840 | 736 |
Sandwell | 344 | 138 |
Scarborough | 422 | 169 |
Sefton | 14 | 6 |
Sheffield | 826 | 330 |
Shropshire | 376 | 150 |
Southampton | 256 | 102 |
South Derbyshire | 132 | 53 |
South Hams | 14 | 6 |
South Holland | 228 | 91 |
South Kesteven | 64 | 26 |
South Norfolk | 15 | 6 |
South Oxfordshire | 12 | 5 |
South Somerset | 14 | 6 |
Staffordshire Moorlands | 62 | 25 |
St. Helens | 86 | 34 |
Stockton-on-Tees | 520 | 208 |
Stoke-on-Trent | 552 | 221 |
Sunderland | 772 | 309 |
Telford and Wrekin | 60 | 24 |
Torridge | 12 | 5 |
Vale of White Horse | 256 | 102 |
Wakefield | 216 | 86 |
Warrington | 40 | 16 |
Wellingborough | 60 | 24 |
West Lancashire | 20 | 8 |
Wigan | 146 | 58 |
Winchester | 200 | 80 |
Wirral | 6 | 2 |
Wolverhampton | 228 | 91 |
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
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 4 February 2020 to Question 22361 on Affordable Housing, if he will publish data for the annual amount of grant funding allocated to affordable housing in (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
MHCLG and its predecessor DCLG publicly publish accounts and financial statements going back to 2010/11 which can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/247455/0971.pdf.
The overall investment in the 2008-11 National Affordable Housing Programme (NAHP) was £8 billion at the start of the programme, with a further £2.28 billion allocated to the programme for residual delivery in the 2011-15 Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) for a total of just over £10 billion.
Details of these amounts may be found at:
To provide data regarding the annual amount of grant funding allocated to affordable housing by the department in 2008/9 and 2009/10 internally would be at a disproportionate cost to the department. However, this data may also be found in the public domain at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-oscar-publishing-from-the-database.