Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to (a) lower the threshold for right to manage applications and (b) increase the maximum proportion of commercial property permissible for right to manage applications to occur.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has commenced the Right to Manage measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. They came into effect on 3 March 2025.
These changes implement the Law Commission recommendation to increase the non-residential floorspace limit from 25 to 50 per cent for Right to Manage claims. This means that more leaseholders in mixed-use buildings will qualify for the right to manage, gaining control over the management of their building. Further changes mean that leaseholders making right to manage claims will no longer have to pay their freeholder’s process costs for that claim.
Over the course of this Parliament, the government will enact remaining Law Commission recommendations relating to the Right to Manage. We do not plan to lower the participation requirement or further increase the non-residential limit for the Right to Manage at this time but will continue to evaluate how the Right to Manage operates following the recent changes.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support she is providing to housing associations, in the context of costs associated with the Building Safety Act 2022.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Social landlords, including Housing Associations, can apply to the Building Safety Fund and the Cladding Safety Scheme where the cost of remediating a building would threaten the financial viability of the landlord or to cover costs which - without the protections of the Building Safety Act - could have been passed on to leaseholders and shared owners. As of November 2024, social landlords had been allocated £568 million by government remediation schemes. From April 2025, we will increase funding for social landlords applying for government remediation funding so that remedial works can start sooner. We are working with the sector to develop a long-term social housing remediation strategy.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an estimate of costs for housing associations related to the remediation of aluminium composite material cladding.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In 2018, government estimated that the cost of removing and replacing unsafe ACM cladding on 18m+ social residential buildings would be approximately £400 million. As of March 2025, 144 high rise buildings had entered the Social Sector ACM Fund. To date, government schemes approved allocation of c.£297 million towards remediating those buildings, including c.£101 million for buildings owned by Housing Associations.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential reasons for housing associations selling homes previously let out for social rent.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) publishes annual statistics relating to the social housing stock owned and managed by Private Registered Providers in England, including information on stock lost from the sector. Sales for non-social use in 2023/24 were recorded as 4,341 homes. Further information can be found on gov.uk here.
RSH’s analysis suggests that providers are undertaking fixed asset sales for a variety of reasons. These include stock rationalisation and disposal of uneconomic properties, as well as generating receipts to support reinvestment in new and existing stock.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to accept the recommendations on hidden event fees in retirement properties in the report by the Law Commission entitled Event Fees in Retirement Properties, published on 31 March 2017.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to enhancing provision and choice for older people in the housing market and we will continue to consider this issue as we develop our long-term housing strategy, which will be published later this year.
We are giving careful consideration to the recommendations in the final report of the Older People’s Housing Taskforce, including its recommendation that government should implement the Law Commission’s 2017 recommendations to regulate event fees.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of applying speed limits for motor vehicles to (a) pedal bicycles and (b) e-bikes.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No assessment has been made of the potential merits of applying speed limits for motor vehicles to (a) pedal bicycles and (b) e-bikes.
Like all road users, people who cycle have a duty to behave in a safe and responsible manner and follow the rules of the road.
While speed limits set under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 only apply to motor vehicles, cyclists can still be charged with careless or dangerous cycling offences depending on the circumstances.
E-bikes that do not comply with the Electrically Pedal Assisted Cycles regulations, which include a requirement for power assist to cut off at 15.5 miles per hour, are classed as mechanically propelled vehicles. So, riders are already subject to speed limits while riding these bikes if power assist is being used. Riders may cycle faster than 15.5 miles per hour using pedal power.
Cyclists are in practice seldom able to exceed the speed limits that apply to motorised vehicles.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the maintenance loans system for meeting students’ cost of living needs.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has published an Equality Impact Assessment of changes to fees and student support on groups with protected characteristics for the 2025/26 academic year, which is available here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2025/14/pdfs/ukia_20250014_en.pdf.
The government recognises the impact that the cost-of-living crisis has had on students. However, we need to ensure that the student funding system is financially sustainable. Maximum loans and grants for living and other costs for the 2025/26 academic year will be increased by forecast inflation, which is 3.1% based on the RPIX inflation index (Retail Price Index excluding mortgage interest), with the most support paid to students from the lowest income backgrounds.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
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 29 November 2024 to Question 15319 on Holiday Accommodation: Registration, what additional powers her Department plans to give to local authorities to respond to pressures of short-term lets.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Members to the answer to Question UIN 13348 on 18 November 2024.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
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 11 November 2024 to Question 12343 on Foreign Companies: Property, when she plans to publish his response to the consultation.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government will publish a response to the public consultation on the Transparency of Land Ownership Involving Trusts in due course.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of when the Building Safety Regulator will be determining 50% of its judgments within its statutory 12-week target.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We are aware of the delays for applicants in Gateway two. The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is an independent regulator in its infancy and operational functions are still bedding in. BSR report to MHCLG that Gateway processing times continue to improve and the BSR has recruited additional personnel who are starting to process applications.
We also understand that it currently takes longer than expected to stand up specialist multidisciplinary teams to assess Gateway applications and this is a major contributing factor to delays. To support the BSR with this process the government has provided funding to support additional Fire and Rescue (FRS) staff and funding for new local authority building control inspectors. The recruitment and training of these additional staff is well underway. MHCLG continue to review how multidisciplinary teams are resourced through our internal channels.
However, it is also clear that the sector must take responsibility for the projects they deliver. We understand the BSR have rejected a significant number of Gateway Two applications for failing to meet the building safety regulatory standards. Sub-standard rejected applications contribute to the time taken to process compliant applications and the BSR continue to support industry to ensure they are meeting the functional requirements of the building regulations. Guidance is available to support applicants in understanding their duties.