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 the potential impact of changing the rules which prevent families from bidding for social houses that have too few bedrooms on waiting times for social housing.

The government expects registered providers of social housing to develop solutions that make best use of their stock.

When framing the rules which determine the size of property to allocate to different households and in different circumstances, local housing authorities are free to set their own criteria, provided they do not result in a household being statutorily overcrowded.

As announced in our National Plan to End Homelessness in December last year, we will work with stakeholders to review and update statutory guidance on social housing allocations to ensure that allocations reflect local need and effectively support vulnerable households.