Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of enabling Mayors of Combined Authorities to suspend the right to buy.

The Government believes it is right that those tenants who have lived in, and paid rent on, their social homes for many years retain the right to purchase their property at a reasonable discount. As such, we will not be ending or suspending the Right to Buy scheme.

We are, however, committed to better protecting our existing stock of social rented homes and we have reviewed the increased Right to Buy discounts introduced in 2012. As announced at Budget, we are now taking action to return maximum Right to Buy cash discounts to pre-2012 levels.

We will also increase protections on newly built social housing and allow councils to keep 100% of the receipts generated by a Right to Buy sale. This will enable councils to scale-up delivery of social homes for those who need them most. We also intend to review Right to Buy more widely, including looking at eligibility criteria and further protections for newly built social housing, on which a consultation will be launched shortly.