Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's press release of 24 October 2019, entitled £38 million Homes England funding to speed up development of over 2,000 homes, what assessment criteria were used to determine the distribution of that funding to support modular construction; whether the assessment criteria and associated weighting were determined before applications were invited for that funding; on what date those criteria were determined; whether Ministers had a role in the selection process; and if he will make a statement.

On 24 October 2019 an announcement was made by Homes England that funding worth £38.2 million was approved for six local authorities to speed up the construction of at least 2,072 homes across the country. This was made under the £450 million Local Authority Accelerated Construction programme which aims to unlock up to 33,500 additional homes on surplus public sector land.

In January 2017 initial expressions of interest were sought from local authorities content to see sites developed which: could deliver starts within the expected parliamentary term as part of the local authorities' wider housing ambitions; had capacity for 50 sites or more; could demonstrate additionality; could support market diversification; had accelerated build out; were not held in a Local Authority's Housing Revenue Account and could make use of a range of modern methods of construction.

Subsequently, Homes England worked with engaged Local authorities on projects which appeared viable, sharing details of due diligence requirements.

Ministers did not select the sites on the programme. Selection was done by Homes England who, as the Government’s housing agency, have been commissioned to deliver the programme. Funding decisions are taken in accordance with Homes England’s internal processes and in line with set parameters.