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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that local government pension funds can invest in areas such as new build shared ownership.

Under the Investment Regulations 2016, administering authorities in the Local Government Pension Scheme are no longer constrained by central prescription on how their assets are invested provided investments are in the best interests of scheme members. They now have much greater freedom to invest, subject to local democratic control and appropriate safeguards, and significant investment in new housing has already been made.

Our Housing White Paper encourages further investment more widely in housing, including shared ownership, through creating a stable financial environment in which to invest.

As a result, pension schemes are increasingly regarding housing as an appropriate investment. The pooling of local government pension funds will increase opportunities for their assets to be used to support infrastructure projects, including housing. This could generate promising returns for scheme members while maintaining value for money for national and local taxpayers.