Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, what discussions he had with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities about key worker housing for NHS staff.

We recognise the importance of ensuring that high-quality, affordable accommodation is available to National Health Service staff. We are working closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to explore how we can best support NHS trusts to deliver key worker accommodation where it is needed. The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lord Markham) will lead a joint taskforce with the Minister of State for Housing and Planning (Rachel Maclean MP) to work through the barriers identified in a recently published paper on key worker accommodation by the NHS Homes Alliance, and to support the NHS to streamline delivery.

Local organisations are ultimately responsible for determining the appropriate use of NHS estate, including for key worker accommodation. NHS staff also have access to the national First Homes scheme, established in 2021, which enables key workers to purchase homes at a discount to the market value on new housing sites, paid for by developer contributions