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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the time taken for the Housing Ombudsman Service to process complaints raised in 2022.

The Department holds Accounting Officer meetings quarterly with the Ombudsman, where the focus is on tracking progress against performance indicators, including complaint handling times.

Recognising the growing demand, the Department has supported the Ombudsman by approving year on year increases in membership fees to increase numbers of staff dealing with social housing and private rented sector complaints.