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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the oral contribution of the hon. Member for Warwick and Leamington of 13 June 2019, Official Report, column 860, whether his Department plans to adopt the target to build 155,000 social rented homes a year with at least 100,000 being council homes.

We are committed to increasing the supply of social housing and have invested over £9 billion into our Affordable Homes Programme to deliver 250,000 affordable homes by 2022, including at least 12,500 for social rent.

We do not publish yearly targets but deliver flexibly throughout the years of the programme to achieve our overall target and hold Homes England and the GLA to account for delivery.

We have increased the size of the Affordable Homes Programme, re-introduced social rent, removed the HRA borrowing cap for local authorities, and have set out a long-term rent deal for councils and housing associations in England from 2020. Housing associations and local authorities now need to accelerate delivery and build more affordable homes.