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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Government's proposed changes in the use of timber in construction on trends in the level of carbon emissions.

Timber is a way of ensuring the long-term storage of carbon where it can be used safely in buildings.

The consultation following the review of the ban on the use of combustible materials in and on the external walls of buildings closed on 25 May 2020 and we are now analysing the results of the consultation. As part of the next step of the development of the policy, we will produce a detailed impact assessment. No specific assessment of the effect of the proposed changes on trends in the level of carbon emissions has been made.

However, we published an impact assessment when the original ban was first introduced. This document is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ban-on-combustible-materials-in-external-wall-systems-impact-assessment