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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the report of the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, Building More Homes, HL 20, published on 15 July 2016, for what reasons there is a limit on the amount local authorities can borrow to invest in building houses.

The borrowing caps were introduced as part of the Housing Revenue Account self-financing settlement, which entailed a once and for all rebalancing of housing debt. There are no plans to lift the caps, which are part of the government's strategy to manage the overall level of public debt.

Local authorities do have the capacity to borrow to build new homes, there is nearly £3.4 billion headroom available nationally and £2.9 billion in reserves.