Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of delays in building safety approvals on the (a) volume and (b) value of residential investment transactions.

We recognise that delays to the assessment of applications have been unacceptable on the construction supply chain. This is why we announced reforms to the Building Safety Regulator on 30 June, including plans to establish the BSR as a separate body. The BSR has committed to improving operations by December, with faster processing of new build applications and decisions on most of the existing new-build caseload.

The BSR is already making operational and policy changes to speed up decision making, particularly on building control approval, including through the introduction of an Innovation Unit (IU). Early signs are positive with the majority of applications in the IU so far on track to exceed or meet the 12-week SLA as they progress through the application process.

New guidance, developed with the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), is also helping to support industry to better understand all aspects of the new building control regime and secure approval from BSR.

To support transparency and accountability, the BSR published performance data on 16 October and will continue to do so monthly to track progress against this commitment.