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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what indirect support is available to (1) local authorities, (2) building firms, and (3) others, to create sustainable housing developments; what steps they are taking to advertise such indirect support; and whether it will be presented in a consolidated form to assist potential developers.

This Government provides direct and indirect support to a wide range of stakeholders, including developers, and delivery partners to ensure the 1 million homes we want to see built over this Parliament are high-quality and consistent with our commitment to net zero.

Through the National Planning Policy Framework, we empower local authorities to make place-based decisions to best reflect local needs and the importance of sustainable development. The revised Framework, which is currently out for consultation, makes a number of changes to strengthen environmental policies, and introduces climate change adaptation and mitigation as part of sustainable development.

The Construction Leadership Council, which is jointly chaired by industry and the BEIS Construction Minister, works with and supports the wider construction industry. The Green Construction Board, the sustainability work stream of the Construction Leadership Council, has worked with industry, experts and Government officials to produce recommendations on sustainable new homes and the retrofit of existing housing. Homes England also plays an important role in supporting the housing sector to deliver more sustainable homes and places.

The Government also provides direct support to the delivery of high-quality housing. For example, my Department is committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing and is investing over £12 billion in affordable housing over five years, the largest investment in affordable housing in a decade. This includes the new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme, which will provide up to 180,000 new homes across the country and leverage £38 billion of private investment. All homes built through the programme must meet current building regulations and the Decent Homes standard. Through our new £11.5 billion programme we will be incentivising Providers to build well-designed places by building the National Design Guide into our scoring criteria for Strategic Partnerships.

The forthcoming Heat and Buildings Strategy, will set out further actions we will take for reducing emissions from buildings, while continuing to deliver greater numbers of safe and affordable new homes.