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

To ask His Majesty's Government how many local authorities are currently failing to meet their housing delivery targets; and what assessment they have made of whether existing measures to ensure local authorities comply with their housebuilding targets are effective.

The Government has two tests to determine whether authorities are meeting the housing needs of their areas: the Housing Delivery Test (HDT), which measures delivery against housing requirements over the previous three years, and five-year housing land supply (5YHLS), which assesses whether sufficient deliverable sites exist to meet housing needs over the next five years. Where authorities fail against these tests, the presumption in favour of sustainable development is engaged.

Local planning authorities with up-to-date plans are assessed against their adopted plan housing requirement for the purposes of the HDT and 5YHLS. Where an authority does not have an up-to-date plan, local housing need (calculated using the standard method) is used.

The current HDT results are the 2023 measurement, published on 12 December 2024. These results continue to apply until a subsequent HDT measurement is published. We remain committed to publishing the 2024 and 2025 HDT results as soon as possible. The Department does not formally collect 5YHLS data. The 5YHLS position of any given authority is often in flux and typically determined through planning appeals. As such, there are challenges in capturing comprehensive and robust data at any given time.

The HDT and 5YHLS are important measures which help monitor housing delivery, ensure local authorities maintain a pipeline of sites for housing, and support local authorities to identify and address under-delivery where it exists.