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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are planning to amend the rules limiting the amount that local authorities can borrow against the value of their existing housing stock; and if so, what is their estimate of the number of houses that local authorities in England could build in the next five years if the limit were removed entirely.

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.