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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support local councils in achieving their target for 1.5 million new homes.

The government is committed to delivering 1.5 million homes over this parliament, and we have already taken decisive action to support councils to play their part in delivering a generational increase in social and affordable housing.

On 30 July, we confirmed a range of new flexibilities for councils and housing associations, both within the Affordable Homes Programme and in relation to how councils can use their Right to Buy receipts, and a further £450 million for councils through the Local Authority Housing Fund enabling councils to grow their housing stock.

At the Budget on 30 October, the Chancellor set out details of an immediate one-year cash injection of £500 million to top up the existing Affordable Homes Programme which will deliver up to 5,000 new social and affordable homes, with bidding open to councils and other social landlords. This comes ahead of the multi-year Spending Review next spring, where the Government will set out details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme.

The Chancellor also confirmed that we will reduce Right to Buy discounts to their pre-2012 regional levels and allow councils to retain 100% of the receipts generated by Right to Buy sales to better protect council stock and accelerate the replacement of those homes sold. The government is consulting on wider reforms to the Right to Buy and also on a new 5-year social housing rent settlement to provide councils and all providers with the certainty they need to invest in new social housing.

We consulted on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system from 30 July until 24 September 2024. We have now reviewed the available evidence and feedback from the consultation and published our formal response. This response outlines a number of changes in planning policy designed to support the delivery of affordable homes, including more for Social Rent, and implementing golden rules to ensure development in the Green Belt is in the public interest.

We will work in partnership with councils and providers to build capacity and ensure we build the homes people need.