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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had, if any, with housing associations and local authorities about bringing forward proposals for building more (1) social, and (2) affordable, housing; and what plans they have, if any, to support small and medium sized businesses to bid for these contracts.

The Government is committed to increasing the supply of social housing and has made £9 billion available through the Affordable Homes Programme to March 2022.Building on this, we announced at Budget 2020 that we are investing £12 billion to build affordable homes between 2021/22 and 2025/26.

The Affordable Homes Programme is delivered nationally through Homes England and the Greater London Authority in London. Both agencies have continued dialogue with registered providers to ensure optimum delivery of housing under the programme.

We are firmly committed to supporting SMEs and strongly believe they can play a crucial role in reinvigorating the housing market and boosting housing supply. Our financial programmes to help SMEs grow and diversify include the £4.5 billion Home Building Fund, the Housing Growth Partnership and Housing Delivery Fund, and up to £1 billion of new guarantee support for SMEs to access.