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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they plan to have with (1) the Northern Ireland Executive, (2) the Scottish Government, and (3) the Welsh Government, about the scope for (1) new, or (2) expanded, towns to enable a better distribution of population within the UK.

The Department is in regular contact with the Devolved Administrations on a range of issues. However, there are no plans to meet in order to discuss changing the distribution of the population of the UK.

Planning is a devolved matter, and the Department has recently consulted on changes to planning practice guidance on the standard method for assessing local housing need. The standard method provides the starting point for planning for housing and the proposals relate to England only.