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

To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of Arm’s Length Management Organisations as providers of social housing.

It is for councils to decide the most effective mechanism for supplying and maintaining council homes, within the legal framework and in consultation with their residents.

Of the 162 local authorities that hold council homes in a Housing Revenue Account (HRA), 22 have those homes managed by an Arm's-Length Management Organisation (ALMO). Council homes managed by a ALMO are subject to the same standards on decency, safety and energy efficiency as other social homes, and will be covered by the same proactive regulation of consumer standards envisaged in the Social Housing Regulation Bill. Councils with ALMOs are also subject to the HRA ringfence, which prevents tenants' rents being spent on wider council services.