Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing housing density for the purposes of reducing the requirement to build new homes on greenfield sites.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
This Government strongly encourages the efficient and effective use of land. Our National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) already sets out that planning policies and decisions should promote an effective use of land and make as much use as possible of previously-developed land in meeting the need for homes and other uses, while safeguarding and improving the environment, and ensuring safe and healthy living conditions.
The NPPF sets out that local plans should establish density standards for city and town centres which seek a significant uplift in density in those areas. Furthermore the NPPF is clear that where there is a shortage of land for meeting housing needs, it is especially important that planning policies and decisions avoid homes being built at low densities and that developments make optimal use of the potential of each site.
We have introduced a number of measures to support increased density including new permitted development rights to allow more buildings to be extended upwards to create new homes, and to make it easier for existing buildings to be converted to residential use. This will further support residential densification while avoiding the need to build on other types of land.
We are also bringing forward further reforms to support density through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, including a duty for local authorities to produce design codes to help shape the design of their area, giving greater certainty to communities and developers. In addition ‘Street Votes’ will incentivise communities to consider the potential for development and support a gentle increase in densities through well-designed and locally supported proposals.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Climate Change Committee’s UK Health Expert Advisory Group’s report entitled Sustainable Health Equity: Achieving a Net Zero UK, published on 6 November 2020, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the four recommendations of that report including setting a target date to eliminate home installations of wood burning and gas stoves and prioritising elimination in urban areas.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
I welcome the Climate Change Committee’s report on Sustainable Health Equity: Achieving a Net Zero UK. My Department works closely with other government departments to deliver homes that are energy efficient, climate resilient and healthy.
On 15 December 2021 the Department published the government response to the Future Buildings Standard consultation, brought in the 2021 uplift to the Building Regulations and published a range of accompanying new statutory guidance.
The uplift is an important stepping stone on our way to implementation of the Future Homes Standard and the Future Buildings Standard from 2025. Together, the policy set out in the government response to the Future Buildings Standard consultation, and the Future Homes Standard consultation (published in January 2021) will ensure that new homes and buildings are highly efficient, with significantly lower carbon emissions. From June 2022, when the new regulations come into force, new homes will be expected to produce around 30% fewer carbon emissions and new non-domestic buildings will be expected to produce 27% fewer carbon emissions, becoming zero-carbon over time as the electricity grid continues to decarbonise. The consultation, uplift and new statutory guidance also delivered improvements to ventilation, and a new requirement to mitigate overheating in new-build residential buildings, particularly important for adapting to an increasingly warm climate.
We are considering how the planning system can further support our commitment to reaching net zero. As set out in the Net Zero Strategy, we will make sure that the reformed planning system supports our efforts to combat climate change and help bring greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
The Government Response to the Committee on Climate Change’s 2020 Progress Report to Parliament sets out the further action they are taking across all sectors of the economy to reduce emissions and deliver net zero.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the Climate Change Committee’s UK Health Expert Advisory Group’s report, Sustainable Health Equity: Achieving a Net Zero UK, published 6 November 2020.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
I welcome the Climate Change Committee’s report on Sustainable Health Equity: Achieving a Net Zero UK. My Department works closely with other government departments to deliver homes that are energy efficient, climate resilient and healthy.
On 15 December 2021 the Department published the government response to the Future Buildings Standard consultation, brought in the 2021 uplift to the Building Regulations and published a range of accompanying new statutory guidance.
The uplift is an important stepping stone on our way to implementation of the Future Homes Standard and the Future Buildings Standard from 2025. Together, the policy set out in the government response to the Future Buildings Standard consultation, and the Future Homes Standard consultation (published in January 2021) will ensure that new homes and buildings are highly efficient, with significantly lower carbon emissions. From June 2022, when the new regulations come into force, new homes will be expected to produce around 30% fewer carbon emissions and new non-domestic buildings will be expected to produce 27% fewer carbon emissions, becoming zero-carbon over time as the electricity grid continues to decarbonise. The consultation, uplift and new statutory guidance also delivered improvements to ventilation, and a new requirement to mitigate overheating in new-build residential buildings, particularly important for adapting to an increasingly warm climate.
We are considering how the planning system can further support our commitment to reaching net zero. As set out in the Net Zero Strategy, we will make sure that the reformed planning system supports our efforts to combat climate change and help bring greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
The Government Response to the Committee on Climate Change’s 2020 Progress Report to Parliament sets out the further action they are taking across all sectors of the economy to reduce emissions and deliver net zero.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of how the planning process can support the creation of properly ventilated indoor environments.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
There are strong protections in place in national planning policy to safeguard people from unacceptable risks from air pollution. These will be material considerations for a local council when determining a planning application, as will the planning concerns of the local community.
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that planning policies and decisions should aim to promote healthy places, including by identifying opportunities to improve air quality. The planning guidance which supports the National Planning Policy Framework sets out further detail on how new development should take account of risks relating to air quality, including by using appropriate means of filtration and ventilation.
It is through the Part F of the Building Regulations that we set the minimum ventilation standards for new buildings or when work is done to an existing building. In the Government's Clean Air Strategy 2019, we committed to consulting on changes to standards in Part F (ventilation) of the Building Regulations. These consultations took place in the form of the Future Homes Standard and Future Buildings Standard consultations. We have reviewed the ventilation standards of the Building Regulations for new homes using the latest scientific evidence from Public Health England (PHE), details of which can be found in the Future Homes Standard consultation response.
We also consulted on ventilation standards for non-domestic buildings and for existing homes, the details of which can be found in the Future Buildings Standard consultation. The Future Buildings Standard consultation was launched on 19 January 2021 and closed on 13 April 2021. We will carefully consider the responses we receive in advance of regulating later this year.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans the Government has to establish an inter-Departmental Government committee to tackle the spectrum of health issues that result from or are exacerbated by living in homes which are unhealthy.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We recognise the increased importance of good quality, safe and decent homes and will continue to work to improve housing standards and support vulnerable people.
We have made a great deal of progress in recent years to help improve housing standards:
The Decent Homes Standard requires homes to be free of serious hazards that could cause harm to health. In the social housing White Paper, we announced a review of the Standard to ensure it is the right ask of the social housing sector today.
My Department has taken the lead on many aspects of this work. There is extensive cross-Government work on healthy homes and buildings – from planning and place-making to design, delivery and standards and support.? Officials across all policies areas regularly engage industry and local government when developing, delivering and reviewing policies.? MHCLG recognises that the responsibility for ensuring homes and buildings are safe and decent is a shared one - lying with product designers, developers, building owners and managers and local authorities as well as central Government and devolved administrations.
Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he is taking steps to maximise human wellbeing and minimise environmental harms under a sustainable programme of economic recovery from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has undertaken an intensive programme of engagement to inform the Government's approach to economic recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak. One of the five key themes guiding this process is that of creating a 'green recovery'. In his speech of June 30, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister made clear that in recovering from COVID-19, we must build back greener. The UK has shown that growing our economy and cutting emissions can be achieved at the same time. Last week, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a package of over £3 billion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, which will support up to 140,000 green jobs. This includes £50m to demonstrate innovative approaches to retrofitting social housing at scale, to start the decarbonisation of social housing over 20/21; a £2 billion ‘Green Homes Grant’ to help people improve the efficiency of their homes accelerating progress towards net zero, while supporting jobs and reducing energy bills; and, £1 billion investment over the next year in a new Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to upgrade public sector buildings, including schools and hospitals, making them fit to help meet net zero with energy efficiency and low carbon heat measures. This comes as part of our commitment to ensuring that the UK's economic recovery is sustainable, placing human well-being centre stage by promoting a safe, clean and healthy environment for citizens to live and work in.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to help ensure that housing is (a) healthy and (b) energy efficient.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
This Government is committed to improving housing standards and the energy efficiency of homes.
In October 2019, we published a consultation on the Future Homes Standard, which proposed a highly ambitious uplift to energy efficiency standards for new homes, along with improvements to the standards for ventilation in new homes. Within this consultation, we also committed to consult further on energy efficiency standards where work is carried out in existing homes, and on an overheating standard for new homes.
Within the Clean Growth Strategy, we proposed that as many homes as possible will be upgraded to an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band C by 2035, where practical, cost-effective and affordable. We are planning to publish a Heat and Buildings Strategy in due course, which will set out the immediate actions we will take for reducing emissions from buildings.
Policies and guidance are also in place to make sure that both social housing and private rented accommodation are fit and healthy places to live, including the Decent Homes Standard and the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act came into force on 20th March 2019. We also plan to bring forward a Social Housing White Paper, which will set out further measures to ensure social homes are safe and decent.
The National Planning Policy Framework encourages local planning policies and decisions so that developments create places that are sustainable, and which promote health and well-being.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what responsibilities his Department has for ensuring that homes and buildings are healthy for its occupants.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
As part of the impact assessments of our policies, we include the benefits to a household’s health from improving their homes’ thermal performance.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is the lead department for standards in buildings.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has responsibilities for ensuring that homes and buildings are healthy places for their occupants; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A high-quality, safe, and suitable home can help people stay independent and healthy for longer, whilst reducing health and social care costs.
The Department funds the Disabled Facilities Grant to support older and disabled people on low-incomes to adapt their homes to make them suitable for their needs. It was recently announced that funding for 2020-21 will be maintained at £505 million.
We also provide funding to build specialised housing - through the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund, with up to £76 million available in 2019-20.
With reference to new mainstream housing, the Home of 2030 is a cross-government initiative between Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department of Health and Social Care to bring forward the design and delivery of high-quality homes which are energy efficient, inclusively designed, and suitable for all generations. The design and delivery competition launched in March 2020.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to require all new-build properties to be built to high energy efficiency standards of a minimum of Energy Performance Certificate C.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to meeting its of net zero emissions by 2050 and recognises the important contribution that the energy efficiency of buildings has to make in meeting it
By 2025, the government will introduce a Future Homes Standard for new build homes to be future-proofed with low carbon heating to create healthy homes that are fit for the future, with low carbon heating and world-leading levels of energy efficiency
As a stepping stone to the Future Homes Standard we are proposing a meaningful but achievable strengthening in these requirements in 2020.