Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the issue of homelessness.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government set out our plans to tackle homelessness in England through the National Plan to End Homelessness in December 2025 which you can find on gov.uk here (attached).
Our Plan sets out actions to address the root causes of homelessness including building more homes, reforming renters’ rights, and tackling poverty. The Plan will also drive medium-term change to shift from crisis to prevention through cross-government targets, £3.6 billion funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next 3 years and new duties on services to work together to prevent homelessness.
In the short-term, we will tackle the worst forms of homelessness by ending the unlawful use of B&Bs for families and tackling unacceptable temporary accommodation, including through our £30 million Emergency Accommodation Reduction Programme. And we will halve long-term rough sleeping by the end of this parliament, including through £159 million new funding for supported housing, £37 million for voluntary, community and faith organisations, and £15 million for councils to test new approaches.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to publish a wildfire strategy and action plan.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises the increasing risk posed by wildfires and the importance of a coordinated, cross-government approach to prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are working closely with a wide range of partners to strengthen our collective approach to wildfire resilience.
We are taking action across critical areas such as response and national capabilities, forecasting, and risk assessment and ensuring these are drawn together into a coherent cross-government approach.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will set out what support his Department and Cabinet colleagues makes available to local authorities to develop community energy schemes, local food production and emergency preparedness plans.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In the recently published Local Power Plan, Government recognises that limited capacity and capability are major barriers for local government to participate in small-scale energy projects. Backed by up to £1 billion and working in partnership with local government, Great British Energy (GBE) has committed to support at least 1000 local and community energy projects by 2030.
The Good Food Cycle recognises the key role that regional and local food systems can play in supporting delivery of the growth, health, sustainability, and food security/ resilience outcomes of the Good Food Cycle. We know the best solutions often come from the ground up. That is why the Good Food Cycle sets the ambition to use local community initiatives to harness a stronger food culture to support our health, sustainability and resilience outcomes.
Improving the food environment will support healthier and more environmentally sustainable food sales, and access to all for safe, affordable, healthy, convenient, and appealing food options. Defra is developing a programme of work to support local, hyper-local and community-based interventions around access to healthy and affordable food in priority locations.
MHCLG and CO run a local capabilities assessment programme which assesses emergency preparedness planning for specific response capabilities across the 38 Local Resilience Forums (LRFs). This work helps inform national government on local preparedness gaps and identify actionable areas for improvement.
The Civil Contingencies Act (2004) places a duty on all local authorities to cooperate with other agencies (e.g. police, fire & rescue, health), operating as a Local Resilience Forum, to prepare and maintain plans for the key risks facing their area. In addition, local authorities are expected to have business continuity plans that will assist them to continue to operate when emergencies impact them directly.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress the remediation enforcement unit within the Building Safety Regulator has made on its objectives.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The External Remediation team assess building control applications for proposed remediation works to the external envelope of a building, such as cladding, renders, and balconies. Individual team members liaise with the applicant throughout the application lifecycle, updating them on key milestones and offering wider support through regular educational webinars. An Account Manager function was established in March 2026 responsible for proactively identifying and engaging with key stakeholders to support improvements in the quality of applications.
A new Remediation Enforcement Unit (REU) became operational in March 2026. The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has identified 650 registered higher-risk buildings that have either combustible Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) or high-pressure laminate as part of their external wall system. The principal accountable persons of buildings with combustible ACM have been directed to apply for a building assessment certificate and are already being assessed via that route.
During April, the REU will contact the remaining buildings to ask for a relevant fire risk assessment and plan, and check that the removal (of cladding) proposal is appropriate to the materials and layout.
The REU is also investigating 83 buildings referred to the BSR by the Cladding Safety Scheme (run by Homes England) with unconfirmed combustible materials. The REU has ruled out 20 of these buildings as not having combustible materials, with the remainder being contacted to provide the necessary fire risk assessments and plans.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 9 March 2026 to Question 116476 on Political Parties: Finances, whether (a) hon. Members and (b) peers will have to undertake due diligence checks on political donations made directly to them.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Know Your Donor regime will introduce new risk-based due diligence checks on significant political donations. These rules will apply across the electoral regime, which includes members of the House of Commons and holders of relevant elected office as set out in Schedule 7 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he is taking steps to help prevent anti-Israeli boycotts and divestment campaigns in local authorities.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government strongly opposes boycotts by local authorities except where formal legal sanctions, embargoes and restrictions have been put in place by the UK Government. Boycotts can be unlawful and lead to penalties against the contracting authority and the Government.
Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 24 March (HL15443) and the remarks by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 5 March (HL Deb col 585GC), what steps the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has taken in the last year to meet its legal duty to keep under review the question of when uncommenced legislation that falls within its area of responsibility should be brought into force.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The department regularly reviews its forward secondary legislation programme, including commencement orders for as yet uncommenced legislation.
In the last year the department has undertaken a number of separate exercises to review delivery of secondary legislation and to ensure it is being prioritised in line with our legal requirements and the Government’s priorities.
We will continue to keep under review the question of when uncommenced legislation relevant to our department’s work should be brought into force.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of the programme of new towns to be constructed in England.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The precise funding offer for each new town location will be confirmed once final decisions have been made on the programme. Final decisions on locations will be confirmed later this year once the New Towns Draft Programme consultation has closed and all necessary environmental assessments have been completed.
Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with HM Land Registry about improving processing times for applications; and whether they have set any specific targets for service improvement.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Improving speed of service remains a top priority for HM Land Registry (HMLR). Plans to achieve this are set out in the Agency’s Strategy 2025+ which was published on 5 November 2025 and can be found on gov.uk here(opens in a new tab).
As its sponsor department, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government holds HMLR to account for its performance and operational delivery and is in regular communication with HMLR about their processing times.
HMLR has been making improvements in this area through hiring and training more staff and by improving the efficiency of the services its customers use. The introduction of new pre-submission validation checks will speed up processes and reduce staff time spent on dealing with errors or mistakes. The age of outstanding post-completion applications is now under 12 months across all service lines, from a peak of 20 months in February 2023.
HMLR processing times are publicly available on gov.uk here(opens in a new tab).
Anyone who is concerned that a delay to their application may cause financial, legal, or personal problems or put a property sale at risk, can apply to have their application expedited free of charge. HMLR processes nearly 1,400 expedited applications every day, with more than 95% actioned within 10 working days.
I recently wrote to the Chair of the Land Registry Board setting out the government’s priorities for HMLR on organisational performance over the coming year.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has had discussions with Stockport Council regarding the condition of Reddish Library.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has held no specific discussions with Stockport Council regarding the condition of Reddish Library.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is responsible for public library policy and the Libraries Improvement Fund. DCMS intends to publish a new English public library strategy later this year to emphasise and support their position at the heart of communities and their pivotal role in improving the lives of working people.