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 14 January 2026, to Question 103288, on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Pakistan, and further to Deposited Paper DEP2026-0218, committed on 27 February 2026, what was discussed in the six meetings with the Government of Pakistan; and how this related to departmental responsibilities.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Rt Hon Member, as a former Foreign Secretary, will know that it is the long-standing practice of successive governments not to comment on private diplomatic meetings.
Paragraph 16 of the Guidance on Ministers’ meetings with external organisations and individuals (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministers-overseas-travel-and-meetings-publication-guidance), sets out the types of external engagement that would not automatically be classed as meetings, including events such as conventions and conferences.
The former Minister has, however, requested that his transparency return has been updated to include the meeting with UNHCR.
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 14 January 2026, to Question 103288, and further to Deposited Paper DEP2026-0218, committed on 27 February 2026, for what reason the (a) Overseas Pakistanis Convention and (b) external meeting with UNHCR was not listed in the quarterly transparency return of the Minister of meetings with external organisations.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Rt Hon Member, as a former Foreign Secretary, will know that it is the long-standing practice of successive governments not to comment on private diplomatic meetings.
Paragraph 16 of the Guidance on Ministers’ meetings with external organisations and individuals (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministers-overseas-travel-and-meetings-publication-guidance), sets out the types of external engagement that would not automatically be classed as meetings, including events such as conventions and conferences.
The former Minister has, however, requested that his transparency return has been updated to include the meeting with UNHCR.
Asked by: Lord Babudu (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, given that statistics published in February 2026 by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show that 175,990 children were living in temporary accommodation in England in September 2025, what assessment they have made of the impact of temporary accommodation conditions on children's health outcomes and healthy life expectancy, and what steps they are taking to reduce the length of time children spend in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Homelessness levels are far too high, and this can have a devastating impact on those affected, especially children.
The Child Poverty Strategy and our National Plan to End Homelessness set out our commitments to eradicate unsuitable or poor-quality accommodation and ensure children in temporary accommodation do not experience gaps in health care provision.
These include our commitment to eliminating the unlawful use of Bed & Breakfast accommodation for families by the end of this Parliament, introducing a clinical code to improve data and prevent incidents in temporary accommodation, ending the practice of discharging newborns into B&B or other unsuitable shared accommodation, and providing proactive outreach to families in temporary accommodation.
We are tackling the root causes of homelessness building 1.5 million homes, including a generational increase in new social and affordable homes. We have set out a new 10-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme backed by a £39 billion investment.
We are providing over £3.6 billion in funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services from 2026/27 to 2028/29, which will help local areas deliver tailored solutions to tackle all forms of homelessness.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - 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 Taylor of Stevenage on 9 April (HL15984), what frameworks and oversight mechanisms will be used to allocate the £15 million for local authorities to test new approaches to help reduce long-term rough sleeping.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Further to the Written Answer given on 9 April (HL15984), the £15 million for local authorities to test new approaches to reducing long-term rough sleeping has been allocated to areas facing the greatest long-term rough sleeping pressures.
Local authorities were selected based on both high absolute numbers and a high proportion of people experiencing long-term rough sleeping over the month. Further information on the local authorities provided with this funding is available here.
Local authorities and their partners are best placed to assess local needs and determine how funding can be used most effectively to reduce long-term rough sleeping in their areas. Areas receiving funding will be required to achieve a reduction in long-term rough sleeping, measured through the Local Outcomes Framework, and to improve the maturity of local systems for managing long-term rough sleeping. Each area receiving this funding will be required to produce a Long-Term Rough Sleeping Partnership Plan, which sets out how, with partner agencies, they will deliver system changes to address long-term rough sleeping.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - 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 Taylor of Stevenage on 9 April (HL15984), how they plan to evaluate the effectiveness of new approaches being tested by local authorities to tackle long-term rough sleeping.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Further to the Written Answer given on 9 April (HL15984), the £15 million for local authorities to test new approaches to reducing long-term rough sleeping has been allocated to areas facing the greatest long-term rough sleeping pressures.
Local authorities were selected based on both high absolute numbers and a high proportion of people experiencing long-term rough sleeping over the month. Further information on the local authorities provided with this funding is available here.
Local authorities and their partners are best placed to assess local needs and determine how funding can be used most effectively to reduce long-term rough sleeping in their areas. Areas receiving funding will be required to achieve a reduction in long-term rough sleeping, measured through the Local Outcomes Framework, and to improve the maturity of local systems for managing long-term rough sleeping. Each area receiving this funding will be required to produce a Long-Term Rough Sleeping Partnership Plan, which sets out how, with partner agencies, they will deliver system changes to address long-term rough sleeping.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - 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 Taylor of Stevenage on 9 April (HL15984), how they plan to mitigate the risk of funding from the Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund being concentrated among larger organisations with greater bidding capacity.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The risk of funding being concentrated among larger organisations is mitigated through the design of the Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund, as set out in the prospectus. Eligibility for the Fund is restricted to voluntary, community and faith sector organisations with a maximum annual income of £5 million. This limits access to small and medium sized organisations and excludes larger organisations.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - 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 Taylor of Stevenage on 1 April (HL15919), whether the National Planning Policy Framework contains strong protections for the setting of the Stonehenge World Heritage site from vans, buses and travellers' vehicles in the skyline beyond the site.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The National Planning Policy Framework provides strong protections for World Heritage Sites and their settings including where any development relating to vehicles, for example, car parks or roads, is proposed.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether their Department has used artificial intelligence to assist with drafting (a) legislation and (b) policy in the past 12 months.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have rolled out Microsoft Copilot across the Department to enhance efficiency and support the work of all staff, including policy professionals. The rollout was accompanied by training and guidance which states that all work produced by AI must be checked with an appropriate level of rigour to ensure trustworthiness, reliability, and to avoid bias.
Copilot is used by staff across the department including legislation and policy teams. The department is clear that document authors are fully accountable for policy judgement and conclusions and compliance with departmental, legal, and information governance, irrespective of whether or not AI has been used to assist with drafting.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of simplifying the definition of affordable housing types set out in the National Planning Policy Framework.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
To reflect this government’s priorities, the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) published on 12 December 2024 includes a separate definition of Social Rent so that it is not referred to as just one of a number of types of affordable housing for rent.
We have no current plans to further simplify the definition of affordable housing types set out in the NPPF.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 16 March (HL Deb col 728), which stakeholders they consulted.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As is standard practice in government policy making, officials undertook limited and focused informal engagement with selected stakeholders as the government considered the advice submitted by the Working Group.