Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of trends in the number of no win, no fee legal firms pursuing repeated deposit protection claims against landlords on the private rented sector.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has made no such assessment.
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, how many (a) social and (b) private homes were started in London in the first half of 2025.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department publishes a quarterly release entitled ‘Housing supply: Indicators of New Supply, England’, which includes estimates of new build starts and completions in London. Statistics to the quarter ending June 2025 can be found in Table 217 on gov.uk here.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities meet identified needs for older people’s housing in local plans.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 63197 on 7 July 2025.
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, with reference to the initial Government response to the independent report entitled New Towns Taskforce, published on 28 September 2025, what the (a) budget and (b) timetable is for the (i) strategic environment assessment and (ii) habitats regulation assessment.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the government’s initial response to the independent New Towns Taskforce report published on 28 September which can be found on gov.uk here.
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, with reference to the policy paper entitled Licensing policy sprint: joint industry and HM government taskforce report, published on 14 August 2025, whether he plans to implement the recommendations in the section entitled Planning – permitted development.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government published its response to the Licensing Taskforce Report on 14 August. We continue to keep permitted development rights under review.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
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 plans to review the requirement for park home residents to pay a 10 per cent commission to site owners upon the sale of their home.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 69040 on 24 July 2025.
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, how many long-term empty dwellings received funding through the New Homes Bonus in each year since the creation of that scheme.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The New Homes Bonus has been paid in respect of over 2.9 million net additional homes since its introduction in 2011. This includes over 745,000 affordable homes and 65,000 long-term empty properties returned to use.
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 his Department subscribes to planning starts data produced by Glenigan.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department purchases data from Glenigan covering planning applications for residential developments.
While the data contains some information on site starts, we do not judge this to be a robust and comprehensive picture of building starts and therefore do not use the data for this purpose.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Independent - Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to increase property service charge thresholds under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the proposals set out in the consultation on strengthening leaseholder protections over charges and services published on 4 July 2025 which can be found on gov.uk here. The consultation closed on 26 September, and we are analysing responses.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
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 make it his policy to publish an annual brownfield site audit for England.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local planning authorities are required to maintain a register of brownfield sites that they have assessed as appropriate for residential development.
My Department has no current plans to undertake an annual audit of such registers.