Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2026 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage]

That the draft Regulations and Order laid before the House on 27 April and 14 May be approved.

Considered in Grand Committee on 23 June.

Motions agreed.

Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd June 2026 Grand Committee

Moved by

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage]

That the Grand Committee do consider the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, these draft regulations were laid before the House on 27 April. The Government were clear in our manifesto that housing need in England cannot be met without planning for growth on a larger than local scale and that we would introduce new mechanisms for cross-boundary strategic planning. To that end, the Planning and Infrastructure Act, which received Royal Assent last December, legislated for the reintroduction of an England- wide system of strategic plan-making.

The Act inserted a new Part 1A into the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, placing a duty on strategic planning authorities to prepare a spatial development strategy. An SDS will form part of the development plan to which local planning authorities must have regard when determining planning applications unless material considerations indicate otherwise. Local plans will be required to be in general conformity with the relevant spatial development strategy. SDS are high-level plans that will define the overall scale and distribution of growth and development across an area, including the potential need for regeneration and environmental protection or enhancement. They may identify broad locations for development and the infrastructure required to support it, and can redistribute housing and other development needs between local planning authorities.

These regulations will make two minor, consequential amendments to support the implementation of this new system, which we intend to commence later this year. They will amend Section 114 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 so that SDS examinations are classed as statutory inquiries within the meaning of the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1992, enabling the Lord Chancellor to make rules related to the procedure to be followed during the examination of an SDS. They will also amend the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 so that marine planning authorities must notify strategic planning authorities of their intention to start preparing a marine plan. Strategic planning authorities are the local government bodies that will be responsible for preparing an SDS.

Unless the Secretary of State directs otherwise, a draft spatial development strategy must be examined by a person appointed by them. The matters to be examined are for the examiner to determine. However, the draft National Planning Policy Framework sets out that the purpose of the examination should be to assess that relevant procedural requirements have been met and that the strategy is sound, alongside any other matters that the examiner considers appropriate.

Regulation 2 will amend Section 114 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 to allow the Lord Chancellor to make rules, under Section 9 of the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1992, governing the procedures for examinations. Any such regulations will support the effective examination of a strategy.

Regulation 3 will amend paragraph 1 of Schedule 6 to the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 to require a marine plan authority to notify a strategic planning authority whose area adjoins or is adjacent to marine plan areas of its intention to prepare a marine plan. This requirement already extends to local planning authorities and will enable strategic planning authorities to consider how they wish to participate in the marine planning process and to put in place appropriate arrangements for that participation.

This is the first part of a wider package of secondary legislation that we are preparing to support the implementation of the new system of strategic plan-making. Other statutory instruments, which we intend to make in the autumn, will include regulations that will make further consequential amendments to secondary legislation, rules on the procedure to be followed during an examination, and regulations setting out the procedure to be followed in connection with the preparation of a spatial development strategy. I trust that the Committee agrees that these minor, consequential regulations are necessary and will support the effective implementation of the new system of spatial development strategies. I beg to move.

[Lord Lansley (Con)]

My Lords, I wonder if I might intervene at this stage. The Committee will recall—pretty much everybody in the Committee was present during the Planning and Infrastructure Bill’s passage—that, going back to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act, I have been very supportive of strategic spatial planning, and we want to see that brought into effect as soon as possible.

I declare my registered interest as chair of the Cambridgeshire Development Forum and as a supporter of and adviser to development forums in other locations, as detailed. For the development community in all those places, one of the consistent messages that comes through is about desirability, not simply of having sub-regional spatial planning at a strategic level, not confined to the territory of one local planning authority generally but embracing several, but of what is afforded by that opportunity—namely, the ability to bring together transport strategies, infrastructure strategies, growth plans and spatial development strategies into one document, which can then help guide and direct the planning infrastructure.

As the Minister helpfully explained, as the Explanatory Memorandum does, this is one of several statutory instruments necessary to bring the procedure of strategic development strategies into place. The Minister said, “in the autumn”, but I want to find out is what is going to happen and when. I hope the Minister will be able to confirm that it remains the Government’s intention to publish the response to the consultation on the draft NPPF in July, before recess, so that we can see the final NPPF—without having to wait for the customary publication just before Christmas—and get on with it. On the timetable, I hope that will mean that it will be possible for there to be planning policy guidance published in relation to the preparation of spatial development strategies and for that to happen as soon as possible in the autumn, but certainly, I would have thought, by the end of the year.

Together with the statutory instruments, that will, I hope, enable the Government to set a period during which combined authorities are asked to publish and submit their spatial development strategy timetable to the Secretary of State.

I assume that this will be applied in relation to groups 1 and 2. The Minister and the Committee will recall that, just a little earlier, the Government published a geography of spatial development strategy areas. Groups 1 and 2 are the existing strategic mayoral combined authorities and the devolution priority programme. I am looking for groups 1 and 2 to have their SDS timetables requested to be submitted in the early part of next year at the latest. I would be grateful if the Minister could give the Committee a sense of the complete timetable for SDS.

I turn briefly to the content of the NPPF and the overview. The overview in the draft was not explicit about the requirement in the statute for a spatial development strategy to set out the amount or distribution of housing and the amount or distribution of affordable housing. I have mentioned this in an earlier debate on the English devolution Bill, but I hope that the Minister can assure the Committee that the NPPF is being amended to make some of these requirements of a spatial development strategy a bit clearer.

We should be under no illusions about the difficulties that will potentially emerge. We may well have spatial development strategies that are born of an ambitious local growth plan. My own area of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, for example, has a very ambitious growth plan published by Paul Bristow, the mayor. If local authorities in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough were to assess housing need based simply on the standard method, there would be no way in which the growth plan that the mayor is looking for could be accommodated by the level of housing supply implied. For local plans to be consistent with the spatial development strategy, they will have to go further.

The same may be true for, and considerable questions could be raised by, green-belt policy. For example, Stockport could not agree with the other local authorities in Manchester on a joint development plan, not least because of their difficulties in agreeing on green-belt policy. A spatial development strategy could, according to the guidance published thus far, set out where changes to the green belt need to be considered in local plans, but the local plan would set the boundaries. What happens if a local planning authority seeks to adopt a local plan that does not change the boundary of a green belt? Having considered it and decided not to change it, does that mean that the local plan is consistent with the spatial development strategy or not? As we go along, we have to be increasingly clear about what consistency with the spatial development strategy looks like. I say that because we will have a number of these debates—not necessarily on every statutory instrument—and, as guidance is published, it will bring some of those important issues to the forefront.

I ask the Minister about the follow-up to the geography document. The Committee will recall that, although the geography of many of the combined authorities is established, it is not for others. For example, we simply do not yet know whether Buckinghamshire will be included in Thames Valley or if it will be a single foundation strategic authority. We need to learn more about what the final geography will look like and when we might hear that. Unless we get that information, I do not think strategic planning boards will be established in areas where a mayor and combined authority are not being put in place relatively soon. I hope that there will be a timetable for that, as well.

My final question is prompted by my being up in Warrington yesterday. Liverpool is relatively advanced in the preparation of a spatial development strategy and, as I understand it, is looking to have it examined and adopted next year. Will Liverpool City Region’s spatial development strategy be treated as consistent with the requirements of a spatial development strategy as set out by the Planning and Infrastructure Act? I hope that, because it was designed alongside the SDS for London, it will be and that the Minister will say that, through Liverpool’s SDS, we can begin to see the process of spatial planning being implemented in places across England.

Those are my questions arising from the statutory instrument. I do not want to be thought of as opposing it, in any sense. I support the SI.

--- Later in debate ---

For those reasons, while we do not oppose the regulations in principle, I suggest that the Committee should view them as part of a wider system change, as their implications on local planning, autonomy, regulatory clarity and administrative burden will require continued scrutiny as implementation proceeds. I am grateful to the Minister for her explanation and look forward to her response to the many questions.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank all Members for their considered contributions this afternoon. I am grateful to most noble Lords for supporting the overall direction of travel in relation to strategic development strategies. I hope the Committee agrees that the two minor amendments are appropriate. I will try to answer as many questions as I can. For any that I do not answer, I will respond in writing.

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, for his broad support for the SDS and I agree with him about sub-regional planning. He probably went through the same process with the East of England Plan that I sat through for many months. Pulling together into one place transport, infrastructure and strategic planning is key to getting the growth that we all want to see.

The noble Lord asked me a number of questions. I will try to take them in the order he asked them. He asked me whether the SDS will contain affordable housing. The legislation is deliberately permissive, so, if the board wishes, it can specify levels of affordable housing within the plan.

The noble Lord and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, asked about a timetable for the implementation of SDS and strategic planning boards. We intend to lay these SIs in the autumn. I cannot be more specific than that, but that is our intention. The strategic planning board regulations must be subject to consultation before being laid. That probably picks up one of the comments from the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock. We anticipate that consultation will be after the Summer Recess and, once that is complete, we will lay the SIs.

The noble Lord, Lord Lansley, asked about the publication of the NPPF and whether the SDS overview will include clear requirements for the statutory requirements. We intend to publish the revised NPPF in the summer. While we are considering responses to the consultation, I cannot comment on its content, but the NPPF cannot change the statutory requirements for SDS set out in the Planning and Infrastructure Act. That is important. In the Act that we got after we finally finished, following some very late-night sittings, we set out what an SDS is there to do. It cannot change that.

[Lord Lansley (Con)]

I completely understand that the terminology of the Act says that the spatial development strategy may set out the amount and distribution of housing and affordable housing. My point is that, even the latter, in relation to affordable housing, was not included in the draft NPPF text for PM1 relating to SDS. I think it ought to be in there.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for that comment. I will feed that back to the team. It is not completed yet, so I will feed his comments in.

On planning practice guidance for SDS once the NPPF is published, we will consider the need for planning practice guidance, but we need to publish the NPPF first. We will have a look at that once the NPPF is under way.

The noble Lord asked about the group 1 and group 2 SDS areas and the timetable for them to submit an SDS. The period within which the strategic planning authority needs to submit its timetable will be set out in regulations. We anticipate that most SPAs will be asked to submit a timetable within 90 days of the formal commencement of the SDS duty. Assuming that commencement is in the autumn, this will be, as the noble Lord rightly suggested, in the early part of 2027.

There was a question about green belt and where changes to green-belt boundaries may need to be considered but the local plan has set the boundary. What happens if there is a disagreement? The noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, referred to this as well. Local plans have to be in general conformity with any adopted SDS for the area, and that applies to green belt as it does to any other aspect of an SDS, but that will be tested at the local plan examination. General conformity allows for some inconsistency but not a completely different approach. I suspect that that will be tested in examination processes, and it will be interesting to see where that falls.

The noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, echoed the question of the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, on the areas for strategic planning boards. We intend to respond to the strategic development strategy area consultation in the summer, setting out the areas that the Government think should produce strategic development strategies. Where boards will be needed, the regulations to establish those boards must be subject to statutory consultation. We anticipate that consultation will happen after the Summer Recess and that, once that consultation has happened, the regulations will be made so that the strategic planning board can formally come into being. That is when the geography finally gets confirmed.

The noble Lord, Lord Lansley, asked me about Liverpool being well advanced—I say well done to Liverpool for cracking on with the job—and whether this will be adopted under the new NPPF and guidance. We understand that Liverpool SDS is likely to go out to consultation either late this year or early next year and, as such, it will be subject to the policies in the updated NPPF.

The noble Lord, Lord Bourne, asked me about development corporations; he has probably heard me say that I am a big fan of them. We discussed them a great deal during the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and the English devolution Bill. I cannot answer his specific questions around the Solent and the Thames estuary, but I will reply to him in writing on those questions, if that is okay.

The noble Baronesses, Lady McIntosh and Lady Pinnock, and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, asked me about rural representation. It would probably be most helpful if I explained the right to be heard at examination. It is quite correct that, unlike the position for local plans, there is no formal right for individuals to appear and be heard at the examination of a spatial development strategy. This is the same approach as that for examinations of, for instance, the London Plan. It is proportionate and effective that that should be the case for strategic plans, but each SDS has to consider its whole area, both urban and rural. So the SDS area consultation proposed, for example, that York and North Yorkshire would do its own plan, on which the mayor would lead.

In practice, experience demonstrates that inspectors take considerable steps to ensure that a wide range of relevant interests and perspectives are heard during, for example, the London Plan examinations. By way of illustration, the most recent examination of a spatial development strategy—the 2019 London Plan—was conducted over 12 weeks, with a participant list extending to 27 pages. I expect that that is why we ended up with the extensive plan that the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, referred to.

The Government’s intention is that spatial development strategies operate as those high-level documents, establishing the strategic framework within which the subsequent local plans, which are required to be in general conformity with them, are prepared. Importantly, and in contrast to local plans, spatial development strategies do not allocate specific development sites. It is appropriate that the formal right to appear is preserved for local plan examinations, while examinations of spatial development strategies remain proportionate to their strategic role. I agree with what the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, said about people being interested in planning and engaged in it, but my experience is that they are much more engaged when you are discussing the site-level stuff, which is in the local plans, rather than the more esoteric discussions around a strategic plan.

The noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, asked me some further questions about what the geography of SDS should be. The English Devolution White Paper sets out the criteria for sensible geographies, including the principle that devolution geographies should ensure the effective delivery of key functions such as SDS. So, where mayoral devolution arrangements already exist, it is proposed that these will be used as a basis for producing SDS, with the exception of the West of England Combined Authority, given the discussions on North Somerset’s place in the region.

Where devolution arrangements do not yet exist, we propose to prioritise existing local consensus on geographies for working together where proposals for devolution have previously been submitted to government with full local agreement, provided that these meet the other sensible geography criteria. These include scale—populations over 1.5 million where possible, to create genuinely strategic SDSs—as well as public service boundary alignment and ensuring that no islands are created.

If a future devolution agreement comes forward on a different geography once the geographies of SDS are confirmed, any SDS will have to be amended, reviewed or replaced to fit that new devolution geography. Of course, we have the ambition to align SDS and the devolution geography, but we have to accept that the devolution picture is still emerging. We need to get on with strategic planning, so we may have to make changes in due course to that.

[Lord Jamieson (Con)]

Just to be absolutely clear, the Minister used the example of 1.5 million, which clearly Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire do not hit. The Minister is clearly implying that there will have to be a board, not necessarily of those three, but of other geographies. Similarly, Norfolk and Suffolk do not hit those targets.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

As I said, meeting the categories set out in the English devolution Bill is a clear goal. We want to make sure that they work as a spatial development strategy, and they have to meet certain criteria to do that. We want to get on with the job, so we are putting this process in place to deliver it now.

There were a number of questions, particularly from the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, on authorities that are required to produce a spatial development strategy. Combined authorities, both mayoral and non-mayoral, combined county authorities, both mayoral and non-mayoral, upper-tier county councils and unitary authorities will all have the duty to produce spatial development strategies. These authorities will be known as strategic planning authorities. The Government will be able to group any of these authorities together, as the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, suggested to jointly produce a spatial development strategy, through a committee known as a strategic planning board.

In most cases, combined authorities or combined county authorities will produce an SDS for their area, and upper-tier county councils and unitary authorities will be grouped together under a strategic planning board. However, some upper-tier county councils may produce one individually, and some combined authorities or combined county authorities could be grouped with an authority outside their area under a strategic planning board.

The noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, asked me specifically about brownfield land, and it is a question he has asked me a number of times. I will try to again answer the question. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 places a requirement on the Secretary of State to make regulations prescribing the desirability of prioritising development on land that has been previously developed as a matter that strategic planning authorities must have regard to. These regulations will be combined with the regulations setting out the procedure for preparation of a spatial development strategy. So, I hope that that has clarified the issue. I hope the Committee will agree that it has considered these regulations.

Motion agreed.

Local Government (Structural and Boundary Changes) (Control of Disposals etc.) (Amendment) Order 2026

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd June 2026 Grand Committee

Moved by

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage]

That the Grand Committee do consider the Local Government (Structural and Boundary Changes) (Control of Disposals etc.) (Amendment) Order 2026.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, the statutory instrument was laid on 14 May 2026, and it will make a small but important amendment to existing provisions governing key financial decisions, including land disposal and contracts by councils during periods of local government reorganisation. The Government’s programme of reform, set out in the English Devolution White Paper, is designed to transfer power out of Westminster and fix the foundations of local government.

A central part of the programme is local government reorganisation—moving from two-tier structures to single- tier councils, which are simpler, clearer and more accountable to residents. The Government’s long-term vision is for simpler structures, which make it clearer who residents should look to on local issues, with more strategic decisions to support growth and improve public services. Delivering that vision requires not only structural change, but a transition process that is orderly, is legally robust and protects the public interest.

During reorganisation, existing councils will continue to operate while new councils are established, and it is essential that decisions taken in this period do not undermine the position of the successor councils. The framework, therefore, includes safeguards, set out in Section 24 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, which enables the Secretary of State to issue directions, controlling certain disposals of land and significant financial commitments.

In specified circumstances where a decision could affect the successor authority, councils must obtain consent before proceeding, typically from the relevant shadow council. These controls will ensure that significant decisions taken during the transition period do not adversely affect successor councils, with specific consents required for higher-risk decisions and general consents enabling routine activity to continue.

This order, made under Section 29 of the Act, makes a targeted amendment to how those safeguards operate. The framework requires councils to consider past disposals of land and contractual dealings when determining whether financial thresholds have been met. Because the beginning of the aggregation period has remained fixed at 31 December 2006, this could require authorities to review nearly two decades of historic decisions. That was not the intention of the policy. The controls were designed to focus on recent and relevant activity in the period leading up to reorganisation, not to impose disproportionate retrospective requirements.

This order updates the beginning of the aggregation period to 31 March 2025, ensuring that the framework captures relevant activity without requiring unnecessarily extensive historic analysis and while leaving the underlying safeguards on disposals of land and contractual dealings unchanged. This is not a change of policy. The underlying safeguards remain unchanged. Rather, the instrument will ensure that those safeguards function as originally intended, providing greater clarity and certainty in their application. It therefore maintains the balance between enabling councils that will shortly be abolished to continue to operate effectively and protecting the interests of successor councils and the public purse.

This amendment was initially identified through engagement with Surrey, but it has been tested with the wider sector, including through engagement with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and the department’s Local Government Reorganisation Advisory Group, formed of senior representatives and experts from across local government. It is not a Surrey- specific fix, but a clarification that will apply across the broader reorganisation programme. This instrument supports legal robustness by reducing uncertainty in the operation of the framework and ensuring consistent and effective application across the reorganisation programme. I beg to move.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, for their responses to this statutory instrument. I will try to respond to the questions.

There are no plans to change council retention policies for paperwork, and they are not affected by this SI, so that is not included in this piece of legislation.

I will answer the general points that the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, made first on local government reorganisation and the management of it. He asked me, first, what other unforeseen consequences we can expect. Well, they are unforeseen, so I am afraid I cannot identify them. If I could, I would have a crystal ball. The timetable for local government reorganisation has not changed. I take the noble Lord’s point about the elections, but that was due to changing legal advice. I spoke to the Local Government Minister this morning and, as far as we are concerned, we are proceeding with the timetable as we had originally set out. We will work through the process for the other 14 areas that have not yet had their local government reorganisation announcements, with a view to making an announcement on them before the Recess. That work is still going on and going ahead.

On the noble Lord’s question about mayoral elections, we decided for very good reasons that it was important that we had established the foundation authorities and that they were working properly before the mayoral elections went ahead. That was the rationale for that decision. But the work is being done to the timetable that we set originally. I hope that is reassuring.

The noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, asked me about the thresholds and why we are not changing them. They are not changing: it is £100,000 for land disposals and certain non-capital contracts and, as he said, £1 million for capital contracts. The thresholds and timing are established features of the Section 24 framework. Those thresholds are intended to capture decisions that could have a material impact on successor authorities, while allowing routine activity to continue without unnecessary delay. The safeguards apply once a shadow authority exists, because that is the point at which there is a clear and accountable body able to give consent on behalf of the future successor council.

The instrument does not change the thresholds or the point at which the safeguards apply; it ensures that they operate as intended in practice. They are intended as broad indicators of material financial decisions, rather than precise limits. The key issue raised by the councils that we spoke to was not the thresholds but how they operate in practice with the existing aggregation period start date, which was onerous on councils.

The noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, asked me why the amendments are needed, which relates to the question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock. The issue was identified during implementation planning, including in Surrey, and it has been tested with the wider sector. Under the current framework, authorities have to look over an extended historic period when assessing whether thresholds are met, and that is not proportionate. Without the update, councils would be required to review that over the long period, and that could result in inconsistent application across areas and create an unnecessary administrative burden for councils.

It may further cause a risk to the effective management of public assets and finances during reorganisation. There is also a potential risk that historic land disposals could be rendered void and historic contracts could become unenforceable. It would also make safeguards much more difficult to apply in practice. Under Section 28, land disposals made in contravention of a direction are void, and contracts entered into in contravention of a direction are unenforceable, so we must avoid that happening.

The noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, asked me to expand further on the consultation that was done as part of this process. I set out in my introduction that we tested this through engagement with councils and the wider sector; we have a sector advisory group, which contains experts in these types of areas, including the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, so that we make sure that what we are doing is practical and sustainable. I hope that that responds to the questions.

[Lord Jamieson (Con)]

I thank the Minister for her responses, but I just wanted a little clarity on three of the questions that I asked. The first is on the impact of inflation. Roughly speaking, inflation has almost doubled, so £50,000 spent in 2006 is the equivalent of £100,000 now—not quite, but in approximate terms. That is a significant change. As we are updating the regulations, and the purpose in 2006 was to capture the important spend, it will now capture a lot more than the important spend. That was the point I was trying to make. I completely agree with why it is being put; I do not have any issue with that.

Secondly, one could argue that a mistake was made in 2006; we should not have had a fixed date or it should have been updated in the interim. I asked why we are not looking at a date that might relate to, say, vesting or something else, which might seem more rational.

Thirdly, I was also curious about the response on the timing of elections—and please correct me if I have got it wrong, because I may very well have. My understanding is that the elections for the original six priority mayoral areas will be in 2028, as will the 14 follow-ons—as I call them. The Minister said that that was in order to allow the foundation authorities to have the time to set up and get organised. I appreciate that the following 14 are not foundation, but they will operate to a much tighter timetable. That seems to be a bit of an incongruity.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

On the subject of the amounts, I take the noble Lord’s point about inflation, but these amounts are intended to act as broad indicators of material financial decisions, not precise limits. It is relevant to keep the same amounts in place; it makes the amount at which they have to be referred reasonable and that is a rational way of doing things.

On his point around the date, if we did not have a specific date, it might complicate the accountancy practices. I will look into that and come back to him on that point.

On the issues around the mayoral elections, the decision was made to make sure that we have the new authorities vested and in place, with a chance to establish themselves. They are delivering key public services. There is a lot of work to do, as the noble Lord has pointed out to me on many occasions—and I properly understand that point—before the mayoral elections take place. We know that it is a tight timetable but, to be honest, in my 30 years in local government, nobody has bitten the bullet and sorted this out. It is time we got the foundations of local government into single unitary authorities, so that everybody across the country has the same type of local authority. That is why we are moving forward at pace with the timetable.

To conclude, the instrument makes a small but necessary technical amendment to ensure that existing safeguards on financial decisions operate effectively during local government reorganisation. It has been developed in response to engagement with councils and tested with local government representatives. I hope that noble Lords will join me in supporting the draft order, which I commend to the Committee.

Motion agreed.

Home Ownership: First-time Buyers

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Monday 22nd June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to promote home ownership for first time buyers.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government are reforming the broken home-buying and home-selling system to slash delays, cuts costs and stop sales falling through. Last week—it was on Friday, so it may not have got the attention it deserved, like my noble friend’s announcement—we published a road map setting out actions the Government are taking. Our new changes will cut home-buying times by around four weeks and save first-time buyers an average of £650.We are supporting first-time buyers through a range of routes, including shared ownership and the lifetime ISA, while addressing the root causes of unaffordability by increasing house supply and investing in affordable homes.

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome the announcement on Friday. The Minister listed a number of schemes to help first-time buyers, but actually none of them has moved the dial, leaving many young people who are renting and want to be owner-occupiers paying more in rent than they would with a mortgage. Recently, the Prime Minister said:

“For my family growing up, the roof over our heads was everything. But for so many families today, home ownership is a distant dream. My Government will make it a reality once again”.


Would it not be a fitting part of his legacy if, within the next few weeks, he was able to make an announcement that brought those dreams closer?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

We are already doing that. We made that announcement on Friday. From speaking to lenders, we know that many first-time buyers are not aware of all the innovative mortgage products that might help them, or that recent mortgage reforms may help them get on the housing ladder. I had a meeting with the Building Societies Association just a couple of weeks ago, and I met again with the round table that developed this road map last week. It is true that mortgage brokers can help potential homebuyers to find options that may be suitable for them. There are some fantastic new products coming forward. Anyone who read the Metro last week may have seen a wraparound from Lloyds saying it was introducing £5,000-deposit mortgages, back for the first time since 1996. So things are moving and changing, and the road map will help that even further.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Forsyth of Drumlean)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, is taking part remotely. I invite the noble Lord to speak.

[Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I return to my previous contributions on building housing on land acquired at agricultural prices, which is of particular benefit to young buyers. Can we look at developments in Hammarby in Sweden and Nijmegen in Holland, where there have been major housing developments in both locations on land acquired at reduced cost? All I ask is that we look at these precedents and consider whether, with a review of land title on housing sold on such land, we could similarly build in the United Kingdom and help young buyers.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am always happy to look at any innovative ideas, wherever they occur. If there are those in Europe, I am happy to have a further look at them. We are making sure that we work harder on land availability through our partners in this programme. Some young people are currently paying far more in rent than they would have to pay if they had a mortgage. So making sure that finance is accessible and that properties are accessible is very important to getting this moving.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, would the Minister agree that a rather surprising and paradoxical way of helping first-time buyers is through making it easier to build for last-time buyers: those who want to downsize or right-size? Then you get two for one: you are helping the elder person but also providing, through the chain of lettings and purchases that follow, something for first-time buyers as well.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for all the work he did on the Older People’s Housing Taskforce, which we will be producing our response to. The Government are committed to enhancing provision and choice for older people in the housing market through freeing up other homes. The new home-buying and selling process will reduce the friction that sometimes occurs and creates barriers to moving. The better upfront information it provides will support households to ensure that the home meets accessibility needs, for example, and that hidden costs, which often really concern older buyers, will be transparent right from the start.

[Baroness Thornhill (LD)]

My Lords, shared ownership promised a real lifeline for first-time buyers to get them on to the property ladder, yet soaring service charges, crushing maintenance bills and toxic lease clauses are trapping families in unsaleable, unmortgageable nightmares: I exaggerate not. What urgent steps are the Government taking to rescue and reform this scheme and protect hard-working buyers from financial hardship?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is quite right. The Government recognise that some people who entered shared ownership have faced real challenges. We have introduced new expectations for landlords to improve the customer experience, which include giving greater consideration to long-term customer affordability, making sure that there is greater transparency and fairness on costs, ensuring that fees do not generate a profit and giving customers the ability to opt out of fees for optional services, which often was not pointed out. We are continuing to consider what more can be done to improve that experience for all our shared owners.

[Lord Jamieson (Con)]

My Lords, despite a housing crisis, we are seeing housebuilding plummet as affordability collapses and first-time buyers are reluctant to extend themselves in a period of economic uncertainty. This is particularly the case in London, with an average house price of £661,000. The Minister talked about hidden costs; those houses attract a £23,000 stamp duty. Does she agree that we need to stimulate housebuilding and that removing the economically destructive stamp duty tax would be a good start?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

There are exemptions from stamp duty for first-time buyers, so that is not the case for them. First-time buyers benefit from paying no stamp duty land tax up to £300,000 and are able to claim relief on purchases up to £500,000. The Government are working closely with the Mayor of London. I will meet the deputy mayor for housing this week to talk about what further steps we can take to help the building of homes in London. It is not true to say that no housebuilding is moving forward. We had an increase in growth in the first quarter of this year.

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, home ownership is important, but social housing must play a central role in meeting the housing needs of young people. Over the past year, government decisions have put the social housing sector in a much better financial position, so can the Minister confirm that enough funding will be made available in the first years of the social and affordable homes programme to match the ambitious bids that have been made to build the homes we so urgently need?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for her recognition of the huge amount of funding—£39 billion, which is the biggest in a generation—allocated by the Government for social and affordable homes to be built. At least 60% of those homes will be for social rent. On 28 January, we published the update to our five-step plan to deliver a decade of renewal. We have had a significant number of bids for the first round of that funding, which will give councils and social housing providers the certainty they need, with the rent convergence procedure we have also introduced. Bids closed on 15 April and we look forward to those houses being built.

[Lord Londesborough (CB)]

My Lords, the fact that the average age of first-time home buyers has shot up from 26 to 34 is not just bad news for mobility and well-being but very bad news for economic growth. Does the Minister agree that it is time to replace stamp duty with a less crude and transactional tax?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I have already set out the relief on stamp duty that is available for first-time buyers, but I agree with the noble Lord that it is important that we try to encourage more young people to purchase their first home, where they can afford to do so. The Building Societies Association is running a fantastic campaign called “Think again!” which explains to young people how they can do that. Financial institutions are making sure that young people understand that the mortgage rules have been changed. I urge anyone who thinks they may be able to afford it to go and see a mortgage broker. Lenders have changed, for example, how they deal with intermittent employment and so on, so it is much easier to get a mortgage, and people should understand that they can use a record of rent payment as a guarantee for their mortgage.

Jo Cox Civility Commission

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Thursday 18th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, that was an incredibly thoughtful and well-informed debate, and I am very pleased to respond for the Government. I would like to thank my noble friend Lady Royall for opening the debate and all noble Lords who have spoken for some truly outstanding contributions today.

I want to start by paying tribute to all those who have worked to preserve Jo’s legacy. Tuesday marked 10 years since Jo’s tragic murder. My thoughts, and I am sure the thoughts of the whole House, will be with her family and friends: with Brendan, Cuillin, Lejla and, of course, our wonderful colleague in the other place, Kim Leadbeater, Jo’s sister. Last week, my colleague, Minister Ali McGovern, led a debate honouring Jo and her legacy. Members spoke of her civility, courage and determination and how she was a fierce advocate for those in need. I want to take a moment now to echo these sentiments in this House.

The hatred and violence which led to this senseless act has no place in our society. I am grateful to those who have worked tirelessly over the last decade to counter violent extremism and to bring our communities together. My noble friend Lady Royall mentioned Sir David Amess, and I have an abiding memory of working in Southend Council on a peer review on the first anniversary of Sir David’s murder and feeling the enduring impact of his loss.

Even in the wake of tragedy, the number of people who seek to come together greatly outnumbers those who aim to divide. Now more than ever, it is imperative that we build stronger and more resilient communities. This is the key to bringing people together: restoring pride in place and repairing social cohesion across the UK. It is the core priority for our Government. However, in today’s uncertain and changing world, community resilience has also become a matter of national security. We all know that hostile actors, at home and abroad, now seek to sow division and undermine local resilience as a means to pursue their own agendas and undermine our national interests. We know that a strong nation demands strong communities and we will prevent subversive forces undermining the community bonds that are the very foundation of this country.

Despite the threats we face, I am confident in the foundations we are building on. When people think of resilience or community strength, they often invoke images of the Blitz spirit and are nostalgic for a sense of defiant community that they fear may be lost. But this resilience endures, as we were reminded by the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, and I see this every day in my own community, not least when around the people who are there every single day in my community. Just last Sunday, I met with 25,000 people and hundreds of community groups and organisations, including musicians, dancers, sportspeople, politicians of all stripes, local businesses, who were all gathered together to celebrate our town on Stevenage Day. I was very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Bates, for the fantastic reminder he gave us of our history and our legacy. We all celebrated Scotland’s World Cup win on 14 June and England’s fantastic win over Croatia last night. The noble Baroness, Lady Hyde, said she was not going to mention the Arsenal parade. I am not going to mention the Arsenal parade, either, but it was estimated there were 1 million people there, all celebrating together.

I welcome the noble Baroness, Lady Grainger, and celebrate the first all-British podium in Formula 1 since 1968. I am only wheedling that in because, of course, Lewis Hamilton was a Stevenage boy. In relation to Lewis Hamilton, he has invested very heavily in ironing out some of the inequalities in STEM through his Mission 44 project, and I am really grateful for that.

My noble friend Lady Morgan reminded us of the veritable army of volunteers out there who support our young people in sport, in scouting and Guides and in myriad other activities. Their work often goes unrecognised and we should celebrate what they all do. As the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, said, we should celebrate the enormous good in every community: as ex-councillors, many of us here saw this every day in our work. This resilience endures. We saw it at the height of the Covid pandemic when neighbours came together to support each other. They shopped for the elderly and delivered prescriptions for the vulnerable. In the face of sickness and isolation, communities united to make sure no one was left behind.

More importantly, in the wake of the unrest that gripped Southport in 2024, local residents came together to rebuild their neighbourhood. I had a real lump in my throat when I saw that young man helping to rebuild the wall that had been knocked down the day after that happened. Amidst the grief of community tragedy, people took a stand against prejudice, clearly saying that this violence was not in their name. I am going to use Jo’s words too, and say

“we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us”.—[Official Report, Commons, 3/6/15; col. 675.]

When building strong, resilient communities, it is important to remember that we are defined not by our lowest moments but by how we respond to them. To this end, the Government are taking tangible action to support community resilience across our country. In March this year, I presented the social cohesion action plan to the House. Cohesion is not about suppressing differences—we should embrace and celebrate our diverse communities—but about renewing a shared social contract rooted in our fundamental British values: democracy, the rule of law, on which my noble and learned friend Lord Hermer has spoken so powerfully, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance. Our plan, entitled Protecting What Matters, sets out our cross-government approach to building confident, cohesive and resilient communities. Of course, this agenda necessitates a whole-of-society approach, and it does not fall within the remit of just one department.

To build resilience, we are resetting our approach to counterextremism, focusing on ensuring a consistent understanding of extremism across government, countering extremist influence in the UK and abroad, and strengthening measures against extremist abuse of our institutions. The plan also supports resilience to online harms, building on the Online Safety Act to provide greater platform transparency, stronger media literacy, protections for children, and better crisis response during periods of heightened tension. More widely, MHCLG’s common ground resilience fund will help deliver targeted cohesion and integration interventions and support local authorities and grass-roots organisations to run practical initiatives that bring people together. But, as my noble friends Lady Shah and Lady Dacres said, we must all show the leadership our roles enshrine. Words matter: we must watch our own and we must call out those who forget how language can divide and intimidate.

In relation to the Civility Commission recommendations, earlier this month I stood before the House and responded to a debate on the intimidation of councillors. The examples of abhorrent behaviour councillors have been subjected to that we heard from my noble friend Lord Forbes and others were seriously disturbing: a stark reminder of the scale of challenge that faces us. Harassment and intimidation of candidates and elected representatives must not be treated as an inevitable part of public life but recognised as a direct threat to our democracy and to democratic representation.

I am also aware of the vulnerabilities of some of our front-line workers. I was very pleased that the Crime and Policing Act introduced new protections for retail workers, and I have started a dialogue, from my own department’s perspective, with the planning profession, whose members are often in public meetings and at the front line of people’s frustration with the planning system. It is unacceptable that they or anyone else doing their job should be subject to intimidating or threatening behaviour. The Civility Commission has made a range of recommendations across sectors for national government, Parliament, local government, police, the courts, political parties, politicians, regulators and social media companies. Clearly, we all have a role to play in creating a stronger, more resilient society. This must be a joint effort: a joint responsibility. I am pleased the Government have made progress in this space.

As part of the Defending Democracy Policing Protocol, we have committed to funding Operation Ford, which the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, mentioned. This provides a dedicated elected official adviser in every police force to provide security briefings and work with local authorities to co-ordinate appropriate security support where heightened risk is identified. The noble Lord, Lord Pack, raised the somewhat inconsistent application of Operation Ford; I heard that as well in last week’s debate, and I will feed that back and see what can be done. The noble Baroness, Lady Smith, asked me about the fixated threat assessment; I will write to her on that issue.

We are also taking decisive action to tackle harassment and intimidation of voters, electoral staff and campaigners. We are changing the law so that those convicted of intimidating or abusing electoral staff can be disqualified from holding or seeking elected office. This will bring electoral staff under the same protection already given to candidates, campaigners and elected representatives under the Elections Act 2022. The Representation of the People Bill will allow tougher sentences for those who abuse candidates, campaigners, elected representatives and electoral staff. In addition, we will remove the requirement for election agents, including candidates acting as their own agents, to have home addresses published on the notice of election agents.

On publishing anonymised data on protected characteristics of election candidates, the Government are committed to commencing Section 106 of the Equality Act 2010, and we are exploring when and how we can do so. Careful consideration needs to be given to how it might be implemented, the necessary supporting regulations and whether a phased implementation might be needed.

I turn to some of the specific issues raised by noble Lords. There were some very powerful speeches, which included speaking about loneliness, from my noble friends Lady Royall, Lady Morgan and Lady Hyde. We are working very hard to ensure that improving social connection and tackling loneliness are embedded in government policy-making, including the Pride in Place strategy, backed by £5.8 billion over 10 years, the men’s health strategy, and the national youth strategy. There is a particular issue around young people and loneliness, and that strategy is backed by £500 million over three years. It will provide safe spaces, fun activities and trusted adults to mentor and support our young people. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, for her welcome of the report, and I am very happy to meet with her.

My noble friends Lady Shah and Lady Goudie, the noble Lords, Lord Pack and Lord Jamieson, and the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, all referred to the harassment and intimidation of local councillors. The noble Lords, Lord Pack and Lord Jamieson, referred to some of the startling figures in the LGA survey. Of course, I share these concerns. I am very glad that the LGA is doing that survey, but I am alarmed by some of the figures it is showing us. We need to take decisive action on this issue and ensure that people are not put off campaigning and standing for public office. That is one of the reasons why we are changing the law and why the Representation of the People Bill, by introducing a new statutory aggravating factor, will empower courts to give tougher sentences to those who abuse candidates, campaigners, elected representatives and electoral staff.

The noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, spoke about work going on across the recommendations. Although some are formally approved, there is work going on right across the recommendations, so I can assure her that we are taking them very seriously.

My noble friends Lady Royall and Lady Dacres talked about local government standards. We intend to strengthen the current standards and conduct regime to make sure all local authority members embody the highest standards of conduct, which the electorate have a right to expect, and which greater devolution will certainly rely on. We published a government response to a consultation in November last year, and we intend to legislate on whole-system reform. Those reforms will provide the tools needed to deal swiftly and fairly with misconduct in every type and tier of local government.

My noble friend Lady Dacres raised the important issue of media literacy. The Government agree that media literacy helps people develop the skills needed to question information, judge credibility and build resilience to misinformation and other forms of harmful content. On 16 March, DSIT published its media literacy action plan, a whole-of-government plan for media literacy that sets out clear priorities for the next three years. By 2029, the action plan aims to improve critical engagement with online content, including recognition of misinformation and disinformation, and access to trusted information supported through schools, libraries and local services. There is a great deal more going on in the updated national curriculum, following the independent curriculum and assessment review; there is active work going on in that space too.

My noble friends Lady Royall and Lady Shah, and the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, raised the very difficult issues of online harassment. The Online Safety Act 2023 establishes a framework of duties, overseen and enforced by Ofcom. In an electoral context, this framework means that in-scope services must tackle illegal content where it amounts to existing offences, including offences such as incitement to violence, undue influence, foreign interference and false statements about a candidate’s character. Where anonymous abuse does not meet the threshold for illegality, the Act’s user empowerment duties, which are expected to come into force from 2027, require the largest services to make sure they manage their interactions, including the ability to filter out content from non-verified users. It is simply not acceptable for platforms to shrug their shoulders and shrug off their responsibility to tackle this, and our Government are determined to tackle it.

On supporting women and minorities in politics, issues raised by my noble friends Lady Dacres and Lady Goudie, and the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, the current UK Parliament is the most diverse on record and sees a number of firsts. The number of women elected to Parliament and in local government elections has risen: 40% of Labour members are now women. We do not have the overall figures on the ethnic diversity of the House of Commons, but available estimates suggest that there has been significant progress with that. The Government’s plans will further strengthen women’s role in public life, breaking down barriers to opportunity, tackling misogyny and creating more equal workplaces. We will encourage better political representation, including by ensuring political parties publish diversity data through commencing Section 106 of the Equality Act. But this is a whole-system issue: we have to tackle the intimidation and the online abuse that people face, or we will just not encourage people to come into political life.

The noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, issued a challenge to me about leadership of this project. The Government will not tolerate the harassment and intimidation of those who serve in public life. That is why the Defending Democracy Taskforce is chaired by the Security Minister, with a mandate directly from the Prime Minister. She is bringing together departments, the Electoral Commission and our intelligence agencies to drive forward a co-ordinated and determined response to protect candidates and elected representatives from threats. Harassment and intimidation of candidates and elected representatives must not be treated as an inevitable part of public life, so we need to make sure that this action goes forward.

This Government are committed to strong, cohesive and resilient communities, and this will continue to be a priority for the remainder of this Government. I thank Members across the House for their valuable contributions to this important debate, and I hope that noble Lords will continue to engage and work with us as we bring people together to restore pride in place and repair social cohesion.

I want to close by thanking all those who worked so hard to honour Jo’s life with this indelible legacy of protecting, promoting and strengthening our democratic freedoms. As the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, and my noble friends Lady Hyde and Lady Goudie said powerfully, the Jo Cox Foundation has become a unifying force for good in our public and political life. I want to end by thanking Jo, our sister. Her life, too short though it was, truly made a difference.

Social Housing Bill [HL]

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 17th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Jamieson (Con)]

My Lords, I was going to say I was grateful to all noble Lords who had spoken in the debate, but I am certainly most grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, for doing so. She identifies a couple of critical issues: the need for more housing and the need for clarity and information. That is important.

It is important that we keep a sense of perspective here about right to buy. It does not mean that that home disappears, or that the family living in it disappear; they are still in that home, and in many cases they will remain in it for many years, irrespective of whether it is a social home or they actually acquire it. The issue is therefore not about the loss of physical dwellings but about the change in tenure and the availability of social housing for other tenants. That is precisely why the questions raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, and the amendments that we have tabled address the serious discussion about replacement. We need reliable, current information and data.

Equally, if there is a case for one-for-one replacement which we believe, that should be examined openly and supported by evidence rather than assumptions. We have now had the opportunity to look at the impact assessment for this Bill, and the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, rightly raised the issue of how we can reduce housing lists by increasing supply. If you look at table 4, what is the impact of removing right to buy? After five years or so, when it settles down, it means that over 3,000 fewer houses every year are built. That is 3,000 fewer homes for families and 3,000 more families on the council waiting list every year. We need more homes, and right to buy is an opportunity to increase that.

Think what would happen if the Government were to focus on building more homes rather than stopping families having the opportunity to own their own home. As we seek a minimum of one-for-one replacement, we could be seeing over 5,000 extra homes every year. That is 5,000 more families given the opportunity for a social home and 5,000 fewer people every year on housing waiting lists.

The amendments in my name and that of my noble friend Lady O’Neill do not seek to prescribe a particular outcome; they seek to ensure that Parliament and the public have the information necessary to assess the effectiveness of the policy and make informed decisions about its future.

I was going to say that this has been a constructive debate—maybe I should say this has been a constructive discussion—but we all recognise the need to increase housing supply and the opportunities for home ownership. I hope the Minister will reflect on the arguments made, the case for greater transparency and the need for more homes.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, before I speak about the Social Housing Bill, may I just wish our team England—well, it is “our team England” for some of us—all success this evening, and I hope we will be finished in time for some of us to see some of it.

I thank everyone for the lively and constructive debate we had on this Bill on Monday; it is a pleasure to be back to continue discussing it. Amendment 54, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, would require the Secretary of State to reconsider our one-for-one replacement policy. Relatedly, Amendments 55 and 56, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, would require a report assessing the viability of this requirement. Amendment 53, put forward by the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, would insert a clause requiring reports to the Secretary of State on sales and replacements. Separately, Amendment 58B from the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, would require a report to Parliament within a year on the impact of Clause 5 specifically.

We announced in our response to the consultation on right-to-buy reforms that we are removing the formal one-for-one right-to-buy replacement target. However, and I say this very specifically, this does not mean we are complacent about replacing homes sold. Far from it: we call on councils to go over and above replacing sold stock and to play a central role in the Government’s commitment to deliver a generational increase in social and affordable housebuilding. The one-for-one target was introduced in 2012, when the only social and affordable housing delivery that councils were asked to do was to replace homes sold under right to buy.

Our ambition far surpasses this now. We want to see more than one-for-one replacement and do not want a target that limits that ambition. As I set out my letter following Second Reading, this Bill is not the extent of our delivery ambition. Our ambition is to deliver 300,000 social and affordable homes over the course of the programme, and we are taking decisive action to reinvigorate council housebuilding, including supporting councils in our £39 billion social and affordable homes programme. We also invested £17 million last year to boost council housebuilding skills, and we have permitted councils now to combine their right-to-buy receipts with grant funding.

The Government’s impact assessment for the Bill forecast that England was on course to lose 26,000 social homes between 2026 and 2036. However, through our package of right-to-buy reforms, including allowing councils to keep all the receipts from sales—something we have long campaigned for from local government—and reducing cash discounts, alongside the provisions in the Bill, we now expect a net gain of around 18,000 homes over the same period, instead of what would have been a loss.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Jamieson (Con)]

May I ask for some clarification from the Minister? Clearly, table 4 in the impact assessment shows that under the pre-November 2024 baseline, if we take the 2034-35 figures, 4,750 homes would be built from the right-to-buy receipts and, under the new baseline, 1,550 would be built. That is 3,200 fewer homes. The assumption that we are going to have more homes available for social tenants relies on the fact that those tenants who might have bought their home will leave that home anyway. If they stay there, we will have fewer homes for new social tenants.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I think the figures stated relate to what happens once we have enacted the Bill. As I have said many times, the ambition to deliver more social homes is not just about the replacement of right-to-buy homes. Right-to-buy sales may go down, but we still anticipate that the measures being taken in the Bill will result in a net increase of 18,000 homes over the period; whereas, because the sales were going up, we would have lost 26,000 homes. With the social and affordable homes programme adding to the overall total and the net increase in homes that we are seeing through the right-to-buy programme, which is 18,000 as opposed to a 26,000 loss, we will see an increase in social housebuilding.

[Baroness Thornhill (LD)]

I thank the Minister for her response, which was very much as I would have predicted. My main point to make to her was that it was not easy to find that data—on GOV.UK you have to look for a bit here and a bit there. Where is all this information on what is such a major plank for the Government, which we totally agree with? Where is it easy to see who is doing what? Where is the analysis and where is it drawn together? Who are the shirkers and who are the leaders? It is a challenging thing. Without meaningful, accurate and localised reporting, councils cannot be properly scrutinised, which is important, and policy failure is harder to challenge. For example, we actually had net losses last year. Again, you can google that and it will tell you, but it is not easy to see it within the mountain of data. In the meantime, I have to say the magic words: I will withdraw my amendment.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Thornhill (LD)]

My Lords, I acknowledge the cogent contribution from the noble Lord, Lord Evans. It was his first contribution, but I hope it will be the first of many, and I mean that sincerely.

In principle, we welcome the intent behind this group of amendments because they speak to something that is all too often overlooked in housing debates: not just how many homes we have to build and targets but the condition and use of the homes that we already have. I will do my best to stick to the amendments in front of us, but I hope Conservative noble Lords will forgive me if I suggest there is a pattern running through this group and others today, and from Monday, which is pushing towards more centralisation and, ultimately, more regulation, which we would be instinctively against.

Take Amendment 57 on regeneration, which makes an important point. It asks the Government to bring forward proposals to support the regeneration of estates. There is no doubt that this is vital, but local authorities are already leading regeneration in so many areas, often very successfully. The best examples of those are councils that are not only working with their communities —which is absolutely essential; try doing it without it—but also attracting private sector investment to get a top-notch scheme. I know that it needs both government and local government to undertake such major work, not what is proposed in these amendments.

The regeneration of an older estate is a significant investment and a major project. It can, as the noble Baroness said, take years, and I have experience of that too. However, what I believe it does not need is direction from the centre, with a national strategy or proposal. In my experience, it is usually the other way round: the council saying to government, “Hey, this is what we want to do. We’ve got great plans, we’ve talked to our community, but—help, please”. That help can be with whatever obstacles are in the way, not just money. As I know also from experience, these can be many and varied, and very often local. You need government to act as Dyno-Rod to help you move things forward, as I am sure the Minister will know from her own experience of the regeneration of Stevenage town centre, on which she battled for many years.

Again, in my experience there are significant pots of money for regeneration to access, but they are often in too many different pots, their use is too restricted and nobody is looking holistically at what a council needs to achieve in total. You might get some money for this bit but not for the bit that would really make it add value. I know that work has been done on these aspects so I hope the Minister will update us, because I think the grant applications for regeneration are important.

Likewise, Amendment 83 would require a national audit of existing stock. Noble Lords will know from my other amendments that I believe better data is clearly helpful and necessary, but we should also recognise that councils already have a good understanding of their housing stock, as do registered social providers. They know where the problems lie. The real issue for them is that they have competing priorities at the moment—do they do the safety work? Do they have new build? Do they retrofit or improve existing homes? The real question is: how do we move from knowledge to funded action on the ground? Noble Lords will begin to see the drift of my theme on these and other amendments.

I will say a final word on Amendment 116, on empty homes, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Bird. It is a particularly important issue, and I strongly support the ambition to bring more of these properties back into use. Councils have the powers to deal with this issue; there is no doubt about that. Again, the issue is not the lack of a five-year plan but other barriers to bringing these homes into use. These are well known. They are often around the capacity of the courts and the rights of the home owner, and how they can hold up the process through the courts and make getting one single house back into use take years.

That brings me to a wider point of capacity. After many years of financial pressure, local government is often operating in a space where it has to be reactive rather than proactive. I believe councils and all their partners would universally want to do more on regeneration, empty homes, illegal subletting—very well articulated by the noble Baroness—and enforcement on landlords in general. But that requires the capacity to get ahead of the problem and not just respond to it.

We respect the sincere intention behind these amendments but feel that the actions asked for are not going to make the significant difference that we would all like to see. Local government knows the issues, and it is often other measures that are needed, which are well out of the scope of the Bill.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government recognise the importance of regenerating existing social housing estates and the potential this can have to improve housing quality, energy efficiency and the overall supply of housing. Following Second Reading, I sent a letter to noble Lords outlining the Government’s intentions in this area; I hope noble Lords have had a chance to look at that.

I will respond first to Amendment 57, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill. While I appreciate the intention behind her amendment, we do not consider it appropriate to place a requirement of this nature in the Bill. As she will know only too well, estate regeneration is complex and highly place-specific. Decisions about funding, density and redevelopment are best taken through existing programmes and planning frameworks that can respond flexibly to local circumstances. As the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, said, it is very important that this is dealt with on a case-by-case basis at local level.

The amendment would also cut across existing policy development and spending decisions, including those taken through the spending review process, by mandating the production of proposals within a fixed timeframe, regardless of wider fiscal or delivery considerations. Therefore, while we share the objective of supporting effective and sensitive estate regeneration, we believe it is better taken forward through existing policy levers and funding mechanisms than through a new legislative duty.

I will make two further comments; first, on the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Stoneham. The social and affordable housing programme supports regeneration where it delivers a net increase in social homes—which I set out some details of in the letter I sent out—as well as introducing wider reforms to standards, designs and quality. We can definitely support regeneration through that programme.

The noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, referred to my efforts around regeneration—the noble Lord, Lord Heseltine, was incredibly helpful to me during that process, so I recognise his significant expertise in that area.

There was also the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Young, about the housing action trusts. The noble Lord may be aware of the announcements made by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State on Monday this week, on the right to manage and how we intend to extend it more widely and try to promote it to tenants, so that where a landlord is failing, they can exercise their right to manage. I know the Secretary of State is very keen to promote that. That said, I ask that Amendment 57 be withdrawn.

On Amendment 58 from the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, the Government are clear that supported housing has a vital role to play in supporting some of the most vulnerable in our society to live as independently as possible. We want to see the new supply of supported housing grow, which is why the social and affordable homes programme allows flexibility on grant rates, to help support accommodation where design and adaptation can result in higher costs.

In addition, the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 places a new statutory duty on local housing authorities to develop supported housing strategies. That will include a delivery plan setting out clear, time-bound actions for implementation. Any new requirement to set out a national strategy on the provision of supported housing will be duplicative of something that—as I see it—sits within the remit of local supported housing strategies. It would lack the detailed understanding that our local authorities have of specific needs in their local areas. For those reasons, I cannot support the amendment.

I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, for Amendments 83 and 107, which both seek to improve the understanding, and strengthen the management, of existing social housing stock. On Amendment 83, a substantial amount of data is already published on the condition and use of social housing, including through the English Housing Survey and the Local Authority Housing Statistics, covering many of the issues raised in the amendment. More broadly, and relevant to both amendments, the Government have already launched a review into how effectively social housing providers are managing and making best use of their stock.

In response also to the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, this work is examining underoccupation, overcrowding, long term voids, tenant mobility, and how landlords can maximise the use of the homes they manage. The review is already under way, and we will report its outcomes later this year. In light of that, the Government do not consider it appropriate to legislate now for a further national audit or a statutory strategy.

Turning to Amendment 75, I want to be clear that illegal subletting is unacceptable. As the noble Baroness, Lady Eaton, rightly said, it deprives those in genuine need of a social home and undermines confidence in the system. Tenants are responsible for fulfilling their obligations and complying with the terms of their tenancy agreement. They are also responsible for making sure that, when they apply for social housing in the first place, the information they give is accurate. Now that social landlords have much more access to online systems for checking applications on registers, I suspect that they are now rejecting far more applications where the information does not match up with the application concerned. Where a tenant has breached a term in their agreement, landlords may seek a possession order from the courts on the basis that there has been a breach of a term of the tenancy agreement, or housing fraud, or where one of the other statutory grounds for possession has been made out.

Where there are concerns about tenancy fraud, councils and landlords already have strong powers to investigate and take action—I believe that the noble Baroness opposite put those in place. We expect social landlords to manage their stock effectively, and anyone with evidence of a fraudulent tenancy should report it to the relevant local authority so that appropriate action can be taken. The Government are looking at this issue as part of the wider stock management review that I referred to. The noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, asked me how long properties are left vacant in between tenancies; I do not have that specific information to hand, but I will write to her on that point. We do not think that further legislation is needed here.

I am grateful, as ever, to the noble Lord, Lord Bird, for Amendment 116 and his powerful advocacy for it. I fully recognise the strength of feeling around the need to bring empty homes back into use. We do not believe that placing a new statutory duty on all local authorities to produce a detailed five year plan on empty homes is the right approach. Local authorities already have powers to identify and acquire empty homes and to bring them back into use. Many are actively doing so through locally tailored strategies that reflect their housing markets and priorities. As the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, said, there are many reasons why that takes longer than it should, and we should look at those obstacles. As the noble Lord said, we should not have empty homes while families live in temporary accommodation, and we are working with our councils to make sure that that does not happen.

However, the amendment would risk duplicating the existing planning and reporting requirements and would impose a significant administrative burden, regardless of whether empty homes are a material issue in a particular area. We are clear that progress on empty homes is best delivered through local flexibility, supported by existing powers and funding, rather than through a one-size-fits-all statutory process.

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[Baroness O’Neill of Bexley (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have participated in the debate and, of course, to the Minister for her response. I especially mention my noble friend Lord Evans, as he saw this as an important debate to make his first contribution in.

The discussions highlighted an important point. Although much attention is devoted to increasing housing supply, making best use of the homes that we already have has to be equally important. The amendments in the group have approached the challenge from a number of angles, including regeneration, supported housing, stock management, fraud prevention and the utilisation of vacant properties. Although they focus on different aspects of the system, they all ask whether existing housing assets are being used as effectively as they could be.

I remain particularly concerned that, at a time when housing waiting lists remain high, we should do everything possible in our power to ensure that social housing properties are occupied by those who are entitled to them and that homes do not remain vacant for longer than necessary. I appreciate the Minister’s comments about turnaround times and look forward to seeing that information. Effective management is not an alternative to new supply, but it is certainly an essential component and should not be forgotten.

I was interested in the discussion around regeneration. Done well, regeneration can improve housing quality, strengthen communities and increase housing supply simultaneously. It is therefore important that the Government continue to think strategically about how existing estates can contribute to meeting future housing need. The need may change. It is not easy. We all know that, at the start of a regeneration project, you have decamped people. If you have not got the empty homes, it is difficult to make that happen.

On Amendment 116, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Bird, concerning empty homes, I agree that long-term vacant properties can represent a missed opportunity, particularly where housing need is acute. However, I sound a note of caution. Property rights remain an important principle. We should be careful about any approach that assumes that the state should have an ever-expanding role in determining how privately owned homes are used. The challenge is to strike the right balance between encouraging properties back into use and respecting legitimate private ownership. That does not mean that we could not address the empty ones in social housing—about 92,000 homes, according to the House of Lords Library.

I thank my noble friend Lady Eaton for her contribution and hope that we can work together ahead of Report to tackle fraud in the social housing system. We need to make use of the powers and encourage others to use those powers. We know that, in a lot of these cases, these are the tenants who are not going to raise their head above the parapet because they are not going to want to be seen. I heard of a case at the weekend in which a key worker thought that they were privately renting a property for £2,000 a month but had a knock on the door from the council. It was actually a council property, costing the council tenant £800 a month. Someone is making a nice amount of money while the wrong person is living in the property. We need to concentrate on this.

I have listened carefully to the Minister’s response and will reflect on the points that were raised in the debate.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

Rather than the noble Baroness waiting for a letter from me, I can give her the answer to her question about the time spent between tenancies now. It is a median of 30 days.

[Baroness O'Neill of Bexley (Con)]

I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

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[Baroness O'Neill of Bexley (Con)]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed so thoughtfully to this sensitive and highly important debate. As my noble friend Lady Scott said at Second Reading, we welcome the Government’s efforts to empower landlords and the courts to protect all victims of domestic abuse.

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Best, for his amendments, which focus on the issues concerning tenants’ safety. His Amendment 61 asks us to consider threats to personal safety due not only to domestic abuse but to escalating disputes with neighbours or targeted youth and gang violence. It is right that we consider how tenants can be protected from those other threats, and Amendment 62 seeks to give providers greater powers to carry out legally required safety checks. I hope the Government will give those amendments their due consideration.

Amendment 63, in the name of my noble friend Lord Holmes of Richmond, seeks to ensure that vulnerable groups such as older tenants, veterans, care leavers, disabled people, those with mental health conditions and families with children in temporary accommodation have the necessary statutory provision. We will also touch on prioritising veterans in another amendment later today, but my noble friend is right that we should consider the specific needs of these groups too, and that we expect local authorities to do so as well.

Amendment 65, which is in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Neate, and was responded to by many others, raises a very important issue. I am grateful to noble Lords who have spoken on this. Victims of financial abuse should be protected, not prevented from bidding for social housing. I would be interested to hear from the Government how that could be implemented by working together with local authorities, and how we can ensure that such protections are not themselves abused.

Amendment 64, in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Jamieson, seeks to ensure that the court system has the capacity and resources to effectively determine whether domestic abuse has taken place within a household with a social housing tenancy, an issue that a few of the speakers referred to. Court readiness was debated at length in relation to the Renters’ Rights Act, and it is important that the Government ensure that landlords and courts are ready for these changes too, so that victims are protected effectively.

Amendment 108, also in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Jamieson, raises the issue of which local authority is responsible for safeguarding needs when a tenant is moved out of an area of one local authority to another. Our amendment suggests that, where a local housing authority secures accommodation for tenants outside its area, that authority retains responsibility for safeguarding oversight and the costs involved. We welcome the insights of other noble Lords on this issue and what scenarios must be taken into account, but I hope the Minister will look into it and how the Bill could address it. I look forward to her response.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have taken part in this very thoughtful debate on these amendments. I start by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Best, for tabling Amendment 61, which addresses an important issue around the safety and security of tenants facing violence. I am very sympathetic to this amendment’s aims to protect all tenants of social housing providers registered with the Regulator of Social Housing and thank the noble Lord for bringing this important issue forward. I want to be clear that tenants should never fear losing their security of tenure if they need to move because of the threat of violence and abuse.

While I am supportive of the intent of the amendment, as drafted it will mean a fundamental shift in the role of the Regulator of Social Housing as currently set out in statute. The regulator’s statutory remit does not include intervening in individual tenancy decisions. The regulator focuses interventions on systemic issues, and this amendment would change this and risk cutting across established principles of regulatory best practice. Furthermore, the consumer standards set by the regulator already place on registered providers several requirements relevant to this amendment, including to work with partners to support victims of domestic abuse and to demonstrate how they deliver the outcomes of these standards.

In addition, there is already legislation in place that seeks to protect people at risk of violence in need of urgent rehousing. If a local authority grants a victim of domestic abuse a new tenancy for reasons connected with the abuse, it is required to give former or existing secure tenants another secure lifetime tenancy rather than a fixed-term tenancy. The social housing allocations framework dictates that where people are homeless or need to move on welfare grounds and apply to be rehoused through a local authority waiting list, they must be given reasonable preference—priority—for social housing. By extension, these protections can also engage private registered providers through the duty to co-operate with their local authority in housing people with priority. Homelessness legislation is also clear that, where appropriate, victims of serious violence are able to access support from homelessness services should they need to relocate, and that a vulnerable victim of domestic violence has priority need for accommodation.

Measures in the Bill to protect victims of domestic abuse also seek to achieve a similar aim to this amendment by ensuring that a joint tenant remains housed either in their original home or in suitable alternative accommodation where this is available. While it does not oblige a registered provider to act, it does empower it to do so. I therefore ask the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment. However, I recognise that this is an important issue and have asked my officials to consider this matter further. I or my officials or both would be happy to meet the noble Lord before Report to discuss this matter.

I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Best, for Amendment 62, which would introduce a new statutory route for registered providers of social housing to gain access to homes to meet statutory safety duties. I absolutely recognise the importance of ensuring that landlords are able to carry out essential safety checks, including gas and electrical inspections, and to ensure that smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are installed and functioning properly. I also recognise that access to homes is a growing concern. However, I am not persuaded that creating a new statutory access route is necessary to achieve this.

Landlords already have established routes for enabling access to homes. In addition, the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and the Housing Act 1998 imply a right of access to tenancies where landlords are required to meet repairing obligations. Where a tenant refuses access, landlords can seek to remedy this through an injunction from the court. I reassure the Committee that, following a joint consultation with the Ministry of Justice on housing disrepair claims, we are currently analysing the responses to deepen our understanding of how the current process works, including what does not work or is unclear, so we can make sure that that process is as effective as possible.

Extending the needs of landlords to enable them to force access must be balanced, of course, against tenants’ existing rights, including the right to respect their private and family life and their home under Article 8 of the ECHR. Where a landlord has taken appropriate steps and cannot gain access, the Government made it clear in our response to the decent homes standard consultation that guidance will set out steps providers should take, and we will work with the sector and tenants to develop this guidance.

This amendment would introduce a separate, highly prescriptive statutory process alongside the existing routes and work we already have under way to consider access to homes for emergency safety reasons. In particular, the provision to authorise the use of reasonable force raises concerns about tenants’ rights and the potential impact on their sense of security in their own home. The amendment would also impose detailed procedural requirements that could reduce flexibility and delay action where timely access is needed to meet critical safety obligations. However, I recognise that this matter needs further consideration, so I intend to convene interested stakeholders to discuss access in emergency situations and identify the next steps.

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[Baroness Thornhill (LD)]

My Lords, I was busy trying to think of counterarguments; the noble Lord, Lord Young, has caught me there. We feel that what unites these amendments is an attempt to drag social housing policy backwards, and to revive a model of insecurity that simply did not work. We have heard this argument before—that fixed-term tenancies somehow make the system fairer or more efficient—but in reality they created uncertainty for tenants, instability for families and churning communities, without coming anywhere close to solving the real problem, which, as we all acknowledge, is a chronic shortage of social housing.

With the exception of Amendment 70, which we have not heard about yet, and while my brain is still thinking about the amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Young, these proposals feel less like a serious answer to today’s housing challenges and more like a re-run of policies that were already tested and found wanting. Take Clause 16, the power to give housing providers the right to raise rents as tenants get higher wages. I can imagine the dinner table conversation: “Great news: I’ve been promoted! I’m getting some extra money. We’ll get above ‘just about managing’. It might give us the cushion we need. But wait: won’t they put our rent up if they find out we’re earning more? Perhaps I won’t take that promotion”. We could not support a measure that would dampen self-improvement and aspiration, let alone the logistics of administering it. With regard to the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Young, how does one logistically monitor those sorts of things within a tenancy?

As Liberal Democrats, we took a very different approach from the Conservative Benches in supporting the renters’ rights reform. We believe that people deserve a secure home, not a tenancy that comes with a built-in expiry date and the constant threat of upheaval. It cannot be right that, just as we strengthen security for private renters, we simultaneously ask social tenants—who, as has been amplified, are those in the greatest need of stability—to accept less.

Of course social housing must be used fairly and responsibly, and we are getting into that dialogue now, but fairness is achieved not by making tenancies more precarious but by building more homes and supporting tenants to move when it is right for them. I know that is tricky, but it can be done. One area where it needs to be done most is in the freeing up of family homes. Usually, this means a widow occupying a three-bedroom family house, when she could move down to a nice ground-floor, one-bedroom flat. This can be done, but we must ensure that the system works with people and not against them.

In our view, these amendments would take us in the wrong direction. They would revive a failed approach and undermine the progress that is trying to be made. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Young, that the people whom we now house are very different. The statistics support that many people in social housing receive benefits, even though they are working. Therefore, I am not sure about what the noble Lord says with regard to private sector rents and whether people’s lives would improve so much that they could pay them in the same area. The cohorts that we are housing now do not seem to bear that out.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, I will respond first to the intention of the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill of Bexley, to oppose Clause 14 standing part of the Bill. I understand that this is a probing amendment seeking more detail on the Government’s rationale for repealing the powers. It is essential that local housing authorities have flexibility to manage their stock in a way that best enables them to meet the needs of their local communities. Clause 14 therefore removes provisions in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 that would have forced councils to sell their highest-value council homes whenever they became vacant. I say “would have forced” because these provisions were never implemented.

Even so, the presence of the provisions on the statute book had a very negative effect on local authorities’ spending plans, since they could not be certain of the income streams from these properties. The policy was intended to raise capital to supply new social homes but would ultimately have led to a net loss in social housing. The last Government chose never to implement these measures due to the negative impact they would have had on local authorities. We are now going one step further by repealing the provisions altogether. That time is now, and Clause 14 fulfils that commitment, so I commend it to the Committee.

I turn to Clause 15 and Amendments 66, 77 and 78. All these relate to the Government’s intention to repeal uncommenced provisions in the Housing and Planning Act 2016, which would have required most new secure tenancies offered by local authorities to be fixed term. I agree with much of what the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, has just said. The Government fundamentally believe that people, families and communities all benefit from secure homes. That is why we enabled this for private renters through the Renters’ Rights Act. It would be entirely counterintuitive to remove that security from social housing tenants.

The probing amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, explores alternatives to lifetime tenancies, and Amendment 77, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, seeks to clarify that social landlords can continue to grant fixed-term tenancies. Nothing in the Bill prevents local housing authorities from granting fixed-term tenancies where they consider it to be appropriate—for example, to support time-limited resettlement schemes for Afghan and other refugee cohorts. The Bill does not change that. Schedule 3, paragraph 1 repeals uncommenced provisions that would have required most new secure tenancies to be granted on a fixed-term basis. Those provisions were never brought into force, and we are removing them to provide clarity. We want to make it clear that we support lifetime tenancies because they provide stability and security for tenants and help people put down roots in their communities. It is not right to require that most new tenants be offered fixed-term tenancies, as this would reduce their security.

Amendment 78 would require a review of the provisions in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 which would have replaced lifetime secure tenancies with fixed-term tenancies for new tenants. However, as we discussed, those provisions were never commenced, and the Bill repeals them. It is therefore not possible to review the measures. The Government already collect data on new social housing lettings, including tenancy type and length of fixed-term tenancies. We therefore already have an established source of information on how fixed-term tenancies are being used. The stock management review, which we are currently undertaking, is the right place to consider the issues highlighted for proposed review, rather than requiring a separate statutory review of provisions that were never brought into force. For those reasons, I ask that the amendments be withdrawn.

Turning to Clause 16, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, for Amendment 80, which would allow higher rents to be charged to higher-income social housing tenants. I note that the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, has set out her intention to oppose Clause 16 standing part of the Bill. The Government are reviewing both the statutory social housing allocations guidance and how social landlords are making effective use of their existing stock. Taken together, these amendments would, in effect, reintroduce the pay-to-stay policy, which was included in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 but never implemented. In fact, Amendment 80 would go even further than the current provisions in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 by requiring registered providers, as well as local housing authorities, to charge higher rents to higher-income tenants.

As I previously noted, these pay-to-stay provisions were never implemented, and the original provisions in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 received strong objections from noble Lords during the passage of that legislation. Indeed, the previous Government chose not to commence them as the costs outweighed the benefits. Social landlords already have flexibility to run discretionary schemes for higher-earning tenants, and it is right to maintain that approach. I echo what the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, said: we want to avoid creating disincentives for tenants to increase their earnings, and avoid curtailing their aspirations and ambitions, through this process. For those reasons, these amendments are not necessary. I ask that they be withdrawn, and I commend Clause 16 to the Committee.

Finally, I turn to Amendment 70, from the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson. This would require a social landlord to conduct a tenancy review where a tenant is engaged in persistent anti-social behaviour. During the passage of the Renters’ Rights Act, I spoke about the challenges of tackling anti-social behaviour and drew on my 27 years of experience as a local councillor. No tenant should feel unsafe in their home as a result of the behaviour of others. Where behaviour is persistent and has a serious impact on neighbours and communities, landlords must be able to respond quickly and appropriately.

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Moved by

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage]

67: After Clause 16, insert the following new Clause—
“Health and safety lead: Parliamentary procedureIn section 320 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (orders and regulations), in subsection (7)(d), for “sections 70 and 72” substitute “those sections referred to in subsection (3)(d)”.” Member’s explanatory statement
Section 320(3)(d) HRA 2008 applies affirmative procedure to regulations under section 126A of that Act. Section 126A is not expressly excepted from section 320(7)(d) (which applies negative procedure), and so there could be uncertainty about which resolution procedure applies. This amendment would prevent any such doubt.

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Social housing did not create migration pressures and it cannot resolve them. What it can do, if properly supported, is provide secure homes to people, based on clear, fair and locally determined criteria. The Liberal Democrats believe in fairness, compassion and evidence-based policy. We believe that housing should bring communities together and should not be used to divide them. We also believe that politicians have a duty to show leadership in this regard and not abrogate responsibility for the consequences these issues provoke. It will be no surprise that we oppose these amendments.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, this group of amendments is about access to and eligibility for social housing. I want to make two opening points. First, it is important that debate on these issues is conducted carefully and respectfully, as the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, said. Language that stigmatises or mischaracterises people living in or applying for social housing is simply not acceptable. Secondly, I remind noble Lords that there is an extensive review of social housing allocations statutory guidance currently being undertaken, which will consider many of the issues raised as part of this group.

I will address specifically Amendments 69, 74, 82 and 84, from the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill. In 2024-25, 89% of lead tenants in new social housing lettings were UK nationals, 4% were European nationals and 8% were from outside the European Economic Area—broadly the same as the previous year. Eligibility for social housing is tightly controlled. If a person’s visa prevents access to state benefits or local authority housing assistance, they are not eligible for social housing. Only eligible people can join waiting lists and receive a tenancy. Where foreign nationals are eligible, they will have their housing needs considered on the same basis as other eligible applicants, in accordance with the local authority’s housing allocation scheme.

On 20 November, the Government announced the biggest reforms to the legal migration system in 50 years. These reforms will build a fairer immigration system for British people, while doing the right thing by migrants who have built their lives here and contributed to our community, the economy and public services. I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Lawlor, that I do not think we need to take lessons on asylum from the party opposite, which totally lost control of the system. That is still having an impact on housing and social housing now. We are addressing the system as a whole, which is the right approach, rather than stigmatising those who live in social housing. That is why we oppose Amendment 69. As the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, clearly outlined, the problem here is the lack of available social housing. We cannot blame other people for that —what we need to do is crack on and build some more.

Amendment 74, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, would give the Secretary of State power to issue guidance on eligibility for foreign public office holders and associated persons. That power and guidance are unnecessary. The Secretary of State already has a power under Section 196 of the Housing Act 1996 to issue guidance on social housing allocations. Foreign public office holders and associated persons are already subject to local authority allocation rules. Authorities can apply qualification rules such as local connection and income tests to reflect local priorities. I remember the very same debate in my own authority around the five-year local connection test. There is therefore no need for this power. It would not be appropriate for me to comment here in the Chamber on the specific case raised by the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, but I draw Members’ attention to the statement from Southwark Council on that issue.

Amendments 82 and 84, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, would both require assessments that we do not think are necessary. Amendment 82 would require an assessment of social housing demand arising from net migration. Social housing demand depends on many factors and the effect of migration is not direct, so a yearly assessment would not be proportionate. Demand for social housing comes from a multitude of factors that are likely to be correlated, including economic conditions and a range of government policies. It is artificial and potentially misleading to seek to neatly and reliably separate the impact of net migration from other factors.

Amendment 84 would require an assessment of the impact of temporary asylum accommodation on local social housing demand. It is important to reiterate that asylum seekers are not eligible for social housing, so they will not be adding to demand for social housing. Where an individual is granted refugee status, they may subsequently approach a local authority for housing support. Whether they access social housing will depend on meeting local authority allocation policies, including any local connection or residency tests.

I want to highlight the progress made on sharing asylum pressures more fairly across the country. Since 2022, the Home Office has shifted from a model where asylum accommodation was concentrated in a small number of areas to one where all local authorities share responsibility, with each allocated a defined, evidence-based share of demand.

Much of the data sought in the amendment is already available. My department collects and publishes extensive information on social housing waiting lists and allocations, including data on new lettings and household characteristics. The Home Office regularly publishes a breakdown by local authority of accommodated asylum seekers, and my department publishes the homelessness duties owed to those as a result of leaving asylum support as part of statutory homelessness statistics. With this explanation, I kindly ask that the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, does not press these amendments.

Amendment 68, also tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, seeks to require local housing authorities to take account of local connection when considering if an applicant for social housing should be awarded reasonable preference for an allocation of social housing. Local connection tests help local housing authorities manage social housing stock and are best placed to set the rules to ensure homes meet local housing pressures and that policies take account of the local context. We seem to have a bit of a theme of wanting to centralise these issues, but local authorities can set out in their allocation scheme that they will consider local connection as part of prioritisation. The vast majority, 89%, are choosing to consider it at an earlier stage as part of the qualification for the housing register, and we do not see the need to remove this choice from local housing authorities. I ask the noble Baroness not to press this amendment.

Amendment 113 would require local authorities to review applications on their housing register every three years. I of course support accurate and up-to-date housing registers and expect local authorities to review data regularly. However, it is for local authorities to determine how best to do that as part of how they manage their local social housing allocations schemes. This enables them to design schemes in a way that fits local priorities. A full review of the housing register might not always be the most efficient way to maintain an effective register. An applicant’s eligibility and qualification for social housing will be reassessed at the point of a home being allocated, so having ineligible households on a housing register does not mean that they will get social housing. With that, I kindly ask the noble Baroness not to press her amendment.

Amendments 91 and 93, tabled by the noble Baronesses, Lady Teather and Lady Bakewell, would require the Secretary of State to publish a report on access to social housing for former members of the Armed Forces and former offenders respectively. This Government are committed to making sure that those who have served and their families have access to social housing. Current and former members of the Armed Forces community benefit from strong protections in the allocations framework, including receiving the highest preference where they have housing need. I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Teather, for recognising the work that the Government have done on that. Where local connection or residency tests apply, legislation exempts the Armed Forces community, regardless of when they last served, ensuring that they are not disadvantaged. There is also statutory guidance in place on improving access to social housing for members of the Armed Forces.

The noble Baroness, Lady Teather, referred to access to social housing even for those in the highest bands. I understand her point. That is why our Government have placed such a high priority on the delivery of new social housing. It is the lack of housing that prevents people in high bands getting it, not whether they are a priority. I will make further remarks on her valid points on adapted housing when they come up in a later group.

With our review of statutory guidance on social housing allocations already under way, we do not need to conduct separate reviews for specific groups such as former members of the Armed Forces or former offenders, so I kindly ask the noble Baronesses, Lady Teather and Lady Bakewell, not to press their amendments.

Amendment 94, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, seeks to ensure that local housing authorities get the information necessary to provide housing to prison leavers at risk of homelessness. This amendment focuses on an issue that my department and the Ministry of Justice are committed to tackling. I spoke to my noble friend Lord Timpson just yesterday about this, and my officials also met with the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, yesterday, as he said, to discuss his proposal in more detail. I am very grateful for the noble Lord’s work on this issue.

Supporting people into stable accommodation from their first night out of prison is critical to reducing homelessness and reoffending, as those without stable accommodation are more likely to reoffend, as we have heard. I support the intent of this amendment in reducing prison leaver homelessness. All prisons and probation services are already subject to the duty to refer under Section 213B of the Housing Act 1996. This requires them to refer anyone who is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless to a local housing authority of the person’s choice. We continue to work with colleagues in the Ministry of Justice to ensure that this process works as effectively as possible. My department also already collects data on the number of prison leavers provided with social housing by local housing authorities on release from prison and publishes this annually. Therefore, I ask that the noble Lord does not press his amendment, but my officials remain happy to have further conversations with him, if that would be helpful.

Finally, Amendment 81 seeks to create a new statutory requirement for the Government regularly to review income eligibility thresholds for social housing. As I have made clear, eligibility for social housing is considered through the allocations process. The Government do not set income eligibility thresholds; they are set by local authorities and private registered providers. This allows them to set thresholds that reflect the local context. I do not believe that it would be an appropriate use of resources for the Government to review every one of those independently set thresholds. The evidence is that it would cost more to implement than it would raise in revenue. A regular review would also penalise tenants for earning more and could lead to incentives to reduce working hours to avoid higher rent.

Income should not be equated with housing need or a lack of housing need. Some households may have additional needs or circumstances that mean that social housing remains the only viable or appropriate option for them. This can be the case, even where their income may be somewhat higher than others on the waiting list. Therefore, I ask that this amendment is not pressed.

[Lord Jamieson (Con)]

I would like to go back to one point that the Minister raised on the review of housing waiting lists. She made the perfectly valid point that someone may have registered on the housing waiting list with a certain series of circumstances and that those will be tested at the allocation point. I accept that. However, the point we were trying to make is that the housing waiting list includes data that is used in making a variety of decisions on the prioritisation of what should be built and so on. Our view is that that data needs to be accurate. What can the Minister say on that point?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

In my experience, most local authorities do exactly what the noble Lord is suggesting: they very carefully take account of the information submitted by applicants for the waiting register when they apply for it. I think that those processes are already in place.

[Lord Jamieson (Con)]

I am sorry; I must be talking at cross-purposes. My point is that, given the length of time that people will be on the housing register, circumstances will change, and therefore what was put on one or two years ago may no longer be accurate. This is about having up-to-date, accurate data on the housing register, so that the council can make good decisions on policy, not on a particular allocation.

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[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

Again, I place great trust in our local housing authorities; they regularly assess their applicants. That has been even more the case as the availability of social housing has become more and more scarce. Local authorities take these responsibilities very seriously. If there were a change to a circumstance that had not been recorded, that would certainly appear at the time of the allocation.

[Baroness Lawlor (Con)]

Can the Minister say whether there is official evidence of when an application is made, and whether the authorities assess official documents supporting a request for housing? Just as a clarification, I certainly did not seek to stigmatise people who were seeking social housing. I asked for further evidence so that we could review the whole question in the round, but not stigmatise anyone.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

Local authorities take a great deal of care when people apply for the social housing register, because they need to make sure that they meet their local provisions. That includes local connections, whether they have income eligibility and so on. They take great care in that respect. Most local authorities conduct regular reviews of the information they have—I will not say “all local authorities”, because I do not have the evidence in front of me to suggest that, but I think that nearly all of them do so.

[Lord Jamieson (Con)]

I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in this debate. There have been a variety of views, so I will begin on the bits on which I think we generally agree.

I am very grateful to my noble friend Lord Farmer for his eloquent contribution, as well as to the noble Baronesses, Lady Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville. They looked at how we can better support former offenders and those leaving prison. We support the intentions behind both of their amendments, and we believe that local housing authorities should at least be given more information about prison leavers in need of housing.

I also thank the noble Baroness, Lady Teather, for her strong case on behalf of veterans. We too agree that those who have served in His Majesty’s Armed Forces should be prioritised in social housing allocation processes. She is right to highlight the needs of those with potential disabilities arising from their time serving in uniform. When I first became a councillor, one of the first cases I dealt with was a military family that fell between the cracks of the regulation and the allocation. That was before the Armed Forces covenant, so I was very pleased that we were able to change council policy to have much greater flexibility. That family was then housed to great benefit.

I raise the issue of disabilities. I am very conscious that we do not have enough good-quality social housing for people with high and complex disability needs. One of the points that I made earlier in the debate about right to buy is that it provides the resources to look at new housing. I give the example of Central Bedfordshire: we were using right-to-buy receipts to develop specialist housing. The Minister knows that we were doing that for older people’s housing, but we also did it for disabilities. It was an absolute delight when we went to see families. I know one person who was constrained in a wheelchair and had very little movement. He said that that was the first time he had ever been able to open the front door of his own home, because he had one of those little infrared buzzers. It can be transformational, and we need to look at that.

We are also in agreement, which the previous amendments reflect, that there is a need to look at prioritisation, whether for offenders, military or other groups. That is why we have some of our amendments in the group. We can all say the solution is more social homes, but we need to recognise that, for the moment, demand massively outstrips supply, and therefore, difficult choices will be made. For every family or person who gets a social home, there will be many who will miss out—all with good and deserving cases. We suggest that there needs to be an open and honest discussion on prioritisation.

As my noble friend Lord Jackson asked—and I thank him for his eloquent support, both for my amendments and for the other amendments in the group—where else do non-citizens get priority? Why should UK citizens not be a higher priority? Why should UK military personnel not be a higher priority than a non-UK citizen? This is a debate that we need to have. With that, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

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[Earl Russell (LD)]

My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 85 in my name and respond to the other amendments in this group on behalf of these Benches. These amendments collectively address the design and accessibility of social housing. I am grateful to other noble Lords for their amendments in this important and interesting group.

I turn first to my Amendment 85. At Second Reading, I said that I was concerned not so much by what was in the Bill but by what was conspicuously absent. Our climate is changing faster than our policies. The Climate Change Committee’s recent report, A Well-Adapted UK, warns that 92% of existing homes are likely to over- heat by 2050. That is not a fringe projection but the central estimate of the best advice that is available to Parliament.

Social housing tenants are disproportionately elderly, often disabled and often living with chronic illness. They are more likely to live in urban flats that heat quickly and they cannot, in the main, afford air conditioning or to escape the urban heat island effect. In short, we are debating the homes of those most at risk of dying or suffering from extreme heat under a warming planet.

The UKHSA estimated that there were 2,803 excess deaths among people aged 65 and over in England during the summer of 2022 alone. Without action, heat-related deaths could increase sixfold, from around 1,600 a year today to some 10,000 a year by the 2050s. My amendment seeks to create a power requiring the Secretary of State to make regulations ensuring that all new social housing in England is designed and constructed to reduce the risk of overheating. It specifies that those regulations must address ventilation, shading and solar control, and the thermal performance of the building fabric. Critically, the regulations must secure at least equivalent protections to those already required for new residential buildings under the Building Regulations 2010 and be subject to affirmative procedures so that Parliament retains proper oversight.

The Government will point to Part O of the building regulations, and I acknowledge this, but Part O is a design floor, not a statutory duty tied to a social housing programme. It carries no enhanced standard for vulnerable people who disproportionately occupy social housing and it lacks the weight of primary legislation. The warm homes plan is genuinely welcome, but its passive calling commitments remain aspirations rather than duties. A simple provision in this Bill would cost a fraction of the retrofitting that will be needed if we fail to act at the design stage. Every home built today without these standards is a home that will need costly remediation later. I recognise that the Bill is tightly drafted, but these matters are critical. I look forward to the Minister’s response to them today.

Amendment 76, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill of Bexley, and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, is on maintenance standards. We are supportive of the intention and recognise the need. Our only question is about the language of the amendment. The requirement that registered providers merely have to “have regard to” guidance needs to be strengthened. Given that some 2 million people in England live in homes with significant damp and mould, this should be an enforceable standard, not merely guidance.

I will introduce Amendment 96, in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Young of Old Scone, as she is unable to be in Committee today. We support this important amendment. It seeks for the Secretary of State, by regulations, to make provision requiring that new social housing developments mandate a minimum level of urban tree canopy cover to sufficiently address environmental health and climate inequalities. The benefits of this amendment would be multiple and directly relevant to the wider debate today. Trees cool urban environments, reduce the urban heat island effect and provide the passive, low-cost climate adaptation that complements the overheating protections in my amendment. They improve mental and physical health, reduce surface water flooding and address the profound environmental injustice that means that tree-poor neighbourhoods are, overwhelmingly, also poor neighbourhoods. The amendment is carefully drafted. It would require regulations on minimum levels of tree- planting, climate resilience, access to green infrastructure within reasonable walking distance and, critically, long-term maintenance, including replacements. We are pleased to support it.

We support Amendment 100, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Holmes of Richmond, on inclusion by design. I thank the noble Lord for how he introduced it. The principle that social housing services, allocation systems and digital tools should be designed from the outset to be accessible and equitable is one that we strongly endorse. However, I once again wonder whether “have regard to” is sufficient. We also support Amendment 102, in the name of the noble Lord, on accessible and adaptive housing design standards. A mandated standard, a national register of accessible properties and requirements for local housing authorities to use that register in allocations decisions is exactly the kind of system that we really need. On Amendments 117C and 119B, again in the name of noble Lord, on digital accessibility standards, we are supportive in principle.

Each amendment in this group seeks for Parliament to do something straightforward: to build homes that are safe, accessible, green and fit for the future that we know is coming.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, I start by responding to Amendment 76, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson.

I am pleased to reassure the noble Baroness and the noble Lord that the Government have already published guidance for social landlords on timeframes for repairs in the social rented sector, covering the first phase of Awaab’s law that came into force on 27 October 2025. This guidance includes information in relation to damp and mould hazards. This will be updated to include other hazards ahead of further phases of Awaab’s law coming into force. Guidance on implementing the revised decent homes standard will be published shortly; this will include further information about meeting a new damp and mould standard. Guidance on electrical safety was published in November 2025 and we have produced guidance that covers the operation and enforcement of the housing health and safety rating system. That guidance will be published this summer. The Housing Ombudsman’s complaint handling code sets out best practice that landlords are expected to follow to handle resident complaints effectively. For these reasons, I hope that the noble Baroness and the noble Lord are reassured that work is under way to address each of the issues in their amendment and are content to withdraw it.

Amendment 85 was tabled by the noble Earl, Lord Russell, and he knew that I would mention Part O. Part O of Schedule 1 to the building regulations requires that new residential buildings in England are built to mitigate the risk of overheating, protecting everyone, including the most vulnerable, the elderly and the very young. These requirements already apply to newly built social housing, ensuring that residents benefit from the same standards of overheating mitigation, regardless of their tenure type. The noble Earl made an important point on that, but it is clear that building regulations apply across tenures. A separate additional regulatory standard on top of this would be likely to add unhelpful duplication and complexity to the design and delivery of new social homes. Therefore, the Government cannot support this amendment. I kindly ask the noble Earl not to press it.

I turn to the amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, in relation to accessibility. First, Amendment 100 would introduce a new statutory “inclusion by design” principle. Tenants must be at the heart of our social housing system and, to achieve this, landlords must actively engage with tenants and provide a range of opportunities for them to influence and scrutinise decisions.

To support the accessibility of services for all, first, I note that all social landlords are already subject to existing duties under the Equality Act 2010, including the public sector equality duty where it applies. In addition, the social housing regulatory framework already places clear expectations on registered providers that their services must be inclusive for all tenants. The regulator’s transparency, influence and accountability standard specifies that registered providers must take action to deliver fair access to, and equitable outcomes from, housing and landlord services for all tenants. They must also provide accessible support that meets the diverse needs of tenants.

The concern with this amendment is that it would create a broad new statutory duty across the whole Act, without clearly defining how it would interact with those existing equality, regulatory and housing duties. That would risk duplication and uncertainty, as well as additional administrative burdens, without necessarily improving outcomes for tenants. We also do not think it is necessary to require guidance to be published and reviewed on a fixed statutory timetable.

Formal work has already begun that will evaluate the effectiveness of the new regulatory regime by 2028, to make sure that it is delivering the improvements needed to fundamentally shift how residents are treated and to create a transparent and trustworthy system with residents’ views and needs at its heart. I am responsible for working with the Regulator of Social Housing as part of my ministerial responsibilities and I have spoken to it specifically on the issue of tenant engagement; I take it very seriously. For those reasons, I do not believe the amendment is needed.

On Amendment 102, the Government believe that everyone should be able to live in a home that is suitable for their needs. Building regulations are already in place, specifying the standards to which new or materially refurbished homes must adhere. Regarding accessibility, the existing M4(1) standard is the default, ensuring reasonable provision for access to and use of a dwelling and its facilities. The enhanced, optional M4(2) standard relates to housing meeting the different needs of occupants, including disabled individuals, and allowing adaptation to meet the changing needs of occupants over time. The M4(3) standard relates to requirements for wheelchair users, where provision must be made to allow simple adaptation of the dwelling for their needs.

These regulations, and the statutory guidance accompanying them, already apply to new building work or refurbishment work. I had a meeting with Minister Kinnock from the Department of Health and Social Care to consider what more we need to do in relation to this. We propose to go even further. The Government have recently consulted on revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework that will require local plans to set out the proportion of new M4(2) and M4(3) housing that must be delivered in new developments, to meet or exceed identified needs. In relation to M4(2), we propose to make it clear that these requirements should never be lower than 40%.

On the provision of an accessible housing register, we will be considering this further as we update the allocations guidance. I thank the noble Lord for his amendment, but we believe that our existing building regulations will help ensure the accessibility of new and materially refurbished homes, and any new standard risks duplication. For homes and households that require heightened adaptations, local authorities are best placed to understand and cater for the needs of people in their local area. Therefore, we cannot support this amendment.

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, for Amendments 117C and 119B. I fully recognise the importance of ensuring that services are accessible, inclusive and easy to use, and the Government are clear that tenants should be able to engage with their landlords through channels that meet their needs. To this end, there are already well-established accessibility requirements, including existing standards and legal duties, which apply to digital services and ensure that providers consider accessibility as part of service design.

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[Baroness Thornhill (LD)]

My Lords, because the noble Lords, Lord Jamieson and Lord Young of Cookham, have done such a brilliant job of talking about shared ownership, I will scrap most of my speech. We on these Benches have brought up the vexed subject of shared ownership many times, and I know that the Minister understands and absolutely appreciates that. I pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, who has been a stalwart campaigner for reform. That deserves to be recognised.

If shared ownership is a pathway to home ownership, it is a very rocky one. It is definitely a home owner’s dream that turned into their worst nightmare. I could wax lyrical about automated 1% staircasing, proportional maintenance and a 15% valuation cushion, but I will not. But I am interested in what the Minister has to say, because, unlike the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, I do not believe that this is something that has passed; in high-cost areas, it is essential. Therefore, we would really like to hear something about reform or at least a vision of how it might be reformed.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, for her amendments on shared ownership and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, for moving them.

Shared ownership has an important role to play in supporting households into home ownership who would otherwise struggle to purchase a suitable property. We had extensive debates on this during the Renters’ Rights Bill and, like the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Young, for his work on this. That is why we have committed to continue supporting the delivery of shared ownership via the £39 billion social and affordable homes programme. Through the launch of the programme, we have introduced new measures to support the delivery of shared ownership and to set clear expectations for providers to improve the customer experience that we have heard about this evening.

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[Baroness O’Neill of Bexley (Con)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Fuller for raising the important subject of adapted social housing. As we have argued throughout this day of Committee, we must improve how we manage the existing stock of social housing by making better use of what we have and what is being built. It strikes us as entirely sensible that, where possible and appropriate, homes that have been adapted are then given to applicants who would also benefit from those adaptations. That would save social housing providers money and ensure that we made the best use of resources and housing stock. I look forward to the Minister’s response and any details that she might be able to give us on how it might be implemented.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, we seem to have wandered a long way this evening from the straightforward purpose of the Bill: to adjust right to buy, to give confidence to local authorities to deliver social housing, and to protect domestic abuse victims. Anyway, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, for his amendment. He says he is disappointed. I have probably been disappointing the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, for most of the last 15 or so years that we have known each other, so I am just carrying on in that vein, I am afraid.

We recognise how important home adaptations are in enabling disabled people to live as independently as possible in a safe and suitable environment. Disabled facilities grant funding helps adapt over 55,000 homes annually, helping disabled people and their families live independently, reducing demand for health and social care support. It is also important that local authorities make the best use of the homes they have available, particularly any adapted properties.

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[Baroness O’Neill of Bexley (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful to noble Lords who have contributed to this group. Amendment 90, in the name of my noble friend Lord Fuller, seeks guidance on the social responsibilities and purposes of social housing providers. As we argued in our Amendment 108, we need to understand the other responsibilities that providers have towards tenants and the boundaries that exist. My noble friend’s amendment is very similar to our Amendment 109; it is clear that we are united in our priorities, but we can look at the drafting more closely ahead of Report.

Community engagement brings me to Amendment 103, in the name of my noble friend Lord Holmes of Richmond, which proposes tenant board representation of at least one-fifth, as well as mandatory tenant advisory panels for the codesign of allocation policies and a requirement to publish complaints data by protected characteristic. We agree that tenant voices should be heard, with their dreams and aspirations for the places and communities in which they live. That is admirable and we welcome the intention behind the amendment.

I turn to the amendments in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Jamieson. Amendment 110 seeks a wider review of governance arrangements for social housing providers. This includes board composition, tenant representation and the role of elected councillors, but also their accountability to local communities, scrutiny arrangements and performance information. This is crucial. Community engagement should not be a box-ticking exercise or tokenistic; it should be rooted in existing democratic structures.

Amendment 111 would enable local authorities to require senior housing association representatives to attend scrutiny committee meetings. In my experience, I could always rely on my good relationships with local housing association representatives, but we realise this is not the case for everyone. Although we have argued for the independence of housing associations to be recognised, this should not prevent associations being held accountable to local elected representatives and having constructive conversations.

Amendment 112 would require housing associations to publish quarterly performance information, including performance in relation to repairs, complaints, tackling anti-social behaviour, tenant satisfaction and void properties. This would be useful both for tenants and for local authorities, and for the associations themselves to help focus on areas for improvement.

Finally, Amendment 115 would empower social housing tenants to request an inspection from the Regulator of Social Housing. The Secretary of State could make regulations outlining the grounds on which this could be requested, including how many tenants would be required to support such a request and in what circumstances a request could be refused. We believe this is a balanced approach but one that is tenant-led. We hope that we can work together with noble Lords to finalise amendments to be brought forward on Report. I would be interested to hear the response of the Minister to those amendments.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, this group of amendments concerns a range of mechanisms to strengthen the tenant voice and engagement across the social housing sector. It is a bit odd, as the noble Lord, Lord Stoneham, said, to be in this parallel universe where the Conservative Benches are arguing for more regulation—I find that a bit strange.

Matters relating to tenant voice and engagement are already central to the Regulator of Social Housing’s existing consumer standards. The regulator’s approach is proactive and outcomes-based, setting clear standards that providers must deliver, while allowing flexibility on how those outcomes are achieved. On that basis, my concern is that a number of these amendments would introduce new statutory requirements that would duplicate or cut across the existing regulatory framework. This would result in unnecessarily prescriptive requirements and potential confusion for the sector, without materially improving outcomes for tenants or communities.

I turn briefly to Amendment 90, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, and Amendment 109, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson. I am not persuaded that additional statutory guidance from the Secretary of State is necessary. Core elements of these amendments and any subsequent guidance are already central to the regulator’s regulatory standards.

The consumer standards require providers to deliver safe and well-managed homes, to engage with tenants and take their views into account, to work with partners to tackle anti-social behaviour, and to support the well- being of the communities in which they operate. The regulator already has the power, through Section 195 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, to issue codes of practice on matters relating to its consumer and economic standards. These can be used to amplify requirements that registered providers must deliver, and the regulator exercised this power in 2024 in relation to consumer standards.

The amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, raises the question of the balance between the development of new supply and the social responsibilities of registered providers. If he has not been notified of this, on 9 June, the regulator published a discussion document, More and Better Social Homes, which explores how the regulatory framework can be adapted to support the delivery of more and better social housing. I hope the noble Lord is reassured that the objectives behind the amendments are already central to requirements placed on registered providers by the regulatory standards and is content to withdraw.

On Amendment 110, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, I recognise the importance of governance underpinning effective services for tenants. However, as I said, the regulator already has a proactive role in assessing how far providers perform for their tenants, including through the regulation of consumer standards and routine inspections. The areas identified in the amendment, including tenant voice, accountability, transparency and performance, are already core components of the framework.

I turn to Amendment 111, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill. While oversight of registered social housing providers is important, it would be disproportionate to require a senior officer of a registered social housing provider to attend a local authorities’ overview and scrutiny committee. However, the Government will keep this under review, as part of the conversations we are having on local scrutiny committees, given their larger geographical footprint. It is important to establish scrutiny at the appropriate level. Imposing a statutory duty at local authority level, when a similar and more flexible function is being introduced at mayoral level, would be duplicative and may be unnecessary.

On Amendment 112, also tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, I recognise the importance of landlords being transparent and accountable to their tenants in supporting tenant voice and accountability. To that end, registered providers are already required to publish information through the tenant satisfaction measures. These measures have been carefully designed to ensure that tenants have the information they need to hold their landlords to account, and to ensure consistency across the sector while balancing the burden on landlords. In addition, private registered providers already submit data to the regulator through the annual statistical data return, and local authorities provide that information through the local authority housing statistics. We do not consider it necessary or proportionate to mandate the publication of quarterly void property performance metrics. This would introduce additional reporting burdens without any clear benefits to tenants.

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[Lord Jamieson (Con)]

My Lords, I will speak to this final group of amendments in my name and that of my noble friend Lady O’Neill of Bexley. Clause 17(2) gives the Secretary of State the power to

“amend or repeal provision made by an Act of Parliament passed before, or in the same Session as, this Act”.

Amendment 118 would remove this power.

Amendment 119 would require an affirmative parliamentary procedure for any regulations made under Clause 17. This would give Parliament stronger oversight of secondary legislation.

The theme of both amendments is to give Parliament stronger oversight of the Secretary of State’s powers. I would be interested to hear from the Minister why these powers were included in the first place and how the Government intend to use them in the future if this Bill is passed as currently drafted. The House deserves to know to properly consider these provisions, so I look forward to an answer from the Minister. I beg to move.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, and the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, for the amendments on powers in Clause 17. I note that the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee concluded:

“There is nothing in this Bill which we would wish to draw to the attention of the House”.


That conclusion gives important context for these amendments.

On Amendment 118, this is a standard consequential power that is found in many Bills and is limited to making a provision that is consequential on the Act. It cannot be used to introduce new policy; its purpose is to ensure that the legislation operates coherently once enacted, including by making any necessary technical changes to existing legislation. The Bill already provides an important safeguard where regulations under Clause 17 amend or repeal primary legislation. They are subject to the affirmative procedure, so both Houses must actively approve them. Removing the power entirely could leave technical inconsistencies or gaps on the statute book and make implementation less effective. It would mean that even minor consequential amendments to primary legislation would require further primary legislation. For those reasons, we consider the power necessary, proportionate and appropriately safeguarded.

On Amendment 119, the Bill already ensures enhanced scrutiny where regulations amend primary legislation. Applying the affirmative procedure to all consequential regulations would be disproportionate. Additionally, the power is limited to making provision that is consequential on the Act, and it is intended to be used only to ensure the effective implementation of the Act and to maintain a coherent legislative framework. I believe that the existing approach strikes the right balance. I hope the points I have made have provided some comfort to the noble Lord and the noble Baroness, and I ask them to withdraw their amendment—and come on, England!

[Lord Jamieson (Con)]

I thank the Minister for her reply and her brevity, such that we can go and say, “Come on, England”. We still have concern about giving the Secretary of State powers without, in our view, proper parliamentary scrutiny, so we will continue to scrutinise the Bill in relation to secondary legislation and making provision for the affirmative parliamentary procedure. This is to protect the balance of power and to ensure that noble Lords continue to have oversight of changes made after this Bill becomes law.

We will review Hansard, and I thank the Minister again for her answers throughout Committee. We have had an insightful and worthwhile debate about this Bill’s provisions, and I look forward to working together with noble Lords ahead of Report.

As we close Committee, I would like to reflect on our key concerns. Our focus should be on building more homes, not restricting opportunity. We believe that right to buy not only provides an opportunity for families to own their homes but provides the resources to build more homes. This Bill not only denies the opportunity for families to move on in life but risks tens of thousands more families languishing on council housing waiting lists. We have also sought amendments to make housing allocations fairer and more transparent, to address issues with shared ownership, and to ensure better performance of registered providers. I beg to leave to withdraw our amendment.

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Moved by

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage]

122: Clause 19, page 14, line 6, at end insert—
“(za) section (Exercise of the right to buy by residential property owners) (right to buy: residential property owners);”Member’s explanatory statement
This would provide for the new Clause (Exercise of the right to buy by residential property owners) in my name to commence two months after Royal Assent.

Combined Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (Amendment) Order 2026

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2026 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage]

That the draft Order laid before the House on 21 May be approved.

Relevant document: 3rd Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, over the last year Parliament has debated, agreed and decided that the voting system for mayors and police and crime commissioners should be changed to the supplementary voting system, or SV, through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, which received Royal Assent in April. I remember fondly the debates noble Lords had on the matter during the passage of that legislation. Therefore, I am sure that some of the points I will go on to set out in relation to SV will be familiar to noble Lords in the Chamber today. The SV system was used when the positions of elected mayors and police and crime commissioners were first established decades ago. The Government believe that it is the most appropriate voting system for single executive offices, where it is essential that the individual has a broad mandate from their electorate.

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act contains the main measures required to change the voting system used for these types of elections, and these will be commenced in due course. However, there are also a number of other changes that must be made to the election conduct rules via secondary legislation to fully enable the use of SV: for example, updating the images on ballot papers to allow a voter to select multiple preferences, updating guidance to electors, and updating the procedures used at the count should there be a second round of counting.

As stated during passage of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act, the Government’s intention was to implement the change to SV for any mayoral or PCC election taking place after the scheduled May elections this year. This order has been drafted to be concise, so it will make only the necessary additional amendments to enable SV to be used for both combined authority and combined county authority mayors, including those who exercise police and crime commissioner powers. The order will therefore not make amendments with regards to local authority mayors, the Mayor of London, or police and crime commissioner elections. Further legislation will be brought forward for those in due course.

Turning to the timings for implementation, this order will make the change to SV for any combined authority or combined county authority mayoral election for which notice is given on or after the date this order comes into force. As this is a reversion to the original voting system used for mayoral elections, the SV process will be familiar to both administrators and electors. Implementing these changes will therefore be straight- forward, and we are confident that returning officers will be able to make the necessary changes.

I now turn to the content of the instrument. The conduct rules for elections of combined authority and combined county authority mayors are set out in the Combined Authorities (Mayoral Elections) Order 2017. This order will make a number of amendments to the 2017 order. As we have discussed already, the SV system was that used when combined authority mayors were first established, so these changes are largely reverting the 2017 order back to its original drafting. The Electoral Commission has been formally consulted on these changes and has raised no objections. Articles 3, 4 and 5 of this instrument will amend Schedules 1, 2 and 3 to the 2017 order respectively. They set out the conduct rules for these mayoral elections, both when the poll is a standalone poll and when the poll at a mayoral election is combined with the poll at another type of election or referendum.

The amendments will update the guidance given to voters in polling stations to reflect that they now have the option to select a second preference. They will also update the various processes involved in counting the votes, to reflect that a second round of counting may be required. They also make a number of consequential amendments throughout the conduct rules, to ensure that references to votes refer to first and/or second preference votes, as appropriate.

Schedules 1 and 2 to this instrument contain updated statutory electoral forms. Schedule 1 sets out the forms in respect of a stand-alone mayoral election, and Schedule 2 sets out the forms where a mayoral election is combined with another type of election or referendum.

There are two types of forms that require updating to enable SV. The first is the ballot paper; a new ballot paper image is provided in this instrument to allow voters to select both a first and second preference of candidates. The instrument also contains the ballot paper to be used where there are only two candidates running, as in that scenario, voters are not given the choice to select a second preference, and the poll reverts to a simple majority voting system. The second is the postal voting statement; this contains guidance to postal voters, so this instrument provides a new postal voting statement form that will inform the voter that they may select both a first and second preference where there are three or more candidates running.

To conclude, these are straightforward changes necessary to implement a change set out in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act. I hope that the House will join me in supporting this instrument, and I look forward to answering any questions that noble Lords might have. I beg to move.

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[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their considered contributions today. I first pick up the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, about the principle behind this. I think that is the most important thing; I did set it out in my introductory speech. It is that the Government believe that this is the most appropriate voting system for single executive offices where it is essential that an individual has a broad mandate. Having cleared up that point of principle, I will try to answer all noble Lords’ questions.

The noble Lord, Lord Hayward, asked whether the reason for delivering this change at pace was political advantage. The answer to that is, clearly, no. As I have already said, the Government were very clear during the passage of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act that we intended to make this change for mayoral and PCC elections after May 2026. There is now the potential for such an election; I will come on to more about that in a moment. We are therefore acting to deliver on our commitments made to Parliament.

The noble Lord, Lord Jackson, raised these issues as well—I am sorry that the charm offensive that I experienced yesterday has come to a shuddering halt, but never mind. The noble Lord referred to

“locking out the Conservatives … from power”.

They did a very good job of that themselves; I think that is clear.

The noble Lord, Lord Hayward, asked me about the cost of any by-election in Manchester. If he does not mind, I will write to him on that issue. It is paid for by the local authority and not from central taxation. However, in the general course of things, when it is not a by-election, these elections will be held anyway. Ballot papers have to be printed anyway. The count has to be held anyway. Those costs are very similar, whether the election is held under SV or under first past the post.

[Lord Hayward (Con)]

I thank the Minister for giving way. I am very pleased indeed by her commitment to write to me. My noble friend Lord Jamieson referred to the associated costs of introducing this process. Could we possibly have both at the same time?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I will have a look at whether it is possible to get that figure; I thank the noble Lord for that question.

The noble Lords, Lord Hayward and Lord Jamieson, asked me why we are changing the voting system only for two types of mayoral elections. First, to reiterate— as I think was referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock—these changes revert to the 2017 voting system, which was brought in by the Conservatives, and it was the Conservatives who changed it back in 2022. We are reverting to the system that the Conservatives had introduced for these single-office posts.

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 received Royal Assent in April this year and the Government’s stated aim has always been that we will work at pace to deliver secondary legislation needed to implement the new law at the earliest appropriate opportunity. Of course, the Government are conscious that there is now a possible scenario in which a mayoral by-election may need to be held in Greater Manchester in the coming months, subject to the outcome of a parliamentary by-election in the Makerfield constituency on Thursday this week.

To fulfil both Parliament’s will and this Government’s stated commitment to reimplement SV, we have drafted this order at pace to ensure that the necessary legislation will be in place for this system to be utilised if that mayoral by-election takes place. To meet this deadline, the order had to be kept concise and could not include measures to amend all other types of mayoral elections. Amending all the relevant mayoral and PCC election conduct rules would also require a range of statutory instruments, as they use different parliamentary procedures. We intend to implement SV for other mayoralties and PCCs in due course through separate instruments.

[Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Con)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

If the noble Lord will bear with me for a moment, I am going to answer some of his other points. If I do not cover it, he is welcome to step in.

The noble Lord, Lord Jackson, raised issues about the voting system. I am sure he will make his comments on voting in London when we make the instrument for London mayoral elections. To be clear, this particular instrument does not cover London mayoral elections. SV was the voting system implemented on the introduction of both mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections. As I said, we think it is much more appropriate for selecting single-person executive positions such as mayors or police and crime commissioners.

However—and the noble Lord Jamieson asked about this—we believe that the first past the post system is a clear way of electing representatives which is well understood by voters and which, although not perfect, provides for a direct relationship between a member of a legislature and the local constituency. The first past the post voting system is therefore a more suitable system where there are a number of seats to be filled, such as for a council or a Parliament, and the likelihood is that people representing a range of views and parties will be elected. Therefore, the Government have no plans to change the electoral system for UK parliamentary or local council elections in England.

[Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Con)]

I thank the Minister. On a point of fact, as a result of the 2022 legislation which reverted back to first past the post, the Greater London returning officer estimated that, because it was not necessary to use the e-voting infrastructure for counting, there was an indicative saving of £4 million. That is the difference between the SV system and first past the post, so surely the Minister will concede that there is a significant greater cost of this new system that we do not yet know.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

As I said, this instrument does not cover London, and there is no price to put on democracy. We should always be aiming for democracy first. However, as I said to the noble Lord, Lord Hayward, I will do my best to find out if there is any financial impact of this instrument.

The noble Lord, Lord Hayward, asked me about the sector being able to cope with the late change. SV has been used in the past extensively and recently and will be deeply familiar to returning officers and their teams. My department has been working closely with the sector as it prepares for the changes arising from the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, and we will continue to support it in managing any changes once this instrument is made. As I said, we consulted with the Electoral Commission, which did not have any concerns about this, so we are confident that the change is straightforward and the sector will have no issues in implementing it.

The noble Lord, Lord Hayward, and the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock—for very different reasons, I think—asked how the public will be informed of these changes, and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, had some concerns in that area too. Electors will receive information on the voting system used via a number of methods, including guidance on postal voting statements and in polling stations that they will read prior to voting. More importantly, where there are three or more candidates at an election, the ballot paper itself will be clear that electors have the option to select a second preference. I am confident that electors will be informed of the change and understand their options when casting their vote, especially given that this is a voting system that has been used extensively in the past and will be well understood, and indeed familiar, to many voters. Greater Manchester used SV for almost all its elections, with the exception of one in 2024, reflecting its status as an established voting system.

The noble Lord, Lord Jackson, and the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock—again, I expect, for very different reasons —asked me why we were using SV, not a different system. The Government have no plans at present to introduce the single transferable vote to mayoral and PCC elections. The Government acknowledge that different voting systems can be better suited to different types of polls and elections, and we take the view that SV is the right system to use for selecting single-person executive positions. It requires the winning candidate to receive the majority of votes counted, and that ensures that they have broad support across the area and a broader mandate from the people they are representing. A key advantage of the SV system over other preferential voting systems is that, as I said, it was widely used before for mayors and PCCs, so people are familiar with it.

The other question from the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, was about how the supplementary vote is counted. With a supplementary vote, if no candidate gets over 50% of the vote, the top two candidates continue to a run-off and all other candidates are eliminated. When casting their ballot, voters can put a second choice of who they would vote for in a run-off on the original ballot paper. If your favourite candidate gets through then your vote is counted for them in the run-off, but if they did not and your second choice did, then your vote goes to them. The run-off candidate with the most votes is declared the winner.

[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

I am sorry to interrupt the Minister, but that is not the question I asked. The order does not say “the top two”; it just says “the candidates remaining” without defining what that should mean. I assumed, as has the Minister, that that means the top two, but I could not find that in the order. Perhaps she could write to me.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am happy to write to the noble Baroness to clarify that point.

In conclusion, the instrument is necessary to allow the SV system to be implemented for combined authority and combined county authority mayoral elections. This was a commitment made in primary legislation, and it will ensure that those elected to these positions have a broad base of support from their electorates, which we believe is of particular importance for these single-person executive offices. I hope the House will welcome these regulations, and I beg to move.

Motion agreed.

Antisemitism

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Thursday 11th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, antisemitism is a crisis for all of us and the Government are absolutely clear that it is unacceptable and has no place in our communities. It manifests across society—in schools, synagogues, workplaces and beyond—and that is why it requires a whole-of-society response. We are acting across education, communities and institutions, tackling antisemitism in schools, strengthening guidance for public bodies and supporting local responses as set out in Protecting What Matters. We are strengthening policing and investing in record protective security funding to keep our Jewish communities safe.

[Lord Dubs (Lab)]

My Lords, I welcome the positive steps the Government are taking, because many of us are utterly depressed by the antisemitism we have seen, particularly in recent months. However, could I ask the Minister to acknowledge something on the positive side of this? I have talked on behalf of refugees in many synagogues and to Jewish organisations, and it is characteristic of them to support child refugees, most of whom are Muslim. Is that not a positive story that we should talk about?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend for making that important point. All communities need to feel safe in our country, and some of the recent incidents have meant that many communities do not feel safe now. My noble friend referred to the welcoming Jewish culture, and I was delighted to see that Jewish Culture Month has been supported so strongly, recognising the contribution of Jewish heritage and culture to our country.

[Lord Palmer of Childs Hill (LD)]

My Lords, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an antisemitic hoax purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination. It was published in imperial Russia in 1903 and exposed as black propaganda, but it is still widely available and quoted as if it is true. Does the Minister agree that modern social media is the current version of this infamous propaganda? I heard what the Minister said, but what moves are the Government making to stop this dissemination of antisemitic lies?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

There is a huge responsibility on online platforms to tackle this dreadful spread of misinformation. It is way past the time for them to take their responsibility more seriously. We are all in favour of free speech, but when it creeps into misinformation, inciting violence and spreading the kind of long-held misinformation to which the noble Lord referred, they need to tackle that. We are using the full strength of the powers under the Online Safety Act to tackle illegal and antisemitic content online. That places duties on platforms and other services in scope to address illegal hate content and content that is harmful to all. It is not only very concerning for our Jewish community but extremely harmful to our young people.

[Baroness Deech (CB)]

My Lords, have the Government taken the advice of global Jewish scholars, who have concluded that Holocaust education and memorialisation have no effect and can be positively damaging? This is supported in reviews by University College London. Youth education should instead be about Jewish life and history, and specifically about antisemitism—about life, not death. We do not need another Holocaust memorial; we need a Jewish museum in London. We can use that £200 million to celebrate a thousand years of Jewish contributions to this country.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

The Government are firmly committed to supporting Holocaust education, but I am pleased to tell the noble Baroness that, this week, I met with Andy Pearce from UCL to talk about the programme of education that that institution is undertaking. He told me about the evidence-based approach it takes to that education and how it is going to tackle some of the gaps it is finding in young people’s knowledge. Jewish Culture Month, which I referred to earlier, is a clear way that we can celebrate and inform the wider community about the wonderful heritage of our Jewish community.

[Lord Gold (Con)]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Gold (Con)]

My Lords, while I welcome the Minister’s assurances about what needs to be done, I fear that the “how” is missing, particularly on education at school and university level. What is being done to ensure that our children are educated in knowing that the scourge of antisemitism must be stopped and that it is bad for the country as a whole? Over the last year or so, we have heard so often that action will be taken, but this action has to be effective. The sooner that happens, the better.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I absolutely agree with the noble Lord, and the Government are committing £7 million of funding to tackle antisemitism in schools, colleges and universities. We launched the tackling antisemitism in education innovation fund to help identify and tackle misinformation, improve media literacy and promote tolerant debate among our young people. We will also respond to the findings of the review led by Sir David Bell into antisemitism in schools and colleges. The review looks at whether the policies, processes and support are available to help our schools and colleges across England to identify and tackle antisemitism when it arises.

[The Lord Bishop of Sheffield]

My Lords, last autumn, Sheffield City Council entered into a faith and belief charter with local faith leaders, setting out our expectations of one another for mutual respect and kindness. Yesterday, I spoke to a rabbi who observed that antisemitism inevitably increases in seasons when society is more divided and polarised, and decreases when the culture of our common life is kind. Does the Minister agree with me that faith charters, such as the one in Sheffield, play a vital role in fostering precisely the virtues of kindness and mutual respect that counter the evil of antisemitism, among other things?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I commend the work being done in Sheffield to promote tolerance between faiths. It is important that we do that. The problems do not lie in people in our communities getting together; they lie with those who want to cause division and hatred between communities. If we work more to bring faiths together in communities, so that we properly understand that we all have more in common than divides us, when people get together they will support each other and we will see a wonderful synergy between them. I hope there will be more of the type of charter to which the right reverend Prelate referred.

[Baroness Ramsey of Wall Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, the Community Security Trust recorded 3,700 antisemitic incidents in 2025, including 1,500 online incidents and 984 involving Holocaust denial, Nazi glorification or Holocaust distortion. Does my noble friend the Minister agree that social media platforms are no longer passive hosts of hatred but active accelerants of radicalisation, conspiracy theories and anti-Jewish incitement? What further steps are being taken to ensure that rising antisemitism and racism is challenged online?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I have set out some steps already, but DSIT Ministers are also closely engaged with the Jewish leadership community, social media platforms and Ofcom to identify where we can go further to tackle antisemitic content online. It is important that we do this and that we make sure that Ofcom, the independent regulator, is also using its information gathering against services that fail to comply.

[Lord Wolfson of Tredegar (Con)]

My Lords, is not one of the dangers of discussing antisemitism today that we still think about the problem coming from the far right? Increasingly, however, virulent antisemitism in our society comes from an unholy combination of the far left and Islamist fundamentalism. Does the Minister share my concern that too many individuals who were rightly thrown out the Labour Party for antisemitism have been recycled into a new political home in the Green Party? Does she agree that no responsible political party should provide a home for antisemites, yet alone give them a green light?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

Wherever hate speech and division come from, they should not be tolerated and must be tackled. Whatever institutions we are thinking about, including our public bodies and those in our political environment, we must not tolerate antisemitism, any form of hate speech or any speech that wants to divide our communities. That is not the right way to go and we have seen the terrible consequences of that in recent days. We must all work to make sure that our communities are cohesive and stick together.

Sustainable Drainage Systems

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Thursday 11th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Grender]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of progress by local planning authorities in implementing the National Planning Policy Framework changes regarding the mandatory use of sustainable drainage systems in new developments.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, the National Planning Policy Framework requires all new development that could affect drainage to incorporate sustainable drainage systems. We recently consulted on changes to the NPPF, including on sustainable drainage systems, and we will respond in due course. We had more than 20,000 responses, so we are still analysing them. By law, planning applications are determined in accordance with a development plan, with each application judged on its own merit. Any weight given to individual considerations is a matter for the local authority. I am pleased to tell the noble Baroness that in 2024-25, 96% of planning applications and 99% of new homes proposed in planning applications complied with Environment Agency advice on flood risk.

[Baroness Grender (LD)]

I thank the Minister for her reply. Does she agree that flooding continues to blight thousands of families and businesses and that the threat is growing? Can she explain why the standards on drainage set out in my Question are still not mandatory for every new development? Only this month, experts in water management have warned that without this legal duty, communities are left exposed to avoidable flood risk. Surely acting now is the thing to do, rather than placing our trust in voluntary compliance by the developers.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

We are proposing a requirement that SUDS are designed in accordance with new national standards, as well as a new policy to discourage the creation of new river culverts and to encourage the removal of existing ones to help drive river renaturalisation and improve water management. The National Planning Policy Framework is clear:

“Inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided by directing development away from areas at highest risk (whether existing or future). Where development is necessary in such areas, the development should be made safe for its lifetime without increasing flood risk elsewhere”.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

My Lords, the Minister will be aware that a recent court case set aside these informal and non-mandatory provisions. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs wants to implement the statutory basis of the 2010 Act to make these mandatory. Will she please agree to do so at the earliest possible opportunity?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I think the noble Baroness is referring to Schedule 3, which has been under consideration since 2010. It is important that we consider the most efficient and effective way of securing the objectives of that. Although a final decision has still not been made, we believe this can be better achieved through continued improvements to national planning policy and the adoption of maintenance approaches, rather than commencing Schedule 3. That is why we have strengthened the national planning policy on that important issue.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, does my noble friend agree that at the micro level, small areas of open ground such as gardens, and particularly front gardens, are an important part of a natural drainage system, particularly in urban areas? Can she tell the House whether there is any active discouragement coming from local authorities, or indeed from government, to stop people or in any way discourage them from paving over important areas of open ground that are under their control?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

The discouragement from doing that comes through the planning process. When this kind of paving over is done subsequent to that, it is very difficult to monitor it, but I am sure our local authorities take a very serious attitude. Indeed, when I was a county councillor I had areas in my own county division that were subject to flooding, and we went out, inspected and gave advice to householders about how they might take these things forward. It remains the responsibility of local authorities to ensure that there is proper drainage for local areas and to make sure that a small area of paving will not overwhelm the systems that are put in place to take the water away.

[Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Con)]

My Lords, when I was young, some time ago, it was more commonplace that councils cleared out the storm drains on a cyclical maintenance basis. Many councils on discretionary cost-cutting no longer do that; some exemplary councils do. Can the Minister ensure that her good office tells local councils that this should be done on a regular basis? When we get downpours, this is the reason we often get local flooding—there is no other reason.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I understand the noble Lord’s point, but the substantial cuts to local government funding imposed by the party opposite mean it has been very difficult for local authorities to fulfil all the functions they need to undertake. Our local authorities understand that it can be devastating for households and communities that are affected by flooding, particularly where we get sudden downpours and there is an influx of water. I know they take this very seriously. We have introduced a new fair funding formula, which has increased the funding substantially to local authorities. I am sure they take their responsibilities extremely seriously.

[Baroness O’Neill of Bexley (Con)]

My Lords, our changing weather is bringing more frequent episodes of surface water flooding, and the importance of sustainable drainage systems in the new developments has been increasingly clear. While the revised National Planning Policy Framework strengthens expectations, what steps are the Government taking to ensure that local planning authorities have the expertise and resources to implement these requirements consistently?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I know I did so yesterday, but I welcome the noble Baroness to her place. She has great experience in local government and I look forward to working with her. She is quite right that it is important that local authorities take the maintenance seriously. Planning practice guidance already sets out that local authorities should be satisfied that all SUDS have clear maintenance and adoption arrangements in place for the lifetime of developments. In June we published new national standards on SUDS that introduce the need to consider the multiple benefits of SUDS—reuse, run-off quantity, water quality, amenity and biodiversity—and those standards should be used by developers to provide the best possible SUDS and by local planning authorities to assess the quality of proposals, with the aim that they will be consistently provided and, importantly, consistently maintained.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, large storage tanks can be used to store water at a time of flooding and then can be used in a dry period to pump off into the system. Are there any plans to extend the use of those tanks so that we can both deal with the flooding and provide water when we need it?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I cannot give my noble friend an answer to the specific question he asks, but the storage of water when it is available is critical. It was shocking to realise that we had not built a reservoir in the country for 30 years; we are now planning new reservoirs to store water. Also, during the passage of the Planning and Infrastructure Act we talked about on-farm storage, for example; it is perfectly possible for farmers to develop storage on their own land so that they can keep water when it is plentiful for the times when it is not.

[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

My Lords, to continue from the previous question, large underground attenuation tanks are often used in residential developments as their answer to sustainable drainage. Can the Minister tell us what consideration has been given for the water that is stored in these tanks to be used as grey water for local people to use during times of drought?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I know that my colleagues in Defra are giving a great deal of thought to the provision of water—both clean water and water for other purposes—and they have established the Water Delivery Taskforce to make sure that water companies deliver on their planned investments to provide water and wastewater capacity. The Government have worked hard to secure £104 billion of private sector investment into the water sector over the next five years so that we can upgrade ageing pipes, sewage treatment works and so on, and in partnership with water companies, investors and communities we will introduce a new water reform Bill to modernise the entire system. The issues that the noble Baroness raises are really important. We need to be using all the water that we have access to, particularly in dry areas of the country—I live in the east of England, one of the driest areas in our country—and we need to make sure that we are making the best use of any rainfall we have. The Government are working closely with the industry to make sure we do just that.

New Towns: Laying the Foundations (Built Environment Committee Report)

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Wednesday 10th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, I welcome the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, to her place and congratulate her on her elevation to the Front Bench. I very much look forward to working with her.

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Gascoigne, for securing this important debate and for the Built Environment Committee’s extensive work. With 88 witnesses, and overseas visits to make sure that they were looking at what was happening overseas, it went above and beyond—well done. Its inquiry looked at the opportunities and challenges of delivering a whole new generation of new towns.

The Government are absolutely committed to building the next generation of new towns, using all the powers at their disposal, to make sure that we hand the keys of not just home ownership but new communities to thousands of families. The post-war new towns programme was the most ambitious town-building effort ever undertaken in the UK. Starting with the first designated new town of Stevenage in 1946—a place very close to my own heart, as all noble Lords know—it transformed the lives of millions of working people by giving them affordable and well-designed homes in well-planned surroundings. I take this opportunity, as it is probably the only discussion we will have about new towns before its birthday, to wish my town a very happy 80th birthday, which falls in November.

The 32 communities that the post-war new towns programme created are now home to millions of people, including some of the Members who have spoken in today’s debate. The Government will continue to invest in the regeneration of the existing new towns and to learn from them. My clear view is that we need to inspire a new generation with the excitement and energy that the previous generation of new town pioneers, such as my parents, had when they came to live in those places. The words from the noble Lord, Lord Cameron of Dillington, about young people’s engagement very much hit home with me—they are music to my ears, as we have to inspire young people.

Let us not forget about the nimbys that the noble Lord, Lord Redwood, spoke about. When my town was proposed, a meeting was held at the town hall. It was then a town of 6,000 people, and it was proposed to grow to 60,000 people. When Lord Silkin turned up to talk to Stevenage people about it, they took the name off the station and put “Silkingrad” there instead—so distressed were they at the thought of this expansion.

It is important to learn the lessons from previous large-scale expansions as we embark on the newest chapter. The Government are committed to building on that legacy. The Government agree with the committee that it is important that new towns are grounded in a clear and ambitious vision. As emphasised in the Government’s recently published consultation, new towns represent a bold and nationally significant response to address the range of challenges caused by housing constraints and the need to power up our economy and to build the foundations of strong communities: health, education and family formation. We want to make sure that we are building not only new homes but new communities that can support people throughout their lives.

Building at scale is central to this strategy. Each new town will deliver at least 10,000 homes, with many expected to exceed this number, including all seven priority areas being assessed. This scale enables efficient land use, supports supply chain growth and innovation, and creates the conditions for integrated infrastructure and high-quality place-making. It provides the opportunity to deliver affordable housing and social infrastructure in a way that smaller sites cannot, ensuring that new towns provide homes for everyone to live in.

As emphasised by both the committee and the New Towns Taskforce, success will ultimately depend on strong and co-ordinated government intervention. The Government have been clear that delivery must be infrastructure-first and design-led—including through master planning—and enabled by effective delivery vehicles such as development corporations where appropriate. Clear expectations and support will be set to achieve high quality place-making with long-term stewardship, to ensure that new towns are built to last.

The Government recently carried out a public consultation on the proposed new towns programme, which built on the findings of the taskforce report in September 2025. It invited views on how the new towns programme will operate, how new towns could be delivered and planned, and the proposed approach to design and planning policy. I really appreciated the comments from the noble Baroness, Lady Young, about design.

Of course, new towns present a great opportunity to have innovative design both in town planning and housing design. The consultation sought views on the Government’s offer to locations, including a strategic environmental assessment which assesses the impacts of the programme in proposed broad locations, the cumulative effects of the development of new towns and practical methods of mitigation and monitoring. As part of that consultation, we set out our plan to take seven locations forward through the proposed programme. These represent the strongest proposals, which are capable of collectively unlocking hundreds of thousands of new homes and improving people’s quality of life in communities across the country. This includes Tempsford, Leeds South Bank, Chase Park and Crews Hill in Enfield, Thamesmead, Manchester Victoria North, Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc in south Gloucestershire, and Milton Keynes. These proposals are at different stages of maturity and require different types of intervention and support, including blends of public and private capital, to achieve their potential.

The Government therefore intend to tailor their approach to each new town, with a view to making as much progress as possible, as fast as possible. They identified a number of locations that were also found to meet the objectives and are propositions that represent credible development opportunities. However, we have decided to prioritise places initially where a new town’s intervention can have the most transformative impact.

None the less, there is strong potential to deliver housing in places that have not been included in the proposed programme. I will come to Cambridge in a minute, but this is particularly true of Plymouth, which presents a unique opportunity to bolster the UK’s defence and security sector. Plymouth will require special consideration and its own bespoke financial support package to unlock its potential as a centre of excellence in naval technology. Plymouth council is already making huge strides in the regeneration of the town centre, and its MPs have worked with Government to secure defence spending for British technology. So, we must ensure that housing does not act as a barrier to growth. The Government have pledged to do whatever it takes to get spades in the ground in at least three of the new towns by the end of this Parliament and to progress many more, if possible.

As part of our offer to new towns locations, we will ensure that we work across government to deliver this vision, including through the industrial strategy; invest millions of pounds of public and private sector funding into excellent local facilities, including GP surgeries, schools, libraries, transport and the environment; work with world-class architects, planners and urban designers to plan each town with its own character and distinct, unique identity; and ensure that the state’s full planning powers are available to rapidly build new homes and all the necessary supporting infrastructure, including clean energy and digital infrastructure. I very much agree with the strong statement from the noble Lord, Lord Redwood, on infrastructure and housing being developed together.

New towns are just part of a wider effort from government to get Britain building again. Over the last two years, the Government have delivered fundamental reform to the planning system. Last December, we saw the culmination of this, with the Planning and Infrastructure Act and a definitive overhaul of the National Planning Policy Framework, which will boost housing supply and unlock economic growth in the years ahead. These strong foundations will facilitate the delivery of high and sustainable rates of housebuilding in the years ahead.

Let me be clear: we must get Britain building again. To respond to a point made by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, the £39 billion investment in social and affordable housing is the most that has ever been invested. Our new towns programme will benefit through that as well. We want a huge percentage of that to be social housing, so we will support social housing in our new towns as well. We must crack on with this, and our new towns programme will be a step change in the delivery of the new homes our country so desperately needs.

I turn to some of the very specific points that were made during the debate. As he was the chair of the committee, I will pick up the questions from the noble Lord, Lord Gascoigne, first. He asked me about a firm date for the delivery of the government response. The Government are carefully considering the responses to the recent consultation. It is very important that we fully understand the range of views on the programme, including its environmental impacts. We will publish a full response to the recommendations later this year, once the necessary environmental assessments are completed and final decisions have been made on locations, which are still to come.

The noble Lord asked me about leadership with genuine and real cross-government authority, and that was a point echoed by many noble Lords, including the noble Lords, Lord Cameron and Lord Doyle, and the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews. The Secretary of State and the Minister of State for Housing and Planning are key sponsors of the programme and have the power of Cabinet committee structures behind them to co-ordinate requirements for new towns across Whitehall. Delivering the next generation will be a cross-government effort and central to the Government’s agenda not just in terms of building homes but to drive economic growth and spread economic opportunity across the country. We will work closely with other departments and regulators to ensure that new towns are factored into their future spending plans, ensuring that they have the utilities, transport and social infrastructure needed for those communities to survive.

The third question from the noble Lord, Lord Gascoigne, was about a small government ownership stake in each development corporation, and our ambition is that the new towns model will transform the way that large settlements are delivered, providing long-term certainty to attract sustained investment. We are assessing delivery vehicle models for each place, and the proposed government offer in the consultation sets out that, subject to the needs of each location, locations taken forward as new towns will benefit from resource and capital funding. That could include a mixture of grant and financial instruments, including equity investment, loans and guarantees to develop town-wide master plans, comprehensive infrastructure, and the establishment and maintenance of governance structures. I will make some further points about funding, but that is key to where we are.

The noble Lord, Lord Gascoigne, also asked me about level 7 apprenticeship funding, and I absolutely take the point. We recognise that level 7 apprenticeships have been a valuable route into professions, but we are reforming funding to prioritise young people entering the labour market and targeting support where it has the greatest long-term impact. We are investing £48 million to strengthen planning capacity and expand alternative routes into planning through pathways to planning, public practice and the new planning careers hub. That will all be valuable in terms of the issues that the noble Lord raised.

I think place-making was raised by almost all noble Lords who spoke but particularly by the noble Baronesses, Lady O’Neill of Bexley and Lady Andrews, and the noble Lords, Lord Cameron, Lord Redwood, and Lord Jamieson. We have been very clear: we want exemplary development to be the norm, not the exception. The next generation of new towns have to be well-connected, well-designed, sustainable, healthy and attractive places where people want to live and have all the infrastructure, amenities and services necessary to sustain thriving communities established from the outset.

Subject to the outcomes of the consultation, we intend to incorporate the proposed place-making principles in the draft new towns planning policy, and the place-making principles should be reflected in town-wide master plans and design codes. As part of the government offer, we are proposing to establish a new town place review panel, which will provide impartial advice to delivery bodies and planning authorities, as well as practical design and place-making guidance for new town delivery.

A number of noble Lords have mentioned community engagement, and this is a very important part of the work that we have been undertaking. The noble Lords, Lord Gascoigne and Lord Cameron, in particular, mentioned it, and the noble Lords, Lord Lansley and Lord Cameron, both referred to consultation with young people. They are going to be the people living in these towns, so that is vital. We are very clear that existing communities should be a key part of any new town development and effective community engagement is key to creating connections between existing and new residents and helping to build successful places. That does not avoid all the nimby-type approaches, but it will help to engage people in making sure that they have a say in how these places are designed.

The Government will continue to engage with communities, local authorities, delivery bodies and investors to make sure that the new towns are planned and delivered to the highest standards. The recent consultation was the first of many opportunities for people to shape the design and creation of this new generation of new towns.

The points that were made around development corporations are really important, because the governance of how these new developments are taken forward is critical. The noble Lords, Lord Gascoigne and Lord Jamieson, and the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, raised issues around this. We are assessing delivery vehicle options for each proposed location to make sure that they are best placed to drive forward each of those places. That includes development corporations where appropriate, but our consultation was clear that different propositions will require different types of intervention. Delivery vehicles beyond development corporations could include, for example, legal partnerships that pool land and delivery expertise between public and private bodies.

The points about mayoral development corporations are well made. The visionary devolution framework we are delivering now will, I hope, deliver at the pace that I know noble Lords are keen to see. I was grateful for the support for mayoral development corporations when we took the devolution Bill through.

On wider issues around funding for new towns, the funding required in this spending review period will vary according to the needs of the locations chosen. The precise funding offer will be confirmed once final decisions on the programme have been taken. That will be when the new towns draft programme consultation is closed and all strategic environmental assessments are complete.

Delivery will be backed by funding across the landmark housing programmes, such as the £39 billion social and affordable housing programme, hundreds of millions of pounds-worth of grant from the national housing delivery fund, and additional capital funding managed by the National Housing Bank. We will continue to consider the ways in which private finance can support delivery, alongside government funding and intervention. We will be working with other departments and regulators to ensure that they are factoring new towns into their spending plans for the future to make sure that that comes forward from all departments across government.

We have heard much about the lessons to be learned from previous generations of new towns from the noble Lords, Lord Gascoigne and Lord Cameron, the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, and others. In establishing this programme, we are inspired by the proud legacy of the 1945 Labour Government, who kick-started the ambitious programme for building new towns in the years and decades following the Second World War, as well as subsequent waves of new towns. However, we recognise that we must learn the lessons.

The noble Lord, Lord Gascoigne, as he went through his committee meetings on this, was keen to make sure that we understand the lessons from previous generations. These often emphasised car-based commuting and did not always embed long-term stewardship, which is vital, into their development. We have seen huge success in places such as Milton Keynes, which has demonstrated the potential of well-planned developments to create thriving communities and act as a catalyst for economic growth, which is certainly what we want to see. A long-term stewardship model for new towns must be in place from the outset, including clear governance and funding structures to manage and maintain communal assets over the long term.

The noble Lord, Lord Lansley, raised Cambridge. I was grateful to him when I carried out a visit, on which we went to Waterbeach, Cambourne and Northstowe. It was great to visit that area and see how lessons have been learned. The Government published a response to the consultation on establishing the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation on 3 June. Cambridge is not part of the new towns programme and the development corporation will form an exemplar for integrated powers and funding, setting the standard for housing development elsewhere in the country, including for the new towns programme. Unlocking barriers to growth in Greater Cambridge was an immediate priority of this Government. The Housing Minister wrote to local leaders in August 2024, setting out the Government’s early approach to working with local partners to support the sustainable growth of Cambridge. I look forward to working further on this. I know that the noble Lord will be keeping a careful eye on what we are doing in Cambridge.

My noble friend Lady Andrews asked about housing targets. The Government consider that the delivery of housing in new town proposals should contribute towards meeting the identified housing need of relevant strategic and local planning authorities in all instances. We are clear that that is the way we are approaching the housing that will be included in new town developments.

The noble Lord, Lord Gascoigne, asked about land value capture. The lessons we learned from previous new towns suggest that the long-term increase in the value of land can be successfully captured and reinvested as the town continues to grow. We will be taking that into account as we work through the governance and funding structures for our new towns.

Before I draw my remarks to a close, I will briefly respond to the noble Lord, Lord Herbert, on Forest City. We are aware of the Forest City proposals and will be following how they progress through the appropriate local consultations and approvals, but this is not part of our new towns programme or proposal.

In closing, I say that our vision is certainly to create the towns of the future with place-making at their heart, shaped by what worked in the past, informed by what did not work in the past, and inspired by a bright future for those who will live in, work in and visit this new generation of new towns for a new age. I am grateful for the thoughtful scrutiny and contributions in this debate. I assure all those who have participated that the concerns they have raised will be at the forefront of my mind as we continue to progress our work on new towns, turning the taskforce vision into delivery on the ground.