Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of the 1.5 million new homes they committed to building by the end of this Parliament have been built to date.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

I refer the noble Lord to the answer given to Question PQ HL14161 (attached) on 13 February 2026.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much (1) revenue, and (2) capital funding, will be allocated towards new towns in each year of the Spending Review 2025, and from which funding streams; and what are their projections for after the spending review period.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The precise funding offer for each new town location will be confirmed once final decisions have been made on the programme. Final decisions on locations will be confirmed later this year once the New Towns Draft Programme consultation has closed and all necessary environmental assessments have been completed.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk of pre-emptive evictions of private rented sector tenants prior to the full commencement of the abolition of no-fault evictions; and what is their policy on ministerial engagement with individuals or companies undertaking such activity.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government is clear that there is no need for landlords to evict tenants ahead of the ban on no fault evictions on 1 May and landlords should give tenants the housing security they deserve. We will continue to engage across the sector ahead of 1 May to prevent unnecessary evictions and ensure smooth implementation of the new tenancy system.

Landlords will have robust grounds for possession where there is good reason to take their property back. As such, my Department does not expect a spike in section 21 evictions ahead of implementation of the Renters’ Rights Act on 1 May 2026. The latest Ministry of Justice official possession statistics (attached) show that there was a 17% decrease in section 21 accelerated possession claims in England in October to December 2025 when compared to the same quarter in the previous year.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to the Renters' Rights Act 2025, when they expect court readiness to be achieved; and how court readiness will be assessed.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

I refer the noble Lord to the answers given to the oral question Renters’ Rights Act: Definition of Court Readiness on Tuesday 24^th March 2026.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their latest estimate of the level of total business rate receipts to be raised in England in (1) 2025-26, (2) 2026-27, and (3) 2027-28; and what is the working estimate of the cost of the new Pubs and Live Music Venues Relief in each year of the 2026 revaluation cycle.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Local authority estimates of business rates receipts are published by the department annually: National non-domestic rates collected by councils.

Business rates receipts for 2025-26 are estimated to be £29.5bn and £30.6bn for 2026-27. These figures exclude receipts from the central list. For 2027-28, estimates come from the calculations that support the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast. These show that local list receipts are estimated to be £31.5bn.

The estimated value of the Pubs and Live Music Venues Relief can be found within the OBR’s Policy Measures Database. This is accessible via the following link: Data - Office for Budget Responsibility.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 9 April (HL15984), what progress has been made to halve long-term rough sleeping by the end of this Parliament.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

We are taking action now to meet our target to halve long-term rough sleeping by the end of this Parliament. This includes providing record levels of funding with £3.6 billion for homelessness prevention and rough sleeping services from 2026/27 to 2028/29. Councils will have more freedom and flexibility than ever before on how they use their funding.

We are also investing £15 million in our Long-Term Rough Sleeping Innovation Programme to enable councils with the greatest pressures to deliver more personalised and comprehensive support for people with complex needs. We are supporting people into stable housing by investing £124 million in supported housing services and providing £37 million to our key partners working in the voluntary, community and faith sector to support recovery from homelessness.

The latest data shows that 3,175 people estimated to be sleeping rough over the month in December 2025 had been sleeping rough long-term.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 9 April (HL15984), what frameworks and oversight mechanisms will be used to allocate the £37 million intended for voluntary, community and faith organisations to help to reduce long-term rough sleeping.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The £37 million for voluntary, community and faith organisations (VCFS) will be allocated through a national grant programme (the Ending Homelessness and Communities Fund), via a competitive application process, as set out within the prospectus.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 26 October 2009 (HC col 140W), on housing valuation, how many and what proportion of dwellings in (1) Wales, and (2) England, are now recorded on the Valuation Office Agency's database with (a) dwellinghouse, and (b) value significant code, data.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

As of 14 April 2026 there are 25,950,670 dwellings on the Council Tax list in England. Of these, 25,781,260 (99.3%) have a dwelling group, and 25,784,950 (99.4%) have a dwelling type, and 6,755,400 (26.0%) have at least one value significant code.

In Wales, there are 1,494,410 dwellings on the Council Tax list. Of these, 1,494,180 (>99.9%) have a dwelling group, and 1,494,060 (>99.9%) have a dwelling type. 403,610 (27.0%) have at least one value significant code.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to the Core Spending Power table: final local government finance settlement 2026–27 to 2028–29, published on 9 February, and the associated council tax requirement estimates for each year from 2024–25 to 2028–29 in England, whether they will publish equivalent estimates for the total business rate receipts in England in each of those years.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

As set out in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s March 2026 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, business rates receipts in England were £32.1 billion in 2024/25 and are forecast to be £33.7 billion, £37.1 billion, £37.9 billion and £38.8 billion in 2025/26, 2026/27, 2027/28 and 2028/29 respectively.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to collect data on the average time for the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to consider, process and rule upon rent appeal cases.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

This Government is deeply committed to the principle of open justice and transparency, ensuring that our justice system is both accountable and accessible to the public.

In the context of the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), ahead of the commencement of Phase 1 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is currently undertaking the necessary preparations to ensure that robust data can be collected regarding open market rent applications. This includes monitoring the average timescales for the Tribunal to manage these applications from receipt to determination.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 9 April (HL15984), how they plan to evaluate the effectiveness of new approaches being tested by local authorities to tackle long-term rough sleeping.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Further to the Written Answer given on 9 April (HL15984), the £15 million for local authorities to test new approaches to reducing long-term rough sleeping has been allocated to areas facing the greatest long-term rough sleeping pressures.

Local authorities were selected based on both high absolute numbers and a high proportion of people experiencing long-term rough sleeping over the month. Further information on the local authorities provided with this funding is available here.

Local authorities and their partners are best placed to assess local needs and determine how funding can be used most effectively to reduce long-term rough sleeping in their areas. Areas receiving funding will be required to achieve a reduction in long-term rough sleeping, measured through the Local Outcomes Framework, and to improve the maturity of local systems for managing long-term rough sleeping. Each area receiving this funding will be required to produce a Long-Term Rough Sleeping Partnership Plan, which sets out how, with partner agencies, they will deliver system changes to address long-term rough sleeping.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 9 April (HL15984), how they plan to mitigate the risk of funding from the Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund being concentrated among larger organisations with greater bidding capacity.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The risk of funding being concentrated among larger organisations is mitigated through the design of the Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund, as set out in the prospectus. Eligibility for the Fund is restricted to voluntary, community and faith sector organisations with a maximum annual income of £5 million. This limits access to small and medium sized organisations and excludes larger organisations.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 9 April (HL15984), what frameworks and oversight mechanisms will be used to allocate the £15 million for local authorities to test new approaches to help reduce long-term rough sleeping.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Further to the Written Answer given on 9 April (HL15984), the £15 million for local authorities to test new approaches to reducing long-term rough sleeping has been allocated to areas facing the greatest long-term rough sleeping pressures.

Local authorities were selected based on both high absolute numbers and a high proportion of people experiencing long-term rough sleeping over the month. Further information on the local authorities provided with this funding is available here.

Local authorities and their partners are best placed to assess local needs and determine how funding can be used most effectively to reduce long-term rough sleeping in their areas. Areas receiving funding will be required to achieve a reduction in long-term rough sleeping, measured through the Local Outcomes Framework, and to improve the maturity of local systems for managing long-term rough sleeping. Each area receiving this funding will be required to produce a Long-Term Rough Sleeping Partnership Plan, which sets out how, with partner agencies, they will deliver system changes to address long-term rough sleeping.