Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what investment they are making in the planning system to ensure that planning departments have the resource they need to address planning application backlogs.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Supporting local planning authorities to attract, retain and develop skilled planners is crucial to ensuring they provide a proactive, efficient planning service for local communities and that new developments are well designed and facilitate local growth.
The government appreciates that planning departments across the country are experiencing challenges with recruitment, retention, and skills gaps and that in many cases these issues are having a negative impact on service delivery.
At the Budget last year, the Chanceller announced a £46 million package of investment into the planning system as a one-year settlement for 2025-2026.
Our manifesto committed us to appointing 300 new planning officers into LPAs. We are on track to meet that commitment through two routes, namely graduate recruitment through the Pathways to Planning scheme run by the Local Government Association and mid-career recruitment through Public Practice.
On 27 February 2025, the government announced funding to support salaries and complement graduate bursaries. Further information can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement Minister Pennycook made on 27 February 2025 (HCWS480).
On 25 February 2025, the draft Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025 were agreed. These regulations increase planning fees for householder and other applications, with a view to providing much-needed additional resources for hard-pressed LPAs.
More broadly, the Department’s established Planning Capacity and Capability programme is also developing a wider programme of support, working with partners across the planning sector, to ensure that LPAs have the skills and capacity they need, both now and in the future, to modernise local plans and speed up decision making, including through innovative use of digital planning data and software.
Lastly, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill includes provisions that will allow LPAs to set planning fees or charges at a level that reflects the individual costs to the LPA to carry out the function for which it is imposed and to ensure that the income from planning fees or charges is applied towards the delivery of the planning function.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support small housebuilders to build more homes, and according to what timetable.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Small and medium sized housebuilders are essential to meeting the government's housing ambitions and supporting local economies.
The government is acting to support SME housebuilders by increasing their access to land, providing further financial assistance and easing the burden of regulation. Further details can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 2 June 2025 (HLWS670).
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing regulations on the non-disclosure of event fees in the leases of specialist housing for older people.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer my Hon Friend to the answer to Question UIN 24603 on 13 May 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of capping existing ground rents (a) to a peppercorn, (b) to £250 per annum and (c) in another way on the operation of (i) pension funds and (ii) financial markets.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government’s consultation on restricting ground rents for existing leases ran from 8 December to 17 January.
Whilst we will publish a full response shortly, we can confirm that the general response to the consultation has confirmed that ground rents represent, at most, a small percentage of total UK pension assets. In addition, no substantive evidence has been provided within the consultation that suggests that there is a systemic risk to the operation of pension funds or the financial markets. Even the sector itself, in its so-called “option 6” alternative, has recognised the necessity of reform in this policy area.
Having concluded the consultation and reviewed the responses provided, we intend to set out the future proposed approach in this policy area shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the potential impact of capping ground rent to (a) a peppercorn and (b) £250 on the returns of UK pension funds.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government’s consultation on restricting ground rents for existing leases ran from 8 December to 17 January.
Whilst we will publish a full response shortly, we can confirm that the general response to the consultation has confirmed that ground rents represent, at most, a small percentage of total UK pension assets. In addition, no substantive evidence has been provided within the consultation that suggests that there is a systemic risk to the operation of pension funds or the financial markets. Even the sector itself, in its so-called “option 6” alternative, has recognised the necessity of reform in this policy area.
Having concluded the consultation and reviewed the responses provided, we intend to set out the future proposed approach in this policy area shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what proportion of the budget for social and affordable housing is spent on (a) Ukrainian and Afghan refugee and guests schemes, (b) asylum seekers, (c) migrant workers on the shortage occupation list, (d) dependents of such migrant workers, (e) workers on the health and social care visa scheme and (f) non-UK citizens.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The department does not hold the information requested, but I have asked officials to consider how we may be able to offer this information in the future.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much and what proportion of funding provided through the Local Authority Housing Fund was spent on housing allocated to (a) UK citizens, (b) people with a local connection and (c) veterans in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Based on homes delivered through rounds 1 and 2 of the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF), as of December 2023, around 40% were delivered through new housing supply (through a mix of new developments, new off-the-shelf supply, conversions and refurbishments) and 60% through acquiring existing stock. We do not currently hold data on the proportion of funding this equates to given local authorities are still delivering through LAHF. Following the conclusion of the first two rounds of the LAHF in 2024, an evaluation will be conducted and published. As part of this evaluation, we will seek information on the proportion of funding spent on new supply.
Housing acquired through the fund is allocated according to local allocations, lettings and homelessness policies. DLUHC does not collect demographic data on who the housing is allocated to.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much and what proportion of funding provided through the Local Authority Housing Fund was spent on (a) new housing supply and (b) acquiring existing stock in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Based on homes delivered through rounds 1 and 2 of the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF), as of December 2023, around 40% were delivered through new housing supply (through a mix of new developments, new off-the-shelf supply, conversions and refurbishments) and 60% through acquiring existing stock. We do not currently hold data on the proportion of funding this equates to given local authorities are still delivering through LAHF. Following the conclusion of the first two rounds of the LAHF in 2024, an evaluation will be conducted and published. As part of this evaluation, we will seek information on the proportion of funding spent on new supply.
Housing acquired through the fund is allocated according to local allocations, lettings and homelessness policies. DLUHC does not collect demographic data on who the housing is allocated to.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the recommendations of the APPG on SME House Builders in its report on Access to Finance in the SME Housebuilding Sector, published in July 2023, if he will (a) encourage local authorities to grant permission in principle, (b) relax requirements for affordable housing, (c) target the Atlas planning squad at small sites and (d) take other steps to bring forward more small sites for housebuilding.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The National Planning Policy Framework includes policies to promote greater use of small sites. In our update to the Framework, published in December 2023, we strengthened our existing small sites policies to encourage local authorities to seek opportunities to support small sites to come forward for community-led housing and self-build and custom build housing. Our policy changes also encourage permission in principle alongside other routes to permission, to remove barriers for smaller and medium-sized builders in the planning system. We intend to undertake a further consultation on specific proposals to strengthen our small sites planning policy in due course.
The Framework is clear that local plans should set out the affordable housing contributions expected from development. Such policies should be informed by evidence of affordable housing need, and a proportionate assessment of viability. The Framework states that provision of affordable housing should not be sought for residential developments that are not major developments, other than in designated rural areas.
We have announced £13.5 million for a Planning Super Squad that will deploy teams of specialists into local planning authorities to accelerate the delivery of homes and development. Further details on the Planning Super Squad will follow in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of new homes that were completed by small and medium-sized housebuilders in each year since 1997.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer my Hon Friend to the answer given to Question UIN on 9065 on 17 January 2024.