Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum claims have been accepted based on religious conversion in each of the past five years in respect of conversions to (1) Christianity, (2) Islam, (3) Judaism, and (4) any other religion.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The requested information on asylum claims being accepted based on religious conversion is not available from published statistics and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
The Home Office publishes data on initial decisions on asylum claims in table Asy_D02 of the 'Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release' on GOV.UK. The latest data relates to the year ending June 2025. Between July 2020 and June 2025, 165,551 people have been granted protection or other leave at initial decision. There is no breakdown by religion available.
All asylum claims are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the Immigration Rules. This means that religious conversions do not guarantee a grant of refugee status.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what reviews they have carried out into asylum claims based on religious conversions, and whether they intend to publish any findings.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
All asylum and human rights claims are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations, meaning religious conversions do not guarantee a grant of refugee status.
Home Office policy guidance provides a framework for considering asylum claims and assessing credibility. When assessing claims based on religious persecution, caseworkers are expected to ask appropriate and sensitive questions to explore a claimant’s personal experiences and journey to their new faith and gather evidence of current religious practice.
Our processes are underpinned by a robust quality assurance review process. Decision makers and quality assessors must adhere to the interview and decision marking standards, which are shared with caseworkers to improve understanding when receiving feedback.
We have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders to help us to improve our policy guidance, training for asylum decision-makers, and to ensure we approach claims involving religious conversion in the appropriate way.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they assess the credibility of religious conversion in asylum applications.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
All asylum and human rights claims are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations, meaning religious conversions do not guarantee a grant of refugee status.
Home Office policy guidance provides a framework for considering asylum claims and assessing credibility. When assessing claims based on religious persecution, caseworkers are expected to ask appropriate and sensitive questions to explore a claimant’s personal experiences and journey to their new faith and gather evidence of current religious practice.
Our processes are underpinned by a robust quality assurance review process. Decision makers and quality assessors must adhere to the interview and decision marking standards, which are shared with caseworkers to improve understanding when receiving feedback.
We have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders to help us to improve our policy guidance, training for asylum decision-makers, and to ensure we approach claims involving religious conversion in the appropriate way.
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 is their target for the New Homes Accelerator for each year of the current Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The New Homes Accelerator (NHA) is a collaboration between the government, Homes England, the Greater London Authority (GLA), local authorities, developers, and other key stakeholders. It aims to unblock and accelerate the delivery of housing developments that have for various reasons become delayed, or which are not progressing as quickly as they could be. The NHA is helping to progress large development sites across the country by providing site-specific support and also addressing system-wide constraints.
Since July 2024, the NHA has announced 16 sites for site-specific support, with combined capacity for c. 48,600 homes, that will benefit from government support. To date, through our engagement with statutory consultees and arms-length bodies, we have unblocked nearly 100,000 homes.
The programme is constantly exploring new issues and blockers to address, which will determine the NHA’s level of impact. The NHA continues to work with Homes England, the GLA and other partner bodies to expand the programme’s capacity and impact over this current Parliament.
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 is their target for housing delivery in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This government is committed to delivering 1.5 million homes over this Parliament as set out in our Plan for Change. These will be high-quality, well-designed homes, supported by the necessary infrastructure, where people can thrive. In January, the Chancellor confirmed that the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor is a key economic priority for the country and we are working with local authorities across the region to help them do their part in planning for ambitious housing delivery.
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 budget was allocated to the Office for Place during its existence, and what (1) budget, and (2) Civil Service headcount, they have allocated to the functions of oversight of design quality in new developments now that they have closed the Office for Place.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We want exemplary development to be the norm and not the exception – this is the focus of teams across the Department. MHCLG’s design and placemaking policy team is comprised of 13 civil servants, including five staff who were redeployed from the Office for Place. The team is working across the Department to embed good design within housing and planning policy, and we will be publishing updated national design guidance later this year.
An additional five staff from the Office for Place were redeployed onto housing delivery to support efforts to improve the quality of new development. We can confirm that all staff who were working directly on Office for Place activities were transferred to MHCLG or their home departments. The Office for Place annual report and accounts are available on gov.uk here.
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 how many new homes are currently being prevented from being built in Greater Cambridge due to water scarcity, and how many of these homes will be built following the introduction of the water credits system.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
No new homes in Cambridge are currently blocked due to water scarcity issues. Our work with the Water Scarcity Group has unblocked over 9,000 homes and over 500,000sqm of commercial space, and in December 2024, the Environment Agency lifted its objections to remaining blocked development following improvements to Cambridge Water’s Water Resource Management Plan and progress made by the Water Scarcity Group.
The Government is continuing to progress work to deliver water savings and develop a water credits scheme, to ensure that development between now and 2032 (when new water resources are delivered) can proceed. Further details will be announced in due course.
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 how many homes they estimate London will contribute to their target of 1.5 million new builds in each year of the current Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government has set an ambitious target of 88,000 new homes per year in London through the new standard method and remains committed to working in partnership with the London Mayor, boroughs, and wider stakeholders to achieve a step change in building in the capital.
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 how many homes have been delivered in London over the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Total housing supply in London amounted to 191,103 net additional dwellings (for the period 2019-20 to 2023-24).
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 plans they have to change the planning system in (1) London, and (2) England and Wales, to make it easier for small housebuilders to obtain planning permission.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
On 28 May 2025, the government published the Planning Reform Working Paper: Reforming Site Thresholds (which can be found on gov.uk here) which seeks views on taking a gradated approach to the system as a whole – removing and streamlining disproportionate requirements on small and medium sites, while maintaining and strengthening requirements on major development. We are currently considering the responses received to the working paper.
The revised National Planning Policy Framework, published on 12 December 2024, also strengthened the wording around small site allocation for SME housebuilders and includes measures designed to promote mixed tenure development.
Housing is a devolved matter and it is for the Welsh Government to decide what reforms to bring forward in Wales.