Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of making unique property reference numbers a requisite field in the private rented sector database.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My government already intends to record unique property reference numbers on the Private Rented Sector Database in all instances where they are available.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many properties with EPC ratings of (a) F and (b) G rating are let by (i) Local Authorities and (ii) Housing Associations
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Information on the EPC ratings of social housing let by local authorities and housing associations, as well as other tenures, can be found in the latest English Housing Survey on gov.uk here. In the 2023-24 survey, 0.3% of homes let by local authorities and 0.4% of homes let by housing associations have an EPC rating of band F or G.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the impact of homelessness on local authorities’ resources and their capacity to meet their statutory duties.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness is too high and the Government recognises the impact this has on local authorities, including financial pressures.
We have increased funding for homelessness by £316 million this year to a total of more than £1 billion, and will publish our cross-Government homelessness strategy later this year.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has appointed a lead official to cover the issues (a) raised by and (b) that affect the British Chinese community.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As a part of my Department’s ongoing work to understand, hear from and support communities, including to drive cohesion, officials engage with a range of ethnically and religiously diverse communities. There are no plans for specific engagement with British Chinese communities at this time.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department plans to take to help reduce the number of children living in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 83747 on 27 October 2025.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that the Building Safety Regulator works within its intended timeframes to process applications.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We recognise there have been operational challenges within the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), which is why we announced a series of reforms to strengthen it in June. Improvements to ensure applications are processed within the intended timeframes are already underway. These include:
The BSR previously committed to improving operations by December, with faster processing of new build applications and decisions on most of the existing new-build caseload. To increase transparency and accountability, the BSR published performance data on 16 October and will continue to do so on a monthly basis to track progress against this commitment.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to require short-term holiday lets to (a) provide a fire extinguisher and (b) meet the same minimum fire safety standards as other rental accommodation.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Article 13 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requiresthose responsible for fire safety in their premises to, where necessary, ensure it is equipped with appropriate fire-fighting equipment.
We published guidance for short term lets in April 2023 titled A Guide to making your small paying-guest-accommodation safe from fire which expands on this requirement and states the following:
In the event of a fire, evacuating the premises is the safest thing to do and guests should not be expected to use firefighting equipment. If you have staff on the premises, or if they regularly visit the premises, firefighting equipment should be provided, and staff should be trained on how to use the equipment. You should make sure that the instructions on how to use any firefighting equipment are clear, that there is a warning that evacuation is preferable, and that staff should not put themselves at risk or tackle anything other than a very small fire. In self-catering accommodation, although guests are not expected to use fire-fighting equipment, you may wish to provide a small fire extinguisher and/or fire blanket in the kitchen area.
We also published an update in 2024, which provides more detail on application of the Fire Safety Order to short term lets and expected fire safety standards in such premises.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many applications have waited longer than the 12-week timeframe that the Building Safety Regulator says it will take to complete its process in the last 12 months.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has reported that 930 Gateway 2 applications decided in the last 12 months (between 24 October 2024 and 23 October 2025) took longer than 12 weeks to reach a decision.
The BSR is already making operational and policy changes to speed up decision making, particularly on building control approval, including through the introduction of an Innovation Unit and batching process. Early signs are positive with all applications in the Innovation Unit so far on track to exceed or meet the 12-week SLA target.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will encourage the Building Safety Regulator to provide a timeline for decision on the 338 social homes intended for the former Bermondsey Biscuit Factory development site.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Building Safety Regulator has received three Building Control Applications for new higher risk buildings to be built on the Biscuit Factory site. Progress on each application is set out in the following table. Please note that assessment of applications is a dynamic process, and timetables can change dependent on the information provided by the applicant:
Application Name | Application Number | Current status | Number of homes | When decision is expected |
Block OPQ | BCA03545Z1N7 | Statutory fire consultation has completed. Final stages of assessment underway | 187 over 14 floors | November 2025 |
Block W | BCA04254L1T8 | Assessment is continuing. Statutory fire consultation will start once all fire matters within the application have been resolved | 69 over 18 floors | January 2026 |
Block V | BCA05762F2G7 | Assessment is continuing. Statutory fire consultation will start once all fire matters within the application have been resolved | 82 over 10 floors | January 2026 |
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking with the (a) financial sector and (b) regulators to help ensure that mortgage lenders provide loans to leaseholders affected by building safety issues in the period after the Grenfell Tower fire.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Officials in my department have regular engagement with financial sector stakeholders. A product of this is the lenders’ statement on cladding which has signatories from ten major banks and building societies.
These lenders have committed to consider mortgage applications, even if a property has building safety issues, provided either the building has funding for works from government or the developer, or the property is protected by the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act, and the leaseholder has completed a ‘Leaseholder Deed of Certificate’ to evidence it.
Officials have well-established relationships with regulators should the need arise to discuss a particular issue.