Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to increase the level of affordable housing in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
At Spring statement, the government announced an immediate injection of £2 billion to support delivery of the biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and contribute to our ambitious Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in this Parliament. Further detail can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement made on 25 March 2025 (HCWS549).
The investment made at Spring statement follows the £800 million in new in-year funding which has been made available for the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme and that will support the delivery of up to 7,800 new homes, with more than half of them being Social Rent homes.
We will set out set details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme at the Spending Review. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and homeownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for social rent.
The government has also announced the £450 million third round of the Local Authority Housing Fund, followed by an uplift of £50 million, enabling councils to grow their housing stock.
We also confirmed a range of new flexibilities for councils and housing associations, both within the Affordable Homes Programme and in relation to how councils can use their Right to Buy receipts. Having reduced Right to Buy discounts to their pre-2012 regional levels, we have allowed councils to retain 100% of the receipts generated by Right to Buy sales.
The government recognise that Registered Providers need support to build their capacity and make a greater contribution to affordable housing supply. Between 30 October 2024 and 23 December 2024, the government consulted on a new 5-year social housing rent settlement, to give Registered Providers the certainty they need to invest in new social and affordable housing.
The revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December 2024 includes a number of changes that make the planning system more supportive of affordable housing, in particular Social Rent homes. These include new Golden Rules for development on the Green Belt. Prior to development plan policies for affordable housing being updated in accordance with the revised NPPF, the affordable housing contribution required to satisfy the ‘Golden Rules’ is 15 percentage points above the highest existing affordable housing requirement that would otherwise apply to the development, subject to a cap of 50%. We estimate that under this model, the median Green Belt local planning authority affordable housing requirement will be 50%.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions her Department has had with (a) Buckinghamshire Council and (b) Milton Keynes City Council on (i) housing targets and (ii) local plan development.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As the hon. Member will know, the government published a revised National Planning Policy Framework on 12 December 2024 which included a revised standard method designed to direct residential development to where it is most needed and least affordable.
The government expects each local planning authority to use the revised standard method to assess local housing needs as a starting point to inform plan-making. Once an assessment has been made, local authorities should take into account land availability, environmental constraints, such as National Landscapes, and other relevant matters, to determine how much of the assessed housing need can be met.
The government is clear all local planning authorities should continue work on their local plans and get them in place as soon as possible.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the demand for housing in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes in each of the next ten years.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As the hon. Member will know, the government published a revised National Planning Policy Framework on 12 December 2024 which included a revised standard method designed to direct residential development to where it is most needed and least affordable.
The government expects each local planning authority to use the revised standard method to assess local housing needs as a starting point to inform plan-making. Once an assessment has been made, local authorities should take into account land availability, environmental constraints, such as National Landscapes, and other relevant matters, to determine how much of the assessed housing need can be met.
The government is clear all local planning authorities should continue work on their local plans and get them in place as soon as possible.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on what the value of business rates written off by Buckinghamshire Council was in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Data on the amount of business rates that local authorities have written off are published as part of the annual ‘Collection of council tax and business rates’ statistical release, published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/council-tax-statistics#collection-rates-for-council-tax-and-non-domestic-rates.
Local authorities are asked to report the amount written off in the financial year across three lines – in relation to bills for the year itself, in relation to the previous year only and in relation to earlier financial years. All local authority level data are published in Table 9.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of trends in Local Government Pension Scheme asset allocation to UK equities in the last ten years.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) invests approximately 9% of its total assets of c. £392 billion in UK equities (or 17% of its total equity holdings) compared to over 20% a decade ago. The government’s landmark pensions review aims to unlock investment in the UK economy.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of the change in (a) core spending power and (b) settlement funding for (i) Aylesbury Vale District Council in each financial year between 2010-11 and 2019-20, (ii) Buckinghamshire County Council in each financial year between 2010-11 and 2019-20 and (iii) Buckinghamshire Council in each financial year since 2020-21.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Detailed information on core spending power and settlement funding for Aylesbury Vale District Council, Buckinghamshire County Council and Buckinghamshire Council for each year from 2015/16 to 2020/21 can be viewed here.
Due to changes in the function and financing of local government, comparable data on Core Spending Power is not available prior to 2015/16.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of Buckinghamshire Council's financial planning, in the context of increases in levels of demand for services.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Councils are responsible for their own financial management, and the department does not monitor their day-to-day business.
The Government is under no illusions about the scale of the pressures that local authorities are facing. We recognise the vital work that local councils do for their communities and stand ready to speak to any council that is experiencing financial difficulties.
The Government will work closely with councils to provide more stability through multi-year funding settlements, ending competitive bidding for pots of money and reforming the local audit system. Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the financial health of Buckinghamshire council; and what steps her Department takes to support councils that may be at risk of financial difficulties.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Councils are responsible for their own financial management, and the department does not monitor their day-to-day business.
The Government is under no illusions about the scale of the pressures that local authorities are facing. We recognise the vital work that local councils do for their communities and stand ready to speak to any council that is experiencing financial difficulties.
The Government will work closely with councils to provide more stability through multi-year funding settlements, ending competitive bidding for pots of money and reforming the local audit system. Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions her Department has had with Buckinghamshire Council on that Council's (a) financial resilience and (b) long-term sustainability.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Councils are responsible for their own financial management, and the department does not monitor their day-to-day business.
The Government is under no illusions about the scale of the pressures that local authorities are facing. We recognise the vital work that local councils do for their communities and stand ready to speak to any council that is experiencing financial difficulties.
The Government will work closely with councils to provide more stability through multi-year funding settlements, ending competitive bidding for pots of money and reforming the local audit system. Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions her Department has had with Buckinghamshire Council on the adequacy of its financial reserves.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Councils are responsible for their own financial management, and the department does not monitor their day-to-day business.
The Government is under no illusions about the scale of the pressures that local authorities are facing. We recognise the vital work that local councils do for their communities and stand ready to speak to any council that is experiencing financial difficulties.
The Government will work closely with councils to provide more stability through multi-year funding settlements, ending competitive bidding for pots of money and reforming the local audit system. Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement.