Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
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 the adequacy of Homes England’s management of the (a) Techforest and (b) Woolmead sites in Farnham and Bordon constituency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homes England has worked closely with East Hampshire District Council (EHDC) to support priorities for growth in Whitehill and Bordon for several years. This includes supporting the delivery of new employment sites in the area. Tech Forest has been identified as an employment site and, following consultation with EHDC, will be marketed for employment use.
Homes England purchased Woolmead in Farnham via the Brownfield Infrastructure Land Fund, which has an extant planning permission for 138 new homes and over 4,000m² of commercial space. Homes England is considering options for the delivery of the site, including seeking a new planning consent, and remaining in contact with the market and prospective partners. In the meantime, Homes England continues to manage the site to ensure it remains safe, secure, and in a stable condition whilst longer-term plans for the site evolve.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
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 the potential impact of her Department’s fair funding review for local authorities on adult social care provision for people of working age.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to transforming adult social care, including for people of working age, and making tangible improvements in the short-term. The Spending Review allows for an increase of over £4 billion available for adult social care in 2028-29 compared to 2025-26.
We have consulted on proposals, as part of ‘The Fair Funding Review 2.0’, to ensure adult social care funding reflects an up-to-date assessment of need, including updating the Adult Social Care Relative Needs Formula (ASC RNF) with the most recent data. The ‘Fair Funding Review 2.0’ proposals are a fundamental step to improving the sustainability of the sector and will allow councils to focus on service delivery and transformation.
We are considering ‘The Fair Funding Review 2.0’ consultation responses; decisions are yet to be taken that will determine final allocations for local authorities overall. We will respond to the consultation in due course and will set out further details at the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement later this year.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her planned timetable is for bringing into force the provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 that provide consumer protections for homeowners on freehold estates.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 74882 on 12 September 2025.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
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 the potential impact of financial requirements for standing in mayoral elections on the (a) accessibility and (b) diversity of candidates.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The Government has not made such an assessment. Under electoral law, candidates are required to pay a deposit in certain elections, reflecting the scale of the role, including budget responsibility, role as chair of the Combined Authority or Combined County Authority, and the ability to raise a levy; as well as the size of the electorate and electoral area. This has been set at £5,000 for Mayoral candidates for Combined Authorities and Combined County Authorities which was deemed proportionate and fair by Parliament when the relevant legislation was made. A deposit is returned if a candidate receives more than 5% of the valid votes cast.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if her Department will make an assessment of trends in the relationship between home ownership levels among under-45s and historic tax support for mortgage holders.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has no plans to consult on new fiscal incentives to support younger people into home ownership.
The affordability challenges facing prospective first-time buyers mean that too many people are now locked out of home ownership.
In addition to increasing the supply of homes of all tenures, the government will be launching a new mortgage guarantee scheme in July 2025. Further details can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement of 11 June (HCWS694).
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to consult on new fiscal incentives to support younger people into home ownership.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has no plans to consult on new fiscal incentives to support younger people into home ownership.
The affordability challenges facing prospective first-time buyers mean that too many people are now locked out of home ownership.
In addition to increasing the supply of homes of all tenures, the government will be launching a new mortgage guarantee scheme in July 2025. Further details can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement of 11 June (HCWS694).
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment she has made of whether funding allocated to upper-tier authorities adequately reflects (a) inflationary pressures in social care, (b) the increasing cost of regulatory compliance and (c) the additional costs expected from recent immigration and employment policy changes.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The government is committed to transforming adult social care and making tangible improvements in the short-term. The Spending Review allows for an increase of over £4 billion available for adult social care in 2028-29 compared to 2025-26. This includes an increase to the NHS’s minimum contribution to adult social care via the Better Care Fund, in line with DHSC's Spending Review settlement.
The Department works closely with local government and other government departments to understand specific demand and cost pressures facing local government on an ongoing basis. This involves looking at a range of cost and demand data, as well as regular engagement with local authorities.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
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 prevent unitary authorities formed through the Local Government Reorganisation requiring exception financial support.
Answered by Jim McMahon
On 5 February, the Government issued invitations to councils in two-tier areas in England and neighbouring unitary councils to prepare proposals for local government reorganisation. The invitation sets out the criteria against which proposals will be assessed, including that unitary local government must be the right size to achieve efficiencies improve capacity and withstand financial shocks. It is for councils to develop robust and sustainable proposals that are in the best interests of their whole area.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to (a) allow the establishment of new precepting (i) parish, (ii) town and (iii) community councils and (b) (A) retain and (B) improve the Community Governance Review process.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The ability to establish new parish, town and community councils is devolved to principal local authorities through the community governance review process. This remains the case. Areas considering new parish councils should think carefully about how they might be funded, to avoid putting further pressure on local authority finances and/or new burdens on the taxpayer
Decisions over whether to raise a precept, and over the level of this precept, are taken independently of central government by the parish council in question.
The government views the current process for undertaking community governance reviews as sufficient. We are in regular contact with the sector to understand what improvements would be helpful.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
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 for Gateway Two approval for higher-risk buildings have been submitted to the Building Safety Regulator since 1 October 2023; how many of those applications have (a) been approved, (b) been rejected, and (c) remain under consideration; and what assessment she has made of the reasons for the number of undetermined applications.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We recognise that there are delays to the Gateways process and that processing times need to improve. Delays have the potential to slow the delivery of new homes and may impact on investment decisions in high-rise projects. MHCLG are working urgently with the BSR to address the current challenges. This includes direct ministerial-level involvement to accelerate progress.
We continue to work closely with the BSR to understand their resource requirements, technical capacity and how processes can be improved. We have provided funding to the BSR to recruit an extra 30 frontline staff to bolster its capacity. On 14 May, BSR also launched a campaign to directly recruit Registered Building Inspectors (RBIs), with further recruitment planned in June 2025. We expect the impact of these new recruits on processing times to scale up in the coming months.
Whilst BSR and MHCLG are exploring all possible opportunities to strengthen the new Gateway process and guidance to industry, it is important to recognise that a significant volume of applications continue to be invalidated or rejected for not meeting the legislative requirements. These are buildings that, had they been constructed, might have placed residents at risk and/or living in housing that did not meet long-standing requirements. It is also important to note that additional information requests for missing details in applications can add between at least 4-6 weeks onto the process.
BSR continues to carry out extensive stakeholder engagement to support applicants to better understand and meet the new requirements. Since July 2024, BSR has held weekly meetings with the Construction Leadership Council and other industry bodies including the Home Builders Federation to address knowledge gaps and share lessons learned. BSR also issued new guidance in collaboration with the sector in March 2025 based on the findings of research with organisations submitting building control applications. BSR continues work to improve the way it interacts with applicants before and during the process.
BSR officials have provided Gateway 2 application data from October 2023 to date:
2,240 applications received to date | 899 live applications |
32% (430) - Approved | 41% (552) - Invalidated at the initial stage as they did not contain the right information under Schedule 1. |
11% (140) - Withdrawn | 16% (219) - Rejected. |
Many of the applications that remain undetermined have proved to be of poor quality and the BSR continues to work with applicants to ensure that applications properly demonstrate compliance with the minimum safety standards set out in the Building Regulations.