Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
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 availability of social housing.
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.
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.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure local authorities have adequate levels of Government funding.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase in councils’ Core Spending Power on 2024-25.
Taken together, the additional funding announced by the Chancellor at the Autumn Budget and through the 2025-26 Local Government Finance Settlement will provide over £5 billion of new funding for local services over and above local council tax. This includes: an additional £2 billion of grant through the Settlement; a guarantee that local authorities in England will receive at least £1.1 billion in total in 2025-26 from the new Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) scheme; and a further £233 million of additional funding for homelessness services.
We are also taking immediate action to begin addressing the significant challenges facing local government by ensuring that funding goes to the places that need it most in 2025-26.
The Government is committed to introducing an improved and updated approach to funding local authorities from 2026-27.
The Ministry works closely with local government and other government departments to understand specific demand and cost pressures facing local government on an ongoing basis.
We recognise the challenges that local authorities are facing as demand increases for critical services. Funding allocations from future settlements are subject to the outcome of future Spending Reviews.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of further limits on donations to political parties from billionaires.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN HL3289 on 20 December 2024.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to protect the countryside and wildlife, in the context of her Department's proposed planning reforms.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that planning policies and decisions should contribute to, and enhance, the natural and local environment by recognising the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside, and the wider benefits from natural capital and ecosystem services. Development is restricted on sites which are designated for environmental or amenity value as well as National Landscapes.
The revised NPPF published on 12 December 2024 sets out that we expect developments to provide net gains for biodiversity, including through incorporating features which support priority or threatened species. The government will consult on future changes to national planning policy, including a set of national policies for decision making in Spring 2025.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
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 include the perspectives of people with lived experiences of homelessness in the cross-government strategy to end homelessness.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
Homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected.
The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. This includes chairing a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, bringing together ministers from across government to develop a long-term strategy.
We have also established an Expert Group to bring together representatives from across the homelessness and rough sleeping sector, local and combined authorities and wider experts. The role of this expert group is to provide knowledge, analysis and challenge to help Government understand what is working well nationally and locally and where improvements are needed.
As well as work on the Inter-Ministerial Group and Expert Group we are also working closely with the sector to deliver a number of lived experience forums to ensure that the voices of those with lived experience are reflected in the homelessness strategy. We will continue to meet with a range of stakeholders, including mayors and MPs, to make sure the strategy is informed by a range of expertise.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
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 the implications for her policies of trends in the level of student homelessness.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
The Government recognises that homelessness levels are far too high and this can have a devastating impact on those affected. The homelessness statistics show that 4,850 (1.5%) households had an employment status of ‘student/training’ and were threatened with homelessness or were homeless in 2023-24.
As announced at the Budget on 30 October, funding for homelessness services is increasing by £233 million compared to this year, bringing total spend to nearly a billion in 2025-26. The increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
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 the adequacy of the supply of socially rented homes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer my hon. friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 11383 on 31 October 2024.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to tackle landlords charging high up-front rent payments.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government have long recognised that demands for extortionate rent in advance place a considerable financial strain on tenants and can exclude certain groups from renting altogether. We are very clear that the practice of landlords demanding large amounts of rent in advance must be prohibited.
Although it might be argued that the interaction of the new rent periods in clause 1 of the Renters’ Rights Bill, which are a month or 28 days, and the existing provisions of the Tenant Fees Act 2019, relating to prohibited payments, provide a measure of protection against requests for large amounts of advance rent, the government believe there is a strong case for putting this matter beyond doubt. I am giving careful consideration as to how best that might be achieved through the Renters’ Rights Bill.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
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 merits of capping ground rents on leasehold homes at nominal rates.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government recently consulted on a range of options to restrict ground rents for existing leases. Alongside the consultation we published a consultation impact assessment, assessing the expected costs and benefits of each of the policy options. This can be found here: Consultation impact assessment - modern leasehold: restricting ground rent for existing leases - GOV.UK.
We are carefully considering the responses we have received and will set out next steps due course.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on how many Disabled people were evicted thorough section 21 no-fault evictions in the private rented sector in 2023.
Answered by Jacob Young
I refer the Hon Member to my answer to Question UIN 14713 on 22 February 2024.