Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with the devolved Administrations on measures to help support leaseholders who experience increases in ground rents.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The legislation governing leasehold ownership currently applies only in England and Wales. The policy area is devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and it would be for the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Assembly to determine whether, and how, they might wish to legislate on such matters.
In respect of England and Wales, the government remains firmly committed to its manifesto commitment to tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents, and we will deliver this in legislation. We are continuing to work closely with the Welsh government to drive forward our ambitious leasehold and commonhold reform programme.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 estimate of the number of first-time buyers in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
The Department does not hold official data on the total number of first-time buyers over the past five years and is therefore unable to provide an official estimate.
However, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes data on the number of first-time buyer mortgage sales by Local Authority across the UK, which can be found on gov.uk here. This data set does not include cash sales.
In addition, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) provides UK-wide totals for the same data, available here.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 (a) tackle local authority financial deficits and (b) improve local authority value for money.
Answered by Jim McMahon
This government recognises the pressures local authorities are facing because of their Dedicated School Grant (DSG) deficits. The Department for Education Spending Review settlement confirmed funding for reform of the current Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system, details of which will be set out in a White Paper in the autumn. The government will commence a phased transition process which will include an extension to the Dedicated Schools Grant Statutory Override, currently due to end in March 2026, until the end of 2027-28. The government will provide more detail by the end of the year including a plan for supporting local authorities with both historic and accruing deficits. We will set out more detail at the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement.
Furthermore, through this Spending Review we are providing an additional £3.4bn of grant funding for local authorities in 2028-29 compared to 2024-25 and the government has committed to reforms which will mitigate the growing pressures on Local Government services and achieve better value for money.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 number of allotments in the UK.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department does not hold data on the number of allotments in the UK.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress her Department has made on reaching housing targets.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government publishes quarterly data on planning applications and housing starts and completions.
The latest data on planning application statistics can be found on gov.uk here.
Data on housing starts and completions can be found on gov.uk here.
The main measure of housing supply is net additional dwellings, the latest data on which can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 help prevent dangerous parking in residential areas.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Parking is the responsibility of local authorities, and they are best placed to decide what is best for their local area.
Local Authorities are empowered to determine their parking arrangements through the Traffic Management Act 2004, which requires them to ensure that parking policies be proportionate, support town centre prosperity, and reconcile competing demands for kerb space whilst ensuring traffic moves freely and quickly on their roads and the roads of nearby authorities.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 implications for her policies on park homes of her Department's report entitled The impact of a change in the maximum park home sale commission, published on 16 June 2022.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 44299 on 16 April 2025.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 help improve the condition of social housing properties.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 6 February 2025 (HCWS423).
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 flood recovery funding over the last 12 months.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Flood recovery is a devolved responsibility. The Flood Recovery Framework provides swift, responsive financial support packages to communities, households and businesses suffering the impacts of severe flooding with schemes from MHCLG, DBT and Defra in England. A post activation review of the flood recovery framework following storm Babet Oct 2023 and Storm Henk January 2024 has taken place and is accessible here: Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has had recent discussions with large banks on the potential merits of re-introducing the help to buy scheme for first time buyers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has no plans for another Help to Buy scheme and the Deputy Prime Minister has not had any discussions with large banks about its reintroduction.