Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 support the adaptation of existing buildings to support better disability access.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises how important home adaptations are in enabling disabled people to live as independently as possible in a safe and suitable environment. The Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) is a capital grant administered by local authorities in England that can help meet the cost of adaptations for people of all ages and tenures to make their home safe and suitable for their needs. This government has boosted funding for the DFG to £711 million for both 2024-25 and 2025-26.
Accessibility standards for homes are governed by Part M of the Building Regulations 2010. The Building Regulations apply to new homes, or those undergoing a material change of use. There are three standards of accessibility prescribed in the Building Regulations: M4(1); M4(2) and M4(3).
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that newly constructed buildings have good disability access.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises how important home adaptations are in enabling disabled people to live as independently as possible in a safe and suitable environment. The Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) is a capital grant administered by local authorities in England that can help meet the cost of adaptations for people of all ages and tenures to make their home safe and suitable for their needs. This government has boosted funding for the DFG to £711 million for both 2024-25 and 2025-26.
Accessibility standards for homes are governed by Part M of the Building Regulations 2010. The Building Regulations apply to new homes, or those undergoing a material change of use. There are three standards of accessibility prescribed in the Building Regulations: M4(1); M4(2) and M4(3).
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 reduce waiting times for the processing of Disabled Facilities Grants applications for people with motor neurone disease.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises the importance of timely and efficient delivery of home adaptations including through the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) to help enable people with progressive conditions such as motor neurone disease (MND) to live independently in a safe and suitable environment.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide adaptations for people who satisfy a needs assessment, eligibility criteria and a means test, and have powers to agree a more generous local policy. To support this duty, government have boosted funding for the DFG to £711 million for both 2024-25 and 2025-26.
Local authorities have discretion in managing their DFG funding, and can publish a local housing assistance policy including detail on how they will respond to rapidly progressing conditions such as MND. For example, they can waive the means test or fast track the DFG process for people with MND.
This is clearly set out in government guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disabled-facilities-grant-dfg-delivery-guidance-for-local-authorities-in-england) which encourages local authorities to streamline the application process to improve the delivery of adaptations, including for people living with MND. While it is for local authorities to determine the flexibilities that best meet the needs of their residents, the guidance also encourages them to prioritise urgent cases and work towards good practice timescales.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation to enforce time limits for development companies of newbuild housing estates to have roads adopted by local authorities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. and Rt Hon. Members to the answer given to Question UIN 80700 on 20 October 2025.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October to Question 80700 on Property Management Companies: Repairs and Maintenance, whether newbuild housing estate developers can apply for County Court action against estate management companies that fail to meet agreed maintenance standards.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 80700 on 20 October 2025.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how he plans to determine which proposed sites for new towns will go ahead.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On 28 September 2025, the government published the independent New Towns Taskforce report as well as its initial response to that report. Both can be found on gov.uk here.
As set out in the initial government response, we warmly welcome all 12 of the locations it has recommend. Prima facie, each has the clear potential to deliver on the government’s objectives, with Tempsford, Crews Hill and Leeds South Bank looking particularly promising as sites that might make significant contributions to unlocking economic growth and accelerating housing delivery.
On 28 September 2025 we commenced a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to understand the environmental implications of new towns development. This will support final decisions on precisely which locations we take forward. No final decisions on locations will be made until that SEA concludes and preferred locations could change as a result of the process.
Ministers and officials will now begin work with local partners to develop detailed proposals and enhance our understanding of how different locations might meet the government’s expectations of what a future New Towns Programme can deliver, with all promising sites and reasonable alternatives assessed and considered through the SEA process. Appropriate assessment under the Habitats Regulations will also be undertaken when required.
We are determined to get spades in the ground on at least three new towns in this Parliament and the government is prepared to progress work on a far larger range of locations if it proves possible.
The post-war new towns programme was the most ambitious town-building effort ever undertaken in the UK. The next generation of new towns must match that post-war vision. The government will be looking for assurance that any location can be effectively and efficiently delivered in partnership with local communities, has a clear economic purpose, and will support national economic growth. We will also seek to test different delivery vehicles to learn lessons for how future large settlements are delivered and to contribute to a wider transformation of housing supply.
The government will publish the draft proposals and final SEA for consultation early next year, before confirming the locations that will be progressed as new towns later in the Spring alongside a full response to the New Towns Taskforce’s report.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether their Department has run any (a) recruitment and (b) internship schemes aimed to increase the number of people from underrepresented groups in the workforce in the last year.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Recruitment
As set out in the Civil Service People Plan 2024 - 2027, MHCLG are committed to ensuring we attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds to create a modern Civil Service, now and for the future
Civil Service recruitment must follow the rules set out in legislation within the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act (CRaGA) 2010 which outlines the requirements to ensure that civil servants are recruited on merit, via fair and open competition
Going Forward into Employment (GFiE, pronounced gif-ee) accredits life chance recruitment pathways across government. GFiE pathways recruit people from a wide range of backgrounds into the Civil Service, including people from low socio-economic backgrounds, prison leavers, veterans, carers and care leavers. People recruited by GFiE develop skills, gain experience and build a career, contributing to the Opportunity Mission and to the wider economy.
MHCLG participated last year in the Care Leavers GFiE scheme, offering work experience in government to those entitled to a leaving care package.
In February 2025, MHCLG also gained accreditation to deliver Civil Service Masterclasses as a new life-chance pathway. This is a unique two-week face to face programme designed to support candidates aged 19+ from lower socio-economic backgrounds. The programme breaks down barriers and helps participants in a practical learning setting to develop skills and knowledge to access Civil Service roles at AO or EO level. The scheme is available to all departments and supporting bodies based in the Liverpool City Region, Greater Manchester, and County Durham/Darlington areas.
Internships
In this period, MHCLG participated in the following internship schemes with a focus on increasing representation of under-represented groups:
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 considered introducing a statutory timeframe within which housing developers must (a) complete and (b) handover infrastructure to local authorities for adoption.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 80700 on 20 October 2025.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he make it his policy to issue guidance to local planning authorities on potential enforcement action when housing developers fail to complete infrastructure projects.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 80700 on 20 October 2025.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 he has made of (a) the number of housing estates that are currently unadopted and (b) the length of time they have been unadopted.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 80700 on 20 October 2025.