Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
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 publish the average time taken for cladding remediation to be completed following its identification for government remediation programmes.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The department publishes a range of data about remediation progress via the monthly Building Safety Data Release, including the proportion of buildings identified with unsafe cladding that are expected to be remediated as part of MHCLG's remediation programmes as well as the progress on the number of buildings that have started or completed remediation works.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
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 effectiveness of the Building Safety Regulator.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has made significant progress over the last year following substantial reform of its leadership and operations. Under new leadership, it has strengthened capability, improved engagement with industry, streamlined processes and driven a wide-ranging programme of operational improvement.
These changes are delivering results, with faster decisions, increased Gateway 2 approvals and more developments progressing through the system while maintaining robust safety standards.
The BSR is now focused on extending this progress across remediation and the wider building safety regime, supporting both safer buildings and housing delivery.
MHCLG continues to work closely with the BSR to improve performance, proportionality and consistency, while supporting its development towards the future Single Construction Regulator.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many Empty Dwelling Management Orders have been issued, each year, since 2015 in a) London and b) nationally.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department does not collect data on the number of Empty Dwelling Management Orders issued by local authorities in London or nationally.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
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 effectiveness of the Housing Ombudsman.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Housing Ombudsman is an independent, impartial, and free service for social housing residents. My Department monitors it against its strategic objectives and agreed performance measures.
Demand for the Housing Ombudsman’s services has increased by 500% from 2021. Since March 2026, the Ombudsman has increased determination output to an average of more than 1,000 cases a month.
The Ombudsman’s 2026–27 Business Plan sets out a caseload reduction strategy focused on increasing staffing, improving processes and systems, and managing demand by supporting better complaint handling by landlords.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
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 potential impact of the Social and Affordable Homes Programme on expenditure on housing support over the lifetime of that programme.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We have assessed the impacts of the Social and Affordable Homes Programme on housing benefit spending and they will be included in the Economic Case of the Social and Affordable Homes Programme Business Case, which remains under development. A summary of that Business Case will be published within four months of final approvals.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, following the publishing of the new National Planning Policy Framework, what steps she is taking to support a) health, b) education and c) transport infrastructure alongside housing delivery.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to policies HC1, HC3, HC4, and TR1 of the new National Planning Policy Framework published on 17 August.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
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 reduce the number of children living in temporary accommodation in London.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
From 2026/27 to 2028/29, over £4 billion in funding will be provided for homelessness and rough sleeping services to help local areas deliver tailored services to tackle all forms of homelessness. In addition, the Government has committed £30 million for a three-year Emergency Accommodation Reduction Programme to support local authorities with the highest pressures to bring down B&B use, particularly unlawful placements in B&B beyond 6 weeks, with eight London Boroughs receiving funding in 2026/27. The Government is also providing £950 million of investment for the fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund – the largest investment in the fund to date - to support local authorities in England to increase the supply of good quality temporary accommodation and drive down the use of costly bed and breakfasts and hotels.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Commonhold White Paper: The proposed new commonhold model for homeownership in England and Wales, published on 3 March 2025, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of those proposals on commonhold on (a) existing leaseholders and (b) Right to Manage arrangements.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statements I made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244) and 3 March 2025 (HCWS488).
The government will consult this year on the best approach to banning new leasehold flats. We are also reviewing the Law Commission’s recommendations to make it easier for existing leaseholders to choose to convert to commonhold and will set out next steps in due course.
We remain steadfast in our commitment to providing leaseholders with greater rights, powers and protections over their homes. Alongside the extensive programme of detailed secondary legislation that we are bringing forward to implement the remaining provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, we will further reform the existing leasehold system by legislating to tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents; removing the disproportionate and draconian threat of forfeiture; acting to protect leaseholders from abuse and poor service at the hands of unscrupulous managing agents; and enacting remaining Law Commission recommendations on enfranchisement and the Right to Manage.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
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 give local authorities in London a formal decision-making role in future integrated settlements applied to the Greater London Authority.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
At Autumn Budget 2024 the Government committed to exploring how the Integrated Settlement policy could be applied for the Greater London Authority from the 2026-27 financial year onwards, taking into account the capital’s unique devolution arrangements. This work is currently taking place and the Government plans to announce further details following the conclusion of Phase 2 of the Spending Review 2025.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) estimate her Department has made of the number of local authorities not meeting targets on guidance set for housing delivery and (b) assessment she has made of the potential impact of planning restrictions on housing delivery.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Housing Delivery Test, published annually, measures how well authorities have delivered against their housing requirements over a three-year period.
In the latest publication, published on 12 December 2024, 110 of 302 authorities delivered below 95% of their requirements.
The consequences that result from this under-delivery are set out in the National Planning Policy Framework which can be found on gov.uk here.