Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to improve the provision of housing for disabled people.

National policy sets out clearly the need for local planning authorities to plan for the housing needs of all members of the community, including suitable properties for disabled people. Our recent Housing White Paper sets out the ways in which the planning system will be used to deliver more suitable homes for people with disabilities, including proposals to strengthen the National Planning Policy Framework. We are also introducing a new statutory duty on the Secretary of State to produce guidance for local planning authorities on meeting the housing needs of older and disabled people.

In addition, since 2011, we have delivered 27,000 supported housing units for disabled, vulnerable and older people. At Autumn Statement 2015, we announced £400 million new specialist affordable homes also for the vulnerable, elderly or those with disabilities. We have also increased funding for the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG). Since 2012, the Government has invested over £1.6 billion into the Grant, providing around 250,000 adaptations by the end of the 2017-18 financial year. By 2020, we expect to have invested around a further £1 billion, with year-on-year increases meaning that spending on DFG will more than double to over £500 million from £220 million in 2015-16. Budget 2017 announced an additional £42 million for DFG in 2017-18.