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 made an assessment of the potential merits of the use of flat-pack housing by local authorities to tackle housing shortages.

The Government is committed to increasing the supply of houses and that requires a modern construction industry. Building more homes using modern methods of construction, including offsite and smart techniques, is a key part of this.

New technology has improved productivity, quality and choice in a range of sectors and we want to see the same happen in housing.

That is why the Housing White Paper talks about specific measures to stimulate the growth of modern methods of construction, including how we will help to create a pipeline of opportunities to give confidence to the sector and investors.

For instance, the Home Building Fund provides support to builders using modern methods of construction, in addition to custom builders and new entrants to the market. The Autumn Budget added a further £1.5 billion to the fund, specifically targeted at supporting small and medium-sized builders who cannot access the finance they need to build.

We are also delivering on our commitment to create a working group to look at the assurance, insurance and mortgages for modern methods of construction. The group, chaired by industry expert Mark Farmer, met for the first time in December.