Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that provision of accessible housing for older and disabled people is prioritised in light of the covid-19 outbreak.

We recently consulted on options to raise accessible housing standards, including options to review and potentially tighten the regulatory framework to deliver accessible new homes. By 2021-22 the Government will have invested over £4 billion through the Disabled Facilities Grant, funding adaptations to almost 450,000 homes since 2010. In our Social Housing White Paper we said that we will look at how we can improve access to suitable homes for disabled people. Our planning rules already mean councils must consider the needs of older and disabled people when planning new homes, and we are significantly reforming the planning system to put a much greater emphasis on design and quality, creating a system which gives local people more of a voice to make clear what new development their areas need and where.