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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of mould in the (a) owner-occupied, (b) private rented and (c) social rented sector.

As set out in my answer to Question UIN 24168 on 3 May 2024, the English Housing Survey sets out levels of damp and mould in all tenures of residential accommodation. Details are available online.

For more information on the health impacts of damp and mould in homes, please see our consolidated guidance developed with the Department of Health and Social Care. It can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/damp-and-mould-understanding-and-addressing-the-health-risks-for-rented-housing-providers.

Following the tragic death of the two-year-old Awaab Ishak, due to the appalling housing conditions that Awaab Ishak and his family had to live in, the Secretary of State summoned the leadership of their landlord, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, to explain why such catastrophic failures had been allowed to happen. The Government has also legislated for ‘Awaab’s law’, introduced via the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023.

In his written statement of 9 January 2024 (HCWS174) the Secretary of State launched a consultation on how ‘Awaab’s law’ will operate in practice, including the specific requirements on social landlords. The consultation closed on 5 March 2024 and we are analysing the responses. Once this has been completed, we will bring forward secondary legislation as soon as possible.

The department, last year, provided £15 million of funding to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to tackle the worst cases of damp and mould. They have now completed improvements to around 4,000 homes.