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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the response of Homes England to freedom of information request reference RFI2673, whether his Department plans to reopen the ballot for the Voluntary Right to Buy Midlands Pilot for Housing Association tenants as a result of the low take-up in that ballot.

Over 9,000 people entered the ballot for the Midlands pilot of the Voluntary Right to Buy, and 6,000 of these received Unique Reference Numbers to move forward with their purchase. The Government is closely monitoring the progress of the pilot, the number of Unique Reference Numbers that are resulting in applications to buy, and the spending of the budget. There are no plans to run a second ballot – if this position changes, the Government will make an announcement.