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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals under the Electronic Government Act 2000 to reduce the time taken in relation to administration relating to (a) planning applications and decisions and (b) buying and selling homes.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is not intending to bring forward legislative proposals under the Electronic Government Act (2000).

The Department is, however, undertaking a Digital Planning programme which aims to enable a modern and efficient planning system in England. This includes modern development management software delivering time savings relating to planning applications. Increased availability of high-quality, standardised data is essential for ensuring the smooth flow of information between systems.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act includes planning data powers and MHCLG will be introducing data standards for planning applications via secondary legislation.

On 9 February, we announced action to take forward plans to digitalise the home buying and selling sector.

In collaboration with HM Land Registry, we are working with local authorities to digitise property data, introduce common data standards, and enable digital identity services for the property sector.

More information can be found on gov.uk here.