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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to section 2.1 of her Department's policy paper entitled New approach to ensure regulators and regulation support growth, updated on 31 March 2025, what progress she has made on the development of the model to support the sustainable funding of statutory consultees.

A new clause (NC39) was tabled by my Department as an amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and has been incorporated into it in PBL Committee.

This will allow the government to set a surcharge on planning fees to fund the costs incurred by key statutory consultees in England of advising on planning applications.

Details of its operation will be set out in regulations, following consultation.