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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress she has made in updating all relevant National Policy Statements by this summer.

Consultation on proposed amendments to the Energy National Policy Statements (NPSs) 1, 3 and 5 closed on 29 May, with the relevant period for parliamentary scrutiny of these NPSs closing on 22 July 2025.

Consultation on a draft revised Ports NPS began on 4 June and will close on 29 July. The relevant period for parliamentary scrutiny of this NPS will close on 14 November 2025.

Completion of the updates to these NPSs is subject to the outcome and timings of these consultation and parliamentary scrutiny processes.

The NPS for Water Resources Infrastructure was designated in September 2023. The Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs are considering whether the NPS needs to be reviewed at this time.

Consultation on the draft new nuclear NPS EN-7, which will be applicable to nuclear power stations expected to deploy beyond 2025, closed on 3 April. Parliamentary scrutiny of the draft NPS is expected to be completed by 23 June. Depending on the completion and outcome of these processes, the government aims to designate this new NPS before the end of the year.

We are introducing legislation through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to require National Policy Statements to be updated every five years. This will include a transitional period, which will require any NPS that is more than 5 years old at the time of Royal Assent to be updated within 2 years of the Bill being enacted.