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 the transparency data entitled MHCLG: spending over £25,000, April 2025, published on 30 May 2025, what the services commissioned from Verian Group UK Limited were.

The following sets out more detail of spend for Verian Group UK Ltd:

The Rough Sleeping Questionnaire was carried out in 2019 to understand issues faced by those sleeping rough. The Department repeated the questionnaire in 2025 to update findings, and commissioned Verian to conduct the survey fieldwork with those sleeping rough.

The PRS Place Based Quality Pilots are a set of pathfinder projects to improve enforcement of existing standards in the private rented sector. Verian have been commissioned to deliver an evaluation of the scheme, including a range of fieldwork and analysis of data.

The Department commissioned Verian to research Demolition Planning Policy. Verian have conducted a survey of stakeholders across the industry to understand how and why decisions are made to demolish and redevelop or retrofit buildings, explore the role of national and local policy in decision-making and the tools and guidance used to inform decisions.

The Department commissioned Verian to carry out focus groups and interviews about the levels of understanding around a number of policy areas relating to housing and infrastructure to help improve government communications to inform the Long Term Housing Strategy.