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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to bring empty (a) residential and (b) commercial properties back into use.

The Government has taken significant steps to bring empty properties back into use. We have ensured councils have the right tools and incentives.

• We provided over £200 million in the last Parliament that funded innovative schemes run by community groups, councils and housing associations up and down the country that created over 9,000 new homes from empty property as well as providing apprenticeship and training opportunities and improving neighbourhoods for local people.
• We have awarded almost £3.4 billion in recognition of the delivery of over 700,000 homes, plus over 100,000 long-term empty properties brought back into use.
• We have given councils new powers to remove council tax subsidies to empty homes, and use the funds to keep the overall rate of council tax down.
• We reformed permitted development rights to free up the planning system and encourage the conversion of existing commercial buildings into residential.
• We offered a 50 per cent discount in business rates for 18 months to new occupants of shops that have been vacant for a year or more, thereby incentivising enterprising individuals to try out new business ideas on the high street.
• We championed the innovative use of vacant shops through the Great British High Street Competition. A number of the entrants set out the innovative ways that they are tackling empty shops on the high streets and we have promoted their examples on the Great British High Street Portal and through documents such as Celebrating the Great British High Street.

The number of empty homes is at its lowest since records began.