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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the new taper on New Homes Bonus on local authorities who approve and build a high volume of houses.

The Government based its decisions to reform the New Homes Bonus on the need to sharpen its incentive effect to increase the delivery of new homes. The Bonus has been successful in encouraging authorities to welcome housing growth, however, it did not reward those authorities who are the most open to growth.

The changes to the scheme are being made to increase the focus of the Bonus on delivery of new homes, to reward those authorities who are really committed to growth whilst also freeing up resources to be recycled within the local government settlement to support authorities with particular pressures, such as adult social care.

The reforms are being made following a 12 week consultation on the proposals and the views expressed were taken into consideration in the consultation analysis. Those areas who deliver the most housing growth will continue to benefit most from the Bonus under the new scheme. The payments for the Bonus in 2017/18 are £1.2 billion and will still be worth £900 million in 2018/19.

The Government chose to take a moderate approach to reforming the Bonus from the options consulted on and also to stage the changes to give authorities time to adapt their plans, we will therefore not be providing transitional funding.