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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) the covid-19 pandemic and (b) global inflation on the delivery of housing sites in England; and whether he has made an assessment of the impact of those factors on the five-year housing supply position of local authorities.

Despite the pandemic, housebuilders were able to deliver over 216,000 homes in England in 2020/21. Nonetheless, the Government made changes to two housing delivery tests, to mitigate disruption caused to housing delivery.

The Government recognises rising materials prices have created a challenging environment for many construction businesses, including in housebuilding, and especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. We continue to work closely with firms in the sector through the Construction Leadership Council Product Availability Group, to monitor product, material availability and mitigate the impact of price increases.

We have committed to publishing our vision for the new National Planning Policy Framework which includes our position on planning for housing.

We have set out our intention to remove the requirement for authorities to maintain a five-year housing land supply, where their plan is up to date. This will curb perceived 'speculative development', so long as plans are kept up to date.