Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

What steps his Department is taking to promote housebuilding.

One of the key priorities for my Department has been ensuring that house building continues and the housing market stays open.

This Government cares deeply about building more homes and we have gone to great lengths to ensure the industry is kept open, in turn sustaining hundreds of thousands of people in numerous roles.

That is why I have written to the housing industry, alongside the Home Builders Federation and Federation of Master Builders, to make it clear that housebuilding, and the supply chains that support it, should continue during the current lockdown.

That means estate and lettings agents, show homes and sales suites can remain open; and property viewings, home repairs and maintenance, mortgage valuations and surveys can all continue to take place.

At the same time this Government is unlocking hundreds of thousands of homes through our £12 billion investment in affordable homes – the biggest investment for a decade; delivering much-needed new homes on brownfield land through our £400 million Brownfield Fund; and stimulating the market through our Stamp Duty cut.