This Government strongly encourages the re-use of suitable brownfield land as set out in our National Planning Policy Framework. Making the most effective use of brownfield land, including through mixed use developments, will support the provision of the homes we need, and is key to regenerating our high streets and town centres, supporting economic growth in the hearts of our towns and cities and maximising the use of existing infrastructure.

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

The primary responsibility for building homes in the capital lies with the Mayor of London. Due to insufficient numbers being delivered, the Secretary of State has directed the London Mayor to conduct a partial review of the London Plan, on industrial land and Opportunity areas, to reflect on what more can be done to accelerate residential development on these sites. We will continue to assess the rate of delivery to ensure that London has the homes it needs.

Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme for 2021-26 will provide tens of thousands of homes across the country. These include homes for rent, for low cost home ownership, and specialist and supported housing.

The Government recognises that in recent years the housing sector has experienced an increase in the cost of borrowing and materials due to wider economic pressures. The Government continuously works with its delivery agencies to ensure that the Programme is delivering effectively in light of these economic challenges.

The Government recognises the cost-of-living pressures that tenants are facing, and that paying rent is likely to be a tenant’s biggest monthly expense. To help households with these cost-of-living pressures the government will provide support worth a total of £108 billion between 2022 and 2025– an average of £3,800 per UK household.

Individuals who need help to make their rent payments may be eligible for a range of financial support through the welfare system. The Government is investing £1.2 billion restoring Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents. This significant investment will mean 1.6 million low-income households will gain, on average, nearly £800 per year in additional help towards their rental costs in 2024/25. For those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and need more support, Discretionary Housing Payments and Household Support Fund grants are also available from local authorities.

Housebuilding is a priority for this Government to help create a more sustainable and affordable housing market over the long term.

The pricing of mortgages is a commercial decision for lenders in which the government does not intervene. Ultimately, the path to lower interest rates is though low inflation, which is why the Government is fully committed to supporting the Bank of England to get inflation back down to the 2% target, and our plan is working.

The Government closely monitors the state of the market and was pleased to see an increase in buyer demand in the latest RICS UK Residential Survey. We have taken a number of steps to support the market in recent months including extending the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, introducing the Mortgage Charter, reducing stamp duty and continuing our home ownership schemes such as First Homes, Shared Ownership and Lifetime ISA and our support for housebuilding.

Full details of the Government’s long-term plan for housing are available on gov.uk. This includes measures to increase the overall supply and availability of safe, warm and affordable homes. Boosting housing supply is key to affordability: we are on track to deliver our commitment to build one million homes this Parliament, are investing significant funding in affordable housing programmes through the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme and £6 billion Affordable Homes Guarantee Scheme, and we have helped over 876,000 households purchase a home since spring 2010 through Government backed schemes.

Housing quality is also central to this plan. We have seen a strong decrease in the number of non-decent homes since 2010. This government has introduced the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, including Awaab’s Law, and is applying the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time through the Renters (Reform) Bill, to ensure that all tenants benefit from homes that are safe and decent

The UK Government is committed to levelling up across the whole of the United Kingdom. As part of a wide range of policies and interventions, we are investing over £15 billion in a suite of complementary Levelling Up projects across the UK to help grow the economy, create jobs, redevelop local amenities, improve transport, provide skills training, and support local businesses.

The department plans to complete process, impact, and value for money evaluations on these funds. These evaluations will help improve effectiveness and efficiency of local growth funding.

271 bids have been awarded funding from our multi-billion-pound Levelling Up Fund, investing in infrastructure that improves everyday life for local residents across the UK. The published (attached) Levelling Up Fund Impact Evaluation Scoping Report sets out how the impact of the Fund will be estimated at the programme and project levels and at different geographies.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund, worth £2.5 billion, is focused on overcoming deep-seated geographical inequalities, with investment in communities building pride in place, supporting high quality skills training, employment and productivity growth, and increasing life chances. Details of the UKSPF Evaluation Strategy (attached) are set out here: UK Shared Prosperity Fund: evaluation - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The department has also committed £2.35 billion worth of Town Deals and £830 million of Future High Streets Funding across 170 high streets, town centres and local communities in England via the Towns Fund. Projects are now in delivery, and the funding has already provided a much-needed boost for town centres and local high streets. Details of the Towns Fund Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy (attached) are set out here: Towns Fund monitoring and evaluation strategy.

The ONS publishes a number of regional datasets regarding the cost of private rented sector lettings, such as the monthly (attached) Price Index of Private Rents and an annual (attached) Housing affordability report, and DLUHC publishes its own annual (attached) English Housing Survey.

Individuals who need help to make their rent payments may be eligible for a range of support through the welfare system. From April 2024, the Government will raise Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents. This significant investment of £1.2 billion means 1.6 million low-income households will gain, on average, nearly £800 per year in additional help towards their rental costs in 2024/25. For those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and need more support, Discretionary Housing Payments and Household Support Fund grants are also available from local authorities.

Housebuilding is a priority for this Government, and we are on track to meet our manifesto commitment to deliver one million homes over this Parliament. In December, the revised National Planning Policy Framework was published, making clear that a core purpose of the planning system is planning for the homes and other development that our communities need. With both the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act and the new Framework now in place, alongside the additional resources for planning departments the Government has recently announced, our planning reforms will accelerate the delivery of new homes.

We are spending billions to support housebuilding, including through our £1 billion Brownfield Infrastructure and Land Fund and our £1.5 billion Levelling Up Homebuilding Fund (LUHBF). We have scaled up the delivery of affordable housing by investing £11.5 billion through the Affordable Homes Programme, which will provide thousands of new homes for rent and sale across the country.

In February, we announced that we are consulting on a range of new measures to boost housebuilding while protecting the Green Belt, through strengthening planning support for brownfield housing development. Legislation was also laid to extend current permitted development rights to support the conversion of commercial buildings of any size into new homes, and we announced an expansion of the ENABLE Build scheme to increase availability of SME finance to the sector.

The Government is closely monitoring levels of arrears and repossessions, which remain low by historic standards. Affordability assessment and stress testing of mortgage applications is helping ensure households do not move into arrears.

Lenders representing over 90% of the market have agreed to our Mortgage Charter, which includes new flexibilities to help customers manage their repayments over a short period. This is helping to support vulnerable households.

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules require lenders to engage individually with their customers who are struggling or who are worried about their payments in order to provide tailored support.

The Government has also put in place measures aimed at helping people to avoid repossession, including Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans, protection in the courts through the Pre-Action Protocol, and the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS).

This Government has made significant progress in creating jobs across the whole of England, and we are taking further steps to reduce regional disparities in employment. The Living Standards mission in the Levelling Up White Paper commits to increasing pay, employment and productivity in every region of the UK by 2030.

The refocussed Investment Zones programme covers eight places across the North and Midlands, providing more jobs in places and levelling up the economy. Additionally, all eight English Freeports are open for business, unlocking investment into port communities and their hinterlands and bringing jobs to these areas.

Following trailblazer deals agreed with the West Midlands and Greater Manchester in March 2023, further trailblazing provisions have been agreed with the North East, enabling local leaders to drive growth in key sectors and tailor local employment support approaches and initiatives that address needs in the area.

The Government is investing over £1.2 billion in the Homelessness Prevention Grant over three years, including a £109 million top-up for 2024/25, which gives councils the funding they need to prevent homelessness and support those at risk.

Local authorities can use the funding flexibly to work with landlords to prevent evictions.

Through our Renters (Reform) Bill, we will abolish ‘no fault’ evictions (Section 21), giving tenants greater security of tenure and thus reducing the risk of homelessness.

Government’s £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) for 2021-26 funds the construction of tens of thousands of homes across the country. These include homes for rent, for low-cost home ownership, and specialist and supported housing. It offers strong value for money. The National Audit Offices estimates that for every £1 the programme spent, the programme provides £2.70 in economic and societal benefits.

Since 2010, Government has delivered over 696,100 new affordable homes, including over 482,000 affordable homes for rent, of which over 172,600 were homes for social rent.

This Government is committed to delivering a better deal for renters, improving the private rented sector for responsible tenants and good landlords.

The Renters (Reform) Bill was introduced in Parliament on 17 May 2023 and will deliver the government’s commitments. The Bill increases security of tenure for tenants by abolishing section 21 evictions. The new tenancy system will also reassure tenants that, apart from in specific circumstances set out in legislation, their rented home is theirs for as long as they want.

We continue to work towards our ambition of delivering 300,000 homes per year to help create a more sustainable and affordable housing market. Individuals who need help to make rent payments may be eligible for financial support through the welfare system. From April 2024, we will invest £1.2 billion restoring Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates to the 30^th percentile of local market rents. For others who face a shortfall, Discretionary Housing Payments are available from local authorities; the Government has provided almost £1.7 billion of this funding to local authorities since 2011.

We have announced a short-term let use class which will apply to properties that are not someone's sole or main home. Existing short-term lets will be reclassified to the new use class. Permitted development rights will allow properties to change use from a short-term let to a dwellinghouse and vice versa. Where there is an issue, the local planning authority may remove this right and require a planning application where in future a dwellinghouse seeks to become a short-term let.

Council tax levels are decided by local authorities, taking account of their local circumstances. The Government maintains a referendum threshold so that voters can have the final say over excessive increases. The threshold strikes a balance between giving local authorities the flexibility to generate income for local services and protecting residents. Councils are also required to put in place council tax reduction schemes to help those in financial hardship.

On the 24^th of January, the department announced our intention to increase the level of funding to local government in the Settlement by £600 million. Taking into account this new funding, local government in England will see an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion next year, taking the total to £64.7 billion in 2024-25.

£500 million of this new funding will be distributed to councils with responsibility for Social Care services through the Social Care Grant. The Adult Social Care Relative Needs Formula is the basis for Social Care Grant allocations and is used to evaluate local authorities’ need for funding relative to one another. We are supporting all of local government through the sector-wide Funding Guarantee, ensuring all local authorities will see a minimum 4% increase in Core Spending Power before local council tax decisions – an increase from the 3% Funding Guarantee in 2023-24.

Finally, we are increasing the Rural Services Delivery Grant to £110 million in 2024-25, its highest ever level. The distribution of this grant will remain unchanged next year, and will continue to be distributed to the top-quartile of local authorities ranked by ‘super-sparsity’, a measure of rurality.

The Government remains committed to our ambition of delivering 300,000 homes per year and the four highest rates of net additional housing supply in 30 years have all come since 2018. The National Planning Policy Framework (published 19 December 2023) is clear that a core purpose of the planning system is planning for the homes and other development that our communities need.

With both the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act and the new Framework now in place, alongside the additional resources for planning departments the Government has recently announced, our planning reforms will accelerate the delivery of new homes.

The changes to the Framework create clear incentives for authorities to get their local plans in place. We remain committed to a plan-led system and national planning policy expects local planning authorities to make sufficient provision for housing and to identify the sites to deliver homes to meet the needs of their communities.

If Local authorities are not making sufficient progress, the Secretary of State will consider using his powers of intervention to ensure timetables and plans are put in place.