Written questions by Rosindell.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to Section 47 of The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023, how many regularisation certificate applications were (a) received and (b) approved by the Building Safety Regulator in 2025; and what was the average time taken by the regulator to approve these applications.

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) can confirm that in 2025 there were 159 Regularisation Applications received with 47 approvals being delivered. The average time in which an approval was made was 33 weeks. In 2025 BSR received 2335 Completion Certificate Applications, granting 664 approvals. The average time in which an approval has been made was 28 weeks. The BSR can confirm that in 2025 there were 514 Change Control requests received with 148 of these marked as complete. The average time taken by the BSR to approve the applications cannot be determined as the Change Requests do not have a definitive outcome date. Last June, MHCLG announced a new phase for the BSR, including strengthened leadership, steps to address operational challenges to speed up decision making, and plans for a new body for the BSR. Enhanced operating models are delivering significant progress. A new Innovation Unit has dramatically reduced processing time for new build applications, with the highest quality applications approved within the 12-week target, whilst the BSR continues to make strong headway tackling cases already in the system. BSR continue publish performance data monthly to support transparency and accountability.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to Section 40 of The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023, how many completion certificate applications were (a) received and (b) approved in 2025 by the Building Safety Regulator; and what was the average time taken by the regulator to approve these applications.

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) can confirm that in 2025 there were 159 Regularisation Applications received with 47 approvals being delivered. The average time in which an approval was made was 33 weeks. In 2025 BSR received 2335 Completion Certificate Applications, granting 664 approvals. The average time in which an approval has been made was 28 weeks. The BSR can confirm that in 2025 there were 514 Change Control requests received with 148 of these marked as complete. The average time taken by the BSR to approve the applications cannot be determined as the Change Requests do not have a definitive outcome date. Last June, MHCLG announced a new phase for the BSR, including strengthened leadership, steps to address operational challenges to speed up decision making, and plans for a new body for the BSR. Enhanced operating models are delivering significant progress. A new Innovation Unit has dramatically reduced processing time for new build applications, with the highest quality applications approved within the 12-week target, whilst the BSR continues to make strong headway tackling cases already in the system. BSR continue publish performance data monthly to support transparency and accountability.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to Section 21 of The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023, how many change control applications were (a) received and (b) approved in 2025 by the Building Safety Regulator; and what was the average time taken by the regulator to approve the applications.

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) can confirm that in 2025 there were 159 Regularisation Applications received with 47 approvals being delivered. The average time in which an approval was made was 33 weeks. In 2025 BSR received 2335 Completion Certificate Applications, granting 664 approvals. The average time in which an approval has been made was 28 weeks. The BSR can confirm that in 2025 there were 514 Change Control requests received with 148 of these marked as complete. The average time taken by the BSR to approve the applications cannot be determined as the Change Requests do not have a definitive outcome date. Last June, MHCLG announced a new phase for the BSR, including strengthened leadership, steps to address operational challenges to speed up decision making, and plans for a new body for the BSR. Enhanced operating models are delivering significant progress. A new Innovation Unit has dramatically reduced processing time for new build applications, with the highest quality applications approved within the 12-week target, whilst the BSR continues to make strong headway tackling cases already in the system. BSR continue publish performance data monthly to support transparency and accountability.

Communities and Local Government, how many times his Department has given consent for a direction to be made under Section 13 (5) of the Building Safety Act 2022; and which local authorities are subject to such directions.

Under Section 13 of the Building Safety Act 2022, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) may direct a relevant authority to do anything for the purpose of facilitating the exercise by the regulator of a relevant function, or enabling the relevant authority to facilitate the exercise by the regulator of a relevant function, as specified in the direction. Under Section 13(5), a direction from the BSR may be given only with the consent of the Secretary of State. BSR has not directed or sought to direct any local authority (or fire and rescue authority) under Section 13(5) of the Building Safety Act 2022. Consequently, the Secretary of State has not given consent for any direction made under Section 13(5).

Communities and Local Government, if he will criminalise unenforceable clauses in tenancy agreements.

Upon commencement on 1 May 2026, the relevant provisions of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 will require landlords to provide their tenants with certain information about the terms of the tenancy in writing.Landlords will be able to comply with this requirement by including the information in a written tenancy agreement. Landlords who fail to provide the prescribed information could face a fine of up to £7,000 from their local authority.The Renters’ Rights Act also provides local authorities with powers to act against unenforceable clauses such as requiring a tenant to sign a fixed term.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help reduce housefires in social housing in (a) England and (b) Romford constituency.

The Department continues to run its national Fire Kills campaign to raise awareness of key fire safety messages and behaviours to help keep people safe in their homes. The latest advertising campaign launched on 17 November and reminds people to ensure they have a sufficient number of working smoke alarms in their home. The Department works in close partnership with the National Fire Chiefs Council to support local community fire safety activity undertaken by local fire and rescue services, often targeted at those most vulnerable to fire. Under the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Regulations 2015, all private and social landlords must ensure at least one smoke alarm is equipped on each storey of their homes where there is a room used as living accommodation. Awaab’s Law was introduced in October 2025 and means that landlords must take action to investigate emergency hazards, including fire hazards, and make them safe within 24 hours (excluding work to fix cladding). The landlord must also take action on significant damp and mould in fixed timelines. In 2026 the requirements will expand to apply to a wider range of hazards, including significant fire hazards. The Department has also consulted on reviewing the Decent Homes Standard that social landlords must meet, including a proposal to add fire alarm systems to the list of building components that must be kept in good repair. The response to the consultation will be published in due course.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer given on 06 November 2025 (86606), what specific actions his department has taken to ensure that citizens of an Overseas British Territory are not deprived of housing and subsistence whilst resident in the UK.

You can find information about eligibility for housing assistance in England in Chapter 7 of the Homelessness Code of Guidance, which is published on gov.uk here. Access to public funds depends on whether the individual is British Citizen or not, and what visa the individual has. Further guidance can be found here. DWP cannot pay public funds benefits to individuals where the Home Office has applied a ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ condition to their immigration status. Everyone arriving or returning to the UK, including British Nationals, are subject to DWP’s residency tests in order to access public funds and benefits, unless an exemption applies.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2025 to Question 71834 on Construction: Foreign Investment in UK, how many building control applications managed by the Fast Track innovation unit were (a) approved within the statutory time frame, (b) approved after the statutory time frame, (c) approved within the 65 working day target, (d) approved outside that target, (e) not yet approved and the statutory time frame has expired, (f) not yet approved and the 65 working day target has expired and (g) have been rejected.

The June reforms mark a pivotal step in positioning the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) for the future, reflecting the Government's commitment to enhancing safety and supporting residents. On 4th August, the BSR launched the innovation unit to accelerate new-build applications. The new model is working effectively, with the majority of cases progressing in line with expectations, and some already concluded. It will take time for the benefits to be felt across the system, however we would expect the model to start to deliver tangible improvements around December. To support transparency and accountability, the BSR published performance data on 16 October and will continue to do so monthly to track progress against this commitment. We are expecting the next release of data towards the end of November.

Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on streamlining Gateway 2 approvals under the Building Safety Regulator.

My department and the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) recognises that the delays in assessing Building Control Applications have been unacceptable and that they impact upon all parts of the construction supply chain. This is why we announced reforms to the BSR on 30 June, including plans to establish the BSR as a separate body. The BSR has listened to feedback from the industry and the reform package announced on 30 June 2025 is already having a positive impact on operations, with twice as many decisions being made by the BSR between June-September 2025 in comparison to January-March 2025. The BSR has committed to improving BSR operations by December, with faster processing of new build applications and decisions on most of the existing new-build caseload. The BSR published performance data on 16 October and will continue to do so monthly to track progress against this commitment.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of construction supply chain bottlenecks associated with Gateway 2 on the construction plant-hire sector.

My department and the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) recognises that the delays in assessing Building Control Applications have been unacceptable and that they impact upon all parts of the construction supply chain. This is why we announced reforms to the BSR on 30 June, including plans to establish the BSR as a separate body. The BSR has listened to feedback from the industry and the reform package announced on 30 June 2025 is already having a positive impact on operations, with twice as many decisions being made by the BSR between June-September 2025 in comparison to January-March 2025. The BSR has committed to improving BSR operations by December, with faster processing of new build applications and decisions on most of the existing new-build caseload. The BSR published performance data on 16 October and will continue to do so monthly to track progress against this commitment.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to help reduce the proportion of highly deprived neighbourhoods.

The Pride in Place Strategy sets out how we will deliver up to £5 billion in funding and support to 339 places experiencing the highest levels of deprivation, with two key funding streams. Our Pride in Place Programme will support 244 neighbourhoods with up to £20 million of flexible funding and support over 10 years to unlock the potential of the place they call home. We have used metrics that identify ‘double-disadvantaged’ neighbourhoods – those suffering from a combination of material deprivation and low social capital. The full place selection methodology is set out here. The Pride in Place Impact Fund provides around £150 million to a further 95 places to make immediate improvements to high streets, community venues and public spaces across the next two years. This funding has been targeted at the places most in-need using deprivation and community pride measures. The full place selection methodology is set out here.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to promote (a) traditional craftsmanship and (b) traditional British architectural styles in the building of new social housing developments.

National planning policy makes clear that local planning authorities should prepare their own local design guides and design codes in line with the principles set out in national design guidance. The guidance encourages integration of a mix of tenures and helps local areas to identify what good design means for them and the process for preparing a design code to introduce local design standards for new development. It highlights the importance of understanding and responding to existing context and the identity or character of a place, including local vernacular architecture and architectural features. We are in the process of updating national design guidance and will set out further details in due course.

Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making it his Department's policy to stop local government employees working from home.

Local authorities are independent employers responsible for the management of their own workforces including decisions about terms and conditions, working practices and how best to deploy staff to achieve value for money. The Government will not micromanage their day-to-day running. Local authorities will each hold data about their own individual workforces but the Department does not collect this centrally. Sector-wide data is collected by the Office for National Statistics Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey (ONS Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey | Local Government Association).

Communities and Local Government, if his Department will make an estimate of the proportion of local government employees that are (a) on long-term sick leave and (b) work from home in (i) England and (ii) the London Borough of Havering.

Local authorities are independent employers responsible for the management of their own workforces including decisions about terms and conditions, working practices and how best to deploy staff to achieve value for money. The Government will not micromanage their day-to-day running. Local authorities will each hold data about their own individual workforces but the Department does not collect this centrally. Sector-wide data is collected by the Office for National Statistics Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey (ONS Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey | Local Government Association).

Communities and Local Government, if his Department will make an estimate of the number of people have been employed in local government in (a) England and (b) Romford constituency in every year since 2010.

Local authorities are independent employers responsible for the management of their own workforces including decisions about terms and conditions, working practices and how best to deploy staff to achieve value for money. The Government will not micromanage their day-to-day running. Local authorities will each hold data about their own individual workforces but the Department does not collect this centrally. Sector-wide data is collected by the Office for National Statistics Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey (ONS Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey | Local Government Association).

Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the number of local authorities that (a) currently operate four-day working weeks for their employees and (b) are considering implementing four-day working weeks for employees.

Local authorities are independent employers responsible for the management of their own workforces and the Government will not micromanage them. The Department does not routinely collect this data. However it is the Government’s policy that Local Authorities should not be offering full time pay for part time work as we are concerned it does not offer value for money for taxpayers.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support the regeneration of town centres buildings in (a) Romford constituency and (b) England.

Through the Pride in Place Programme, Harold Hill East in Romford will receive up to £20 million over ten years to support local priorities. The government is further enabling regeneration in places including Romford by providing multi-year local government financial settlements which will empower local councils to drive their own regeneration priorities.This government extended the UKSPF by £900 million in England for 2025-26 and recentlyconsolidated the Local Regeneration Fund, to streamline funding for places in England. In September 2025, the government launched its overarching Pride in Place programme, providing 208 English places with up to £4.16 billion over 10 years.

Communities and Local Government, how many reviews of regulators' decisions have been requested under Regulation 48 of The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023; and how many of these reviews have resulted in the decision being (a) upheld and (b) varied.

As of 17 October 2025, the Building Safety Regulator has reviewed ten decisions. Out of these, four decisions have been overturned and six have been upheld. 20 reviews are currently in progress, and two further reviews have been requested.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2025 to Question 70345 on Buildings: Safety, what his Department's timetable is for publishing the building control approval application data (Apr – Jun 2025).

As of 16th October 2025, a total of 69 members of staff were working on building control within the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), including heads of unit. Excluding heads of unit, the total number of staff is 64 (principal regulatory leads, regulatory leads, case officer managers and case officers) who all work directly on applications. The BSR has seven teams currently working on new builds, external remediation, internal remediation and refurbishment. These teams are made up of approximately ten full-time equivalent members of staff per team, including principal regulatory leads, regulatory leads, case officer managers and case officers. Building control approval application data is published monthly, with the most recent publication on 16th October 2025. Building Safety Regulator building control approval application data October 2025 - GOV.UK.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2025 to Question 71829 on Hospitals: Construction, how many dedicated teams there are for special types of building control applications; what type of building control applications each team deals with; and how many staff are in each team.

As of 16th October 2025, a total of 69 members of staff were working on building control within the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), including heads of unit. Excluding heads of unit, the total number of staff is 64 (principal regulatory leads, regulatory leads, case officer managers and case officers) who all work directly on applications. The BSR has seven teams currently working on new builds, external remediation, internal remediation and refurbishment. These teams are made up of approximately ten full-time equivalent members of staff per team, including principal regulatory leads, regulatory leads, case officer managers and case officers. Building control approval application data is published monthly, with the most recent publication on 16th October 2025. Building Safety Regulator building control approval application data October 2025 - GOV.UK.