Speeches by Pennycook.

“Sorry, what do you mean by consulting on ground rents?”

“Yes. The Department will not do that for each of the many hundreds of local authorities across the country but it expects that as part of plan development.”

“Simply because of the type of home and product that those standards produce. M4(3) is a very specialised product: it is completely wheelchair accessible. That is not a product that the vast majority of families in the housing market require, so it is a much more specialised product. M4(2) is not a niche product in that…”

“That is precisely what we sought to investigate further through the pre-legislative scrutiny process. In the policy document that we published on ground rents specifically, you will remember that we sought further evidence on whether there is a justification for certain exemptions. We drew particular attention to negot…”

“You are confusing a proposal from us with evidence seeking. As I said, we have evidence that negotiated quid pro quo leases exist, but we do not know how prevalent they are. We are seeking evidence on whether any exemption for them is justified given their nature. We are not proposing a roll-out of quid pro quo leases …”

“That is the type of issue we are trying to get more evidence on, and why we have had to go out for a further technical consultation to try to get more, so that we have a basis to make a rational decision on.”

“Just to supplement that, the bar for an exemption has to be extremely compelling in my mind. Let us see the evidence as to whether or not this type of lease meets that bar.”

“That is a tough question. I hear bandied about fairly often that as a Government we came into office without a plan.”

“I am sure you do. We had developed in opposition a very well thought-through, detailed and comprehensive plan with respect to housing and planning legislation and policy. I would argue we have ruthlessly executed that over the past two years. If I recount all the things we have done, they include overhauling the planni…”

“I am extremely proud of the measures we have taken to boost rates of house building over the past two years. We have seen some incredibly encouraging green shoots. I thought this might come up. Let me cite some evidence we have to date. To the year ending March 2026, outlined planning applications were up 54% from a ye…”

“I have lost track of the number of times I have gone around this with the Committee. There is a very clear measure of how we are performing against our 1.5 million homes target across the Parliament, and that is net additional completions. Those are publicly recordable figures and you will be able to judge them on it. …”

“To give you a specific example, the HHSRS system was introduced in 2004 so that residents had a means of redress when it came to particular hazards. As I said, overheating is a hazard. When it comes to a tenant being able to seek redress for that particular problem—I am just trying to explain how the system works—it is…”

“Let me take those in two parts, with a caveat on the last one that I am not the Minister responsible for building regulations specifically, but I am more than happy to talk to them. Again, there is a slightly complex picture, which I can hopefully explain in a way that the Committee can follow. When I go back to the ge…”

“You can encourage in that manner. I will pass it on to the Building Safety Minister and Andy Roe at the BSR.”

“We have not announced a timeline for the completion of that technical review.”

“From memory the feedback we have had to the NPPF is that a minimum threshold of M4(3) is not particularly appropriate in the way that a minimum percentage of M4(2) is. It is a very different product.”

“Let me briefly say that we recognise where elements of the system are not working properly. Let us take HHSRS. I remember writing an opinion article in The Guardian about 15 years ago about this, but the problem with HHSRS is actually that enforcement is not a statutory responsibility. This is not the sexy end of local…”

“We can go back over cold and warm homes and the impact. We have been very clear about how tenants can seek redress in those instances and the role of the regulator and the ombudsman, all of which can take action by way of compensation, fines or whatever it may be. There are established redress routes. Give me some sugg…”

“If I am honest, I would have to check whether it is legal to move a family that is statutorily overcrowded into another property where they remain statutorily overcrowded, even if it is an improvement. I am more than happy to come back to you on that. As you would expect I would come back to the importance of up-to-dat…”

“Through the local plan process, local areas obviously derive a housing needs requirement from the standard method in the NPPF. They should also look underneath that—as part of the development of local plans—at what their housing needs specifically are and what types and tenures of homes they need in their area, and set…”