Written questions by Berry.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to section 21A of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, if he will issue guidance to local authorities on the timeframe within which the responsible person should give residents of domestic premises (a) comprehensible and (b) relevant information about the risks to residents identified by risk assessments of their housing stock.

Article 21A of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 makes clear that whenever there has been a fire risk assessment in a multi-occupied residential building, the risks identified in the assessment must be communicated to residents as well as the measures being taken to address these risks. This requirement is also the case whenever the fire risk assessment is updated. In guidance we publish on these requirements, titled Check your fire safety responsibilities under Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022, we advise that those responsible for fire safety communicate this information alongside the instructions to residents on what to do in the event of a fire which is an annual requirement. This advice is repeated in guidance on blocks of flats. There is a regulatory making power to mandate the frequency of this information, and we will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the legislation to identify if such a mandate is necessary, but the important information should already be communicated to residents under the existing provision.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to section 3 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, when she plans to lay a report before Parliament on the delivery of the levelling-up missions.

The Government published the Levelling Up Missions annual report 2024 to 2025 on 21 May 2025.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the installation of wood burning stoves in newbuild homes on levels of public health.

The government recognises that the use of solid fuel appliances in domestic settings is a major source of air pollution and is committed to cleaning up our air and protecting public health by developing a series of interventions to reduce emissions so everyone’s exposure to air pollution is reduced. That is why the government has launched a rapid review of the Environment Improvement Plan (EIP) to make sure it is fit for purpose to deliver legally binding targets to improve air quality. We published a statement of the rapid review’s key findings on 30 January 2025, to be followed by publication of a revised EIP later this year. As part of the EIP, we are developing a series of intervention to reduce emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), including from domestic combustion. Legislation is currently in place to restrict the sale of the most polluting fuels used in domestic burning. This includes restrictions on the sale of small volumes of wet wood for domestic burning; limits on the emission of sulphur and smoke from manufactured solid fuels; and phasing out the sale of bituminous coal (traditional house coal). These regulations aim to move people to cleaner fuels: from wet wood to dry wood, and from traditional house coal to smokeless coal and low sulphur manufactured solid fuels, resulting in lower particulate matter emissions.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to Building Regulation Approved Document T: Toilet Accommodation, last updated on 1 October 2024, if she will take legislative steps to (a) ensure that new buildings include the provision of universal toilets and (b) permit universal toilets in addition to or in place of single-sex provision.

Requirement T1 of the Building Regulations calls for universal toilets to be provided where space allows and is also clear that universal toilets may be provided in addition to single-sex toilets. The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) have a duty under the Building Safety Act 2022 to keep the safety and standard of buildings under review. The BSR continually reviews the suite of Approved Documents to ensure the statutory guidance remains relevant, as well as advising government on the safety and standards of all buildings. This Government is always keen to receive feedback on the real-world application of the Building Regulations and will consider comments received, monitor stakeholder experience, and keep the new Approved Document T under review.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the press release entitled £2 billion new investment to support biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, published on 25 March 2025, how many and what proportion of these homes will be social housing for people experiencing homelessness.

At Spring statement, the government announced an immediate injection of £2 billion to support delivery of the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and contribute to our ambitious Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in this Parliament. Further detail can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement made on 25 March 2025 (HCWS549). The investment made at Spring statement follows the £800 million in new in-year funding which has been made available for the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme and that will support the delivery of up to 7,800 new homes, with more than half of them being Social Rent homes. We will set out set details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme at the Spending Review. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and homeownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for social rent. Homes England and GLA will assess bids received in the usual way before awarding funding. Exact funding to different places and the locations of homes that will be built will depend on the bids received from local authorities and housing associations. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and homeownership. We have asked HE, GLA and bidders to prioritise homes for social rent, and will publish the number of homes delivered at each tenure in an annual report to Parliament. Local authorities are responsible for their own allocation scheme within the framework of legislation. By law, people who are homeless must be given ‘reasonable preference’ (priority) and local authorities can give ‘additional preference’ (high priority) to those who have urgent housing needs.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 21 November 2024 on Leasehold and Commonhold Reform, HCWS244, what her planned timetable is to (a) consult and (b) bring measures into force on the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024’s provisions on (i) service charges and (ii) legal costs.

As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement in question, the government will consult this year on the Act’s provisions on service charges and on legal costs, bringing these measures into force as quickly as possible thereafter.

Communities and Local Government, for what reason thank you payments to sponsors hosting refugees from Ukraine for more than 12 months will reduce from £500 to £350 from 1 April 2025; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of this reduction on (a) the ability of sponsors to continue hosting more than one refugee and (b) local authority budgets.

To fund our continued support through the 18 month Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme visa period, and ensure it is affordable within government budgets, we have taken the difficult decision to reduce the level of thank you payments.We recognise that this is a difficult time for many. Sponsors who feel they cannot continue to support their guests may want to consider asking guests to pay a reasonable and proportionate contribution (according to use) for water, gas and electricity consumed or supplied to the accommodation or to any shared facilities. Sponsors might want to talk with their guest about moving to a more formal arrangement and consider offering a rental property or make use of the Government’s Rent a Room scheme.We are maintaining Government support for Ukrainians coming to the UK. For arrivals on Homes for Ukraine visas, local authorities continue to receive a tariff of £5,900 per Ukrainian arrival in their area (£10,500 for eligible minors), and councils have the flexibility to use this funding as best suits the local area which could include supporting guests to access privately rented accommodation.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her Department's policies of the report by the New Economics Foundation entitled Building Hope: how land reforms

The government have made clear its intention to reform the compulsory purchase order process and land compensation rules to enable more effective land assembly that will speed-up and lower the costs of the delivery of housing and critical infrastructure i...

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the oral contribution of 4 September 2024 by the Prime Minister, Official Report, column 326, if she will take steps to require housing associations to publish

The Building Safety Act 2022 and associated regulations set out requirements for information that must be provided to residents in Higher-Risk Buildings - buildings which contain at least two residential units and are at least 18 metres in height, or have...

Communities and Local Government, when she plans to answer Question 2677 on Right to Buy Scheme tabled by the hon. Member for Brighton Pavilion on 30 July 2024.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer to Question UIN 2677 on 13 November 2024.

Communities and Local Government, when she plans to reply to Question 2676 on Council Housing: Finance tabled by the hon. Member for Brighton Pavilion on 30 July 2024.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer to Question UIN 2676 on 13 November 2024.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to release capital investment for community led housing.

The government recognise that community-led housing delivers a wide range of benefits including building affordable homes, increasing community participation and strengthening the co-operative economy. I recently met with the Chief Executive of the Commun...

Communities and Local Government, if she will set out her timetable to bring forward regulations relating to Schedule 3 of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 to allow Community Land Trusts to obtain commu

The government intends to act quickly to provide homeowners with greater rights, powers, and protections over their homes by implementing the provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. These include specified exemptions for community-led ho...

Communities and Local Government, if she will take legislative steps to support the continued provision of leasehold flats and houses by (a) Community Land Trusts and (b) other community-led providers.

The government intends to act quickly to provide homeowners with greater rights, powers, and protections over their homes by implementing the provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. These include specified exemptions for community-led ho...

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her Department's policies of the report by The Community Land Trust Network entitled Community Housing Fund Deliv

The government recognise that community-led housing delivers a wide range of benefits including building affordable homes, increasing community participation and strengthening the co-operative economy. I recently met with the Chief Executive of the Commun...

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Right to Buy and associated discounts on the value for money of grant spending on new council housing through the Affordable Housing Programme.

Local authorities can bid for grant funding through the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) to support delivery of affordable homes. If a home built using AHP grant is sold via the Right to Buy, then the local authority must either recycle the relevant grant or return it to Homes England or the Greater London Authority so that it can be used for another permitted purpose, including the delivery of new homes. These requirements ensure that grant issued through the AHP is used efficiently and in a way that secures value for money. As such, we have not made a specific assessment as outlined in the question.The Government is undertaking a rapid review of the increased Right to Buy discounts introduced in 2012 and will bring forward more detail and secondary legislation this Autumn. We will also review the Right to Buy more widely, including looking at eligibility criteria and protections for new homes and will bring forward a consultation in the Autumn.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an estimate of the amount held by each (a) council and (b) other planning authority in unspent Section 106 and developer contributions towards affordable housing..

Local planning authorities are required to publish an infrastructure funding statement annually on their websites. These should include information on the amount of unspent developer contributions they hold at the end of each reporting year and the amount spent during the year, including on affordable housing.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the value for money of grant spending on new council housing through the Affordable Housing Programme.

The Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) receives bids from housing associations and local authorities. Our delivery partners, the GLA and Homes England, assess the viability of these against criteria set out in the internal programme evaluation. The National Audit Office conducted a value for money assessment for the AHP 21-26 and published this in on their website in September 2022.

Communities and Local Government , if she will make an estimate of the real-terms value of the total of discounts claimed under Right to Buy in each local authority in England and Wales in each year since 1989.

The total amount of Right to Buy discounts per local authority from 2011-12 onwards is available in Section B of the Local Authority Housing Statistics (LAHS) available here Local authority housing data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), with the latest data included in the LAHS open data Local Authority Housing Statistics open data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).Discounts data prior to 2011-12 are not available by local authority. At England level, the average discount from 1998-99 is available in live table 682 Live tables on social housing sales - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)Figures are not available for earlier periods.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing councils with grants to buy homes from the market to convert the tenure of these homes to council housing.

The Government will support councils and housing associations to build their capacity and make a greater contribution to affordable housing supply. As a first step, we have given councils the ability to combine Right to Buy receipts with section 106 contributions and removed the caps on the percentage of replacements delivered as acquisitions and the percentage cost of a replacement home that can be funded using Right to Buy receipts. These flexibilities will be in place for an initial 24 months, subject to review. We encourage councils to make the best use of these flexibilities and to achieve a good balance between acquisitions and new builds. We have also confirmed the third round of the Local Authority Housing Fund will be going ahead, with £450 million to councils to acquire and deliver homes for families at risk of homelessness.