Committee publication · Correspondence · 21 May 2026
Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government relating to Unlocking land for housing, 19 May 2026
From: Public Accounts Committee
Inquiry: Unlocking land for housing
Summary
The Permanent Secretary at MHCLG writes to the Public Accounts Committee ahead of a hearing on the NAO's unlocking land for housing report. She provides an updated completion figure of 57,671 homes (against the NAO's 33,000) and outlines steps taken to strengthen monitoring across six legacy programmes, acknowledging earlier data gaps on Home Building Funds and the Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land Fund.
Key findings
- Updated housing completions figure of 57,671 delivered to end of December 2025 across six legacy programmes, compared to NAO's reported 33,000
- Acknowledges NAO finding that monitoring of housebuilding must be in place across all programmes to demonstrate value for money
- Initial data gaps on Home Building Funds and Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land Fund (BIL) have been addressed through retrospective analysis identifying 22,800+ completions
- MHCLG and Homes England have implemented new monitoring arrangements on BIL for starts and completions on contracted grant and land acquisition projects
- Monitoring of housing starts and completions has been built into the new National Housing Delivery Fund from outset to enable consistent evidence of delivery and value for money
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
Dame Sarah Healey, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Homes England, National Audit Office (NAO), Public Accounts Committee, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Notable line
“We fully accept the NAO's finding, that to fully demonstrate value for money for these unlocking land funds, monitoring of housebuilding must be in place across these programmes.”
Key Quotes
“We fully accept the NAO's finding, that to fully demonstrate value for money for these unlocking land funds, monitoring of housebuilding must be in place across these programmes.”
“… we are therefore pleased to be able to provide to the Committee an updated figure of 57,671 completions delivered to the end of December 2025 through the six legacy programmes.”
“… we fully accept the NAO's recommendation that stronger and more consistent monitoring of the intended eventual housing numbers should have been in place from the outset.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗