Committee publication · Correspondence · 26 February 2026
Letter to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government relating to the Government response to the Environmental Audit Committee report on Environmental sustainability and housing growth, 25 February 2026
Summary
The Environmental Audit Committee Chair writes to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on 25 February 2026 demanding an explanation for the Department's failure to provide a Government response to the Committee's November 2025 report on environmental sustainability and housing growth within the statutory two-month deadline. The letter cites historical non-compliance and requests confirmation of a response date by 5 March 2026.
Key findings
- The Department has not yet provided a Government response to the EAC's environmental sustainability and housing growth report published 16 November 2025, now three months overdue
- No expected date for submission has been communicated and no explanation for the delay has been offered despite regular engagement by Committee staff
- The Department previously failed to respond to any reports within two months in the last Parliament, averaging 5.8 months late
- The Committee stresses that delayed responses impede Parliament's ability to consider issues central to political debate and pending legislation
Tone
AdversarialTopics
Key actors
Toby Perkins MP, Steve Reed MP, Environmental Audit Committee, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Liaison Committee
Notable line
“We are extremely concerned that the Department does not repeat these failures in its response to our environmental sustainability and housing growth report.”
Key Quotes
“Despite clear guidance on the timelines for production of Government responses to Select Committee reports and Committee staff regularly engaging with the Departments for updates, our Committee has so far received no response to its report, no expected date when it will be provided and no explanation for the delay.”
“It has been a long-established principle, for both the House of Commons and the Government, that responses to Select Committee reports should be provided within two months of the report's publication.”
“At a time when planning is central to much 1 Erskine May, 25th edition, Part 6, Chapter 38, paragraph 38.54 2 Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee, Third Special Report of Session 2022-23, The Department for Levelling Up …”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗