Speeches by Rayner.

“Yes, but what I would say—”

“First of all, the infrastructure in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill is things like nature recovery, nutrient neutrality and streamlining planning, so that planning applications can focus on the more contentious areas where you do need to thrash out the critical infrastructure that is needed as part of the planning…”

“I don’t accept that. There are a number of things we are doing to support local authorities, including more than £5 billion of new grant funding over the next three years. I accept the challenges that local authorities have faced over the period of austerity. We are fixing that. We are giving them longer term—some mult…”

“Planning permissions are up 6%. That is something that we have already seen between January and March 2025: planning applications are up 6% from the same quarter last year. That is the first indication that we are dealing with an inheritance of housing and applications going off a cliff, basically, under the previous G…”

“We are trying to do that. Again, through the Local Government Association, we are giving more support on that. We also have the non-mayoral model going forward, with combined authorities that are coming together. We are pushing authorities to do that as well—to think across boundaries to solve some of the challenges th…”

“We are working with mayoral combined authorities on secondments, for example. It is about how we can share expertise and make sure that people have the capacity to realise their full potential. There is already a number of ways in which we are trying to support areas that want to build the capacity. The biggest cultura…”

“I do not have a date for those pilots yet, but hopefully they will happen as soon as possible. Anyone who knows me in government knows that the Green Book crosses my mouth on a regular basis, including with the Treasury. This is actually a really exciting programme that could unlock a lot of development in areas that h…”

“I cannot give you the granular detail of every single planning application, but I can tell you that we are monitoring what happens. I have done a number of call-ins. My Department set up a specialist group, the new homes accelerator, which will help. We are supporting councils with their negotiations on 106 notices to …”

“They are about to embark on the pilot, and there is a taskforce that has been working on place-based business. I get really excited about this Green Book reform, and a running joke in Government is that if anyone shouts, “Green Book”, I go, “Yay!” Particularly as a northern MP, I think this has real benefits for how we…”

“The bank have the investment. They have the £16 billion of investment that we are putting in. We think that will leverage £53 billion of private sector money. They will make decisions on their loans based on their risk factors and how they will get that back, in much the same way as a commercial bank would do in the sa…”

“Again, on top of that we have the Renters’ Rights Bill, with its protections, and the extra money we set aside for homelessness prevention. Local councils can look at some of that for ways to prevent homelessness and at section 21 no-fault evictions, along with other challenges that families face that lead them into ho…”

“If you look at the bank loan financing, which will be determined through the bank’s investment strategy, and at how Homes England currently offer finance for development, they have a track record of over 90% of its loans funded. The risk is quite minimal, especially when we are looking at housing and the situation we f…”

“The National Housing Bank is a new approach that will deliver housing at scale. We are putting in £16 billion of investment, which we think will support the delivery of half a million homes over the lifetime of its investment, and leverage in £53 billion of additional private investment. You are absolutely right to con…”

“The country will need way more housing than we can give. Being able to have the construction and facilities to get to that place is a fine balance. One thing that has been said to me is, “Relax 106 notices and people can build, build, build.”, but no; we need to build communities, so you have got to have the infrastruc…”

“What I would say, Chair, is that, at the forefront of my mind, in everything that I do—not least with the pressures surrounding local government and some of the fundamental services they provide to children and young people—is the housing crisis that we have. We have 165,000 children in temporary accommodation, and it …”

“We have to look at the lessons learned on shared ownership. As you say, for some it was a lifeline to get them on the property ladder and, for others, it has been entrapment. It is also about how it affected the housing market. I would argue that some of the previous schemes made house prices go up at a higher rate act…”

“It is within the 1.5 million homes target.”

“That is right.”

“No, because I think my Housing Minister wants to have some form of Christmas, Chair, and I want to keep in his good books, bearing in mind how much work I have set my Department. Half the legislation going through Parliament at the moment is from my Department. My Ministers and my civil servants are doing a tremendous …”

“Well, I think it is important to state that, like I say, we have already put £34 billion a year into housing support, and that was increased in April 2024, but the decisions on the local housing allowance will be made in the round at the Budget, alongside the other decisions that the Government have already made that h…”