Written questions by Anderson.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes to deliver infrastructure alongside new housing developments.

The table below lists infrastructure projects in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes that have received capital funding through the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF), the Land Release Fund (LRF), or the Brownfield Land Release Fund (BLRF) to unlock housing developments in the last five years, up to 31 December 2024.FundSchemeLocation20/2121/2222/2323/2424/25TotalHIFAylesbury Garden TownBuckinghamshire£8.6m£30.0m£23.0m£0.1m£10.0m£71.7mHIFPrinces Risborough Expansion AreaBuckinghamshire-£5.1m£0.2m--£5.3mHIFRealignment of Abbey Barn Lane (project since withdrawn)Buckinghamshire£0.8m£0.4m--£0.2m £1.0mHIFMilton Keynes East Sustainable Urban ExpansionMilton Keynes£2.0m£9.1m£2.2m£53.8m£27.4m£94.6mLRF 2Wing LRFBuckinghamshire£0.2m £0.2mBLRF 2.2Old Country OfficesBuckinghamshire £0.7m £0.7m

Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of households on local authority housing waiting lists in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes.

The number of households on social housing registers (waiting lists) in England and for each local authority in England is available each year since 1987 in live table 600 on gov.uk here. The number of households on the housing register (waiting list) is not the same as the number of households waiting. Local authorities periodically review their registers to remove households who no longer require housing, so the total number of households on housing registers may overstate the number of households who still require social housing at any one time. Housing register size may also be affected by other factors. For example, there is the potential for some households to be on the housing register of more than one local authority. The frequency of reviews varies between local authorities.

Communities and Local Government, how many new homes have been built in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes in each of the last five years.

The Department publishes an annual release entitled ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’, which is the primary and most comprehensive measure of housing supply. This includes estimates of new homes built in each local authority, including Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes, in each financial year. Statistics to 2023-24 can be found in Live Table 123 on gov.uk here. The Department also publishes a quarterly release entitled ‘Housing supply: Indicators of New Supply, England’, which includes estimates of new build starts and completions in England and in each local authority district. Statistics to the quarter ending December 2024 can be found in Table 253a on gov.uk here. This dataset covers new build dwellings only and should be regarded as a leading indicator of overall housing supply.

Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on what the value of business rates written off by Buckinghamshire Council was in each of the last three financial years.

Data on the amount of business rates that local authorities have written off are published as part of the annual ‘Collection of council tax and business rates’ statistical release, published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/council-tax-statistics#collection-rates-for-council-tax-and-non-domestic-rates.Local authorities are asked to report the amount written off in the financial year across three lines – in relation to bills for the year itself, in relation to the previous year only and in relation to earlier financial years. All local authority level data are published in Table 9.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of trends in Local Government Pension Scheme asset allocation to UK equities in the last ten years.

The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) invests approximately 9% of its total assets of c. £392 billion in UK equities (or 17% of its total equity holdings) compared to over 20% a decade ago. The government’s landmark pensions review aims to unlock investment in the UK economy.

Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of the change in (a) core spending power and (b) settlement funding for (i) Aylesbury Vale District Council in each financial year between 2010-11 and 2019-20, (ii) Buckinghamshire County Council in each financial year between 2010-11 and 2019-20 and (iii) Buckinghamshire Council in each financial year since 2020-21.

Detailed information on core spending power and settlement funding for Aylesbury Vale District Council, Buckinghamshire County Council and Buckinghamshire Council for each year from 2015/16 to 2020/21 can be viewed here.Due to changes in the function and financing of local government, comparable data on Core Spending Power is not available prior to 2015/16.