Every parliamentary written question tabled by Lee Dillon this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 281–300 of 610 · this parliament
Communities and Local Government, how many households have been refused social housing due to affordability checks; and what alternative affordable housing options are available to those households to help prevent homelessness.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 98397 on 17 December 2025.
Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure adequate provision of one-bedroom homes for young people within the Government’s target of delivering 180,000 homes for social rent.
For details on the Social and Affordable Homes Programme, I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 11 November 2025 (HCWS1027). The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that it is for local planning authorities to assess the size, types and tenure of housing needed for different groups, including (but not limited to) those who require social rented homes and to reflect this in their planning policies.
Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support the provision of stepping-stone accommodation to supporting care leavers into independent living.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 96485 on 10 December 2025.
Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department will take to reduce the use of forms of temporary accommodation such as nightly-paid accommodation in line with commitments made in the National Plan to End Homelessness.
The National Plan to End Homelessness sets out immediate action to help councils address the most unacceptable forms of homelessness, including our target to end the use of B&B accommodation for families except in emergencies by the end of this parliament. To achieve this target, we will support and drive temporary accommodation models that address specific challenges in local areas and share good practice through an Emergency Accommodation Reduction Programme with £30 million funding to tackle a wider range of poor practice – including B&B and unsuitable out-of-area placements. We will also increase the supply of good-quality, affordable temporary accommodation including through the £950 million fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential for fiscal devolution to narrow regional inequalities.
The Government is committed to supporting regional growth. Analysis informed by OECD evidence shows that equipping local leaders with fiscal tools can stimulate investment in priority areas and foster sustainable growth. This is why we are pursuing further fiscal devolution through enhanced local revenue raising powers, including our intention to introduce a new power for Mayors to introduce a levy on short-term overnight stays. A public consultation was launched immediately following the Chancellor’s Budget statement and will run until 18 February.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of Centrepoint’s finding that local authorities face a £400 million funding shortfall in meeting their statutory duties to young people experiencing homelessness.
The government has provided more than £1 billion funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services this year. Councils should use this record investment to meet the needs of people experiencing or at risk of homelessness in their area, including young people.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of Centrepoint’s call to build 40,000 one-bedroom homes per year to address record levels of youth homelessness.
Our National Plan to End Homelessness sets out how we will tackle the root causes of homelessness, including by building 1.5 million homes, including a generational increase in new social and affordable homes backed by £39 billion investment through the Social and Affordable Homes Programme. The new programme is designed to be flexible to support the greater diversity of supply needed, and we are asking providers to come forward with ambitious bids that reflect this diversity. The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that local authorities should assess the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community, including those who require affordable housing (including Social Rent), and reflect this in their planning policies. The Government is consulting on changes to the Framework, including proposals relating to the delivery of social rent and affordable homes. The consultation document is available here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to help ensure that (a) statutory Biodiversity Net Gain initiatives are implemented fully and (b) local authorities are provided with sufficient resources to monitor long-term habitat improvements.
Local planning authorities (LPAs) are provided with funding for Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), including £10 million for this current financial year. The Government also funds the Planning Advisory Service to help LPAs meet their BNG obligations. LPAs can charge for monitoring activity through the legal agreements into which the developer enters .
Food and Rural Affairs, what mechanism is in place to funnel Biodiversity Net Gain funding from developers into county-wide nature recovery partnerships, such as the Berkshire Local Nature Recovery Partnership.
Land managers, including Local Nature Recovery partnerships (LNRPs), can sell biodiversity units to those developers who cannot achieve 10% Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) onsite and need to go off-site. The BNG metric also provides an incentive to achieve off-site biodiversity gains in areas of strategic significance, as set out in the relevant Local Nature Recovery Strategy. The Local Investment in Natural Capital programme, funded by Defra and delivered by the Environment Agency, has provided grants of over £1 million to five local and combined authorities to create a pipeline of investable projects and develop capacity and capability to crowd in finance from private sources, including from developers. Learnings from this programme will provide guidance to Local Nature Recovery Strategies in these areas on how best to attract and allocate BNG funding and will be available to all LNRPs upon the conclusion of the programme in 2026.
Food and Rural Affairs, what funding the Government has allocated to a) implement the Local Nature Recovery Strategy in Berkshire for financial year 2025-2026 and b) what proportion of that funding is assigned for delivery in West Berkshire.
As responsible authority for the Berkshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS), Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council has been allocated £135,500 in financial year 2025-26 to support their transition to delivery of their LNRS. Government has not prescribed how this funding will be distributed geographically within the area covered by the LNRS.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government provides a) grants or b) matches-funding to encourage private businesses, landowners, and farmers in West Berkshire to participate in habitat creation and restoration.
On 1 December, the Government published our revised Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP25) – a clear roadmap for restoring nature. This is our long-term plan for improving the natural environment and enjoyment of it. EIP25 includes prioritised actions to help meet the ambitious Environment Act targets and sets an interim target to create or restore 250,000 hectares of a range of wildlife-rich habitat outside of protected sites by December 2030. The Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund, funded by Defra and delivered by the Environment Agency, has provided grants to over 130 projects across England to attract private investment for nature recovery. These projects are plotted on an interactive map available on the Ecosystem Knowledge Network’s website: https://ecosystemsknowledge.net/neirf/neirf-project-directory-2/.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to require planning authorities to publish annual reports on how off-site Biodiversity Net Gain contributions by developers have been a) spent, b) their location, and c) ecological result of habitat d) creation or e) restoration.
The Environment Act 2021 established a strengthened biodiversity duty, which requires local planning authorities to publish a biodiversity report at least every five years, setting out how they have complied with the duty. As part of this report, local planning authorities are required to include actions they have taken under biodiversity net gain obligations, and information from the biodiversity gain plans they have approved. The first reporting period must end no later than 1 January 2026 with reports published within 12 weeks.
Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance the Government provides on ensuring transparent and long-term maintenance of restored habitats.
The Government has published extensive guidance on what should be covered by legal agreements for biodiversity net gain, including detail on habitat monitoring and who is responsible. There is also a set of habitat management and monitoring templates which should be used to set out how and when habitats will be monitored and reported on.
Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department has issued to businesses on how they can contribute to local habitat restoration projects.
Defra has published biodiversity net gain (BNG) guidance on how a business can get involved with providing biodiversity units to developers who need to go off-site for BNG. This can either be through selling units independently on land owned, or working with partners to create habitat banks. Land managers can also combine biodiversity units with other environmental payments for the same piece of land. In addition, Projects for Nature connects corporate donations with government-screened nature recovery projects across England, which can support the delivery of our statutory biodiversity targets.
Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of long-term lags between developers-funding and achievement of full habitat development under biodiversity offsetting.
The biodiversity net gain metric includes a temporal risk multiplier which takes into account the average time lag between the start of habitat works and the target outcome. This ‘time to target’ multiplier recognises and takes account of the time it takes to create different habitats and factors those into metric calculations.
Food and Rural Affairs, what support the Government plans to provide for a) community-led or b) small-scale habitat creation initiatives in areas such as West Berkshire.
The Berkshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) sets local priorities for biodiversity and environmental improvement and proposes where action is most needed. The LNRS will guide coordinated action for nature, including through community-led and small-scale habitat creation initiatives.
Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help support farmers and landowners in West Berkshire to participate in the Berkshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy.
The Berkshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) was published in October 2025. Responsible authorities have been steered to involve farmers and landowners in preparation of their LNRS. LNRSs will help farmers and landowners to choose which agri-environment scheme options are suitable for their land. However, having land mapped in an LNRS does not compel farmers or landowners to make changes to how they use or manage their land – this will continue to be their choice.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether there will be simplified a) permit systems or b) funding mechanisms provided to streamline i) community groups, ii) small landowners or iii) local conservation networks' involvement in habitat creation.
We are setting the conditions for more private investment to flow into domestic nature recovery, including by exploring how we can further incentivise the private sector to pay for nature’s services - through a Call For Evidence on Expanding the role of the private sector in nature recovery; and ensuring the integrity of UK nature markets by sponsoring the British Standards Institution to develop a suite of UK Nature Investment Standards.
What steps his Department is taking to ensure that the mandatory licensing scheme for builders provides adequate protections for homeowners who hire builders to complete work.
The Government is fully committed to implementing the Grenfell Inquiry recommendation that principal contractors working on higher-risk buildings should be licenced through a scheme managed by the Building Safety Regulator. We have accepted this recommendation as an important step in enhancing building safety standards. We continue to engage with stakeholders as to whether a wider licencing scheme would improve standards of consumer protection. This work is progressing alongside our broader initiatives to enhance competency across the construction sector through the Industry Competence Committee, ensuring a comprehensive approach to raising standards throughout the industry.
Whether he plans to increase requirements for builders to hold licensing fees.
The Government is fully committed to implementing the Grenfell Inquiry recommendation that principal contractors working on higher-risk buildings should be licenced through a scheme managed by the Building Safety Regulator. We have accepted this recommendation as an important step in enhancing building safety standards. We continue to engage with stakeholders as to whether a wider licencing scheme would improve standards of consumer protection. This work is progressing alongside our broader initiatives to enhance competency across the construction sector through the Industry Competence Committee, ensuring a comprehensive approach to raising standards throughout the industry.