Written questions by Moon.

Communities and Local Government, what oversight exists to ensure that housebuilders’ commitments to the Competition and Markets Authority regarding estate management governance are being delivered in practice, and what recourse is available to residents where those commitments are not being met.

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 18 December 2025 (HCWS1210).

Communities and Local Government, when the future homes standard will be published.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 108610 on 4 February 2026.

Communities and Local Government, what criteria his Department plans to use to select areas eligible for the £15 million programme to address long term rough sleeping; and whether Cornwall Council will be considered for inclusion.

On Thursday 26 February the government published allocations for the Long-Term Rough Sleeping Innovation Programme. All councils in England were considered for inclusion, with funding allocated to areas with the greatest long-term rough sleeping pressures. You can find details of allocations on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of requirements relating to safe and suitable flooring within the reformed Decent Homes Standard for social and privately rented homes; and whether further guidance will be issued to ensure flooring standards support (a) tenant safety, (b) accessibility and (c) overall housing quality.

My Department published its response to the Decent Homes Standard consultation on 28 January 2026. It can be found on gov.uk here. Following analysis of the evidence received, we decided that floor coverings should not be included as a mandatory requirement within the new standard. This reflects the need to balance the costs of improving existing stock with the investment required to increase the supply of social and affordable housing, alongside the wider projected costs of delivering the new standard. Increasing supply will help move people, including many vulnerable children, out of unsuitable temporary accommodation. Recognising that the absence of appropriate floor coverings can affect tenant safety, accessibility and overall housing quality, particularly for families with young children, older people and disabled tenants, the government intend to issue strengthened best practice guidance encouraging social landlords to retain good quality floor coverings between tenancies. We are also establishing a working group and pilot with the sector to identify cost effective ways for tenants most in need to access essential floor coverings and wider furnishings.

Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to publish its response to the consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for social and privately rented homes.

My Department published a response to our consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for social and privately rented homes on 28 January 2026. It can be found on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to prioritise the release of surplus public land to (a) councils and (b) housing associations for affordable housing projects at discounted rates.

This government has made significant progress in respect of the release of surplus and underutilised public land for new homes. On 27 March 2025, we announced the establishment of a new taskforce to unlock surplus public defence land for development. On 30 July, we announced a new company, Platform 4, to kickstart the delivery of up to 40,000 new homes on surplus rail land across the UK. While it is for individual Departments to set the prices at which they are willing to dispose of their assets, we are taking a joined-up approach and working across government to promote shared objectives, including building more social and affordable homes, and maximise broader public value.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has considered the potential merits of introducing loan guarantees for joint ventures between housing associations and local authorities to support affordable housing delivery.

My Department already operates guarantee schemes that support affordable housing delivery. Subject to eligibility criteria, joint ventures between Registered Providers (such as housing associations) and Local Authorities can qualify for these schemes.

Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the merits of introducing (a) ring-fenced grants and (b) bonuses for local authorities that exceed (i) affordable and (ii) sub-market housing delivery targets.

The government does not believe that the New Homes Bonus is an effective incentive. It often rewards authorities for housebuilding that would have occurred in the absence of any incentive, and its efficacy is further blunted by the interactions with the remainder of the Settlement.

Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department issues to local planning authorities on anonymisation of public comments on planning applications.

My Department has not issued guidance in respect of this matter.The Planning Advisory Service has published guidance to help local planning authorities adhere to the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation in exercising their planning duties. It can be found here.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has held discussions with the Department of Health and Social Care on integrating public access defibrillators into housing infrastructure planning.

The Government recognises the importance of improving access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces.We have no current plans to require the installation of public access defibrillators in new housing developments through planning guidance or building regulations. However, we keep planning policies, guidance and building regulations under review.The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government regularly engages with other government departments on matters relating to planning policy and guidance.

Communities and Local Government, if he will issue guidance to local planning authorities and neighbourhood planning groups on encouraging the inclusion of public access defibrillators in new housing developments.

The Government recognises the importance of improving access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces.We have no current plans to require the installation of public access defibrillators in new housing developments through planning guidance or building regulations. However, we keep planning policies, guidance and building regulations under review.The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government regularly engages with other government departments on matters relating to planning policy and guidance.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has considered requiring the installation of public access defibrillators in new housing developments as part of (a) planning guidance and (b) building regulations.

The Government recognises the importance of improving access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces.We have no current plans to require the installation of public access defibrillators in new housing developments through planning guidance or building regulations. However, we keep planning policies, guidance and building regulations under review.The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government regularly engages with other government departments on matters relating to planning policy and guidance.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to introduce a performance framework that (a) publicly tracks local authority delivery of affordable housing and (b) links it to future funding eligibility.

The new Local Government Outcomes Framework, which can be found on gov.uk here, sets out a priority outcome that everyone has access to a decent, safe, secure, and affordable home. The government has published twelve draft metrics measuring delivery of this outcome, including metrics to measure social housing demand, and number of homes held within council Housing Revenue Accounts. We expect to publish the final metrics for the framework alongside the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement later this year. Funding decisions for the Affordable Homes Programme are made on an individual basis and are made by our delivery partners, Home England and the GLA. All applications are expected to demonstrate how they meet the usual funding criteria, including value for money.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to encourage partnerships between (a) councils, (b) housing associations and (c) community-led housing groups through matched funding or shared risk models.

As set out in our five-step plan for delivering a decade of renewal for the social and affordable housing, we are committed to strengthening social housing providers’ financial capacity to deliver new homes, including through our new ten-year, £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme. We also encourage providers to explore opportunities to extend their financial capacity further, and to enable delivery in sensitive, rural areas, by working together to deliver new homes through joint ventures. Where advice on how to make best use of these arrangements is required, councils, housing associations, and community led-housing groups outside of London can reach out to Homes England’s Self Commissioned Homes Delivery Unit. Councils in England can also seek specialist advice on all aspects of housing delivery from the Local Government Association’s Council Housebuilding Support Service.

Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to establish a national fund to support planning and housing teams in councils with limited resources or expertise.

Since February this year, the government has provided over £29 million in direct grant funding to support local planning authorities in implementing policy changes following the publication of the revised National Planning Policy Framework in December 2024. I otherwise refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 67508 on 21 July 2025, which sets out our wider plans for supporting local planning authorities to attract, retain and develop the skills they need.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of using smaller geographic units in assessing deprivation at local levels.

The indices of deprivation provide an assessment of deprivation at the lowest possible spatial level for which data is available, this is the lower super output level. These are aggregated up into functional spatial outputs for users of the Indices to use. The Indices provide the most granular assessment of local area deprivation across all the domain indicators included for which data exists. The methodology for the Indices of Deprivation has been consulted upon, as it is a national statistic, and reflects the best fit to respond to the range of different needs from users.Further details of the methodology behind the Indices of deprivation are found on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, whether assessment of local housing needs includes (a) share of second homes, (b) prevalence of short-term lets and (c) local house-price-to-income ratios.

The government’s revised standard method for assessing local housing need, introduced in December 2024, uses a baseline of local housing stock, adjusted for affordability using median workplace-based affordability ratios. The affordability adjustment directs more homes to where they are most needed. As set out in the government’s response to the proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework, which can be found on gov.uk here, the revised standard method does not adjust the housing stock baseline to account for vacant and second homes. Local authorities have powers available to respond to locally specific concerns related to vacant and second homes.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the weight of transport accessibility in allocating regional funding by including metrics such as (a) transport cost as a percentage of household income, (b) public-service frequency, (c) waiting time for buses, and (d) reliability and (e) time taken to travel to capture transport poverty’s multiplier effects.

The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is distributed through the Settlement Funding Assessment. This funding includes Revenue Support Grant and retained business rates.The Settlement Funding Assessment uses a range of formulas to determine the relative funding need of areas, which when combined with a measure of tax base, determines their relative income. Further details on the current funding methodology can be found online, within the ‘Calculation of 2013/14 Formula Funding’ page, linked here.The government recently published the Fair Funding Review 2.0 consultation, which outlines proposals to update the distribution of funding within the Local Government Finance Settlement for the first time since 2013 – ensuring our approach uses the best available data and evidence. Our proposals include taking account of journey times when calculating the relative differences in cost local authorities face when delivering services to inform funding allocations. We will publish further information in the government’s consultation response in the Autumn, followed by the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement later this year. The Department for Transport leads on all other wider public transport funding for local authorities.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that housing associations are held accountable for the (a) quality and (b) safety of homes they (i) manage and (ii) build.

Alongside delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding a generation, the government is committed to driving a transformational and lasting change in the safety and quality of homes.Registered providers of social housing are required to deliver the outcomes of the standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH). The Regulator conducts routine inspections of large registered providers to assess whether they are delivering the outcomes set by the standards. The Regulator has a series of powers at its disposal when it identifies serious failings.On 2 July 2025, we launched consultations on an updated and modernised Decent Homes Standard and on a new Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard. These new standards would be binding on registered providers of social housing.The government will bring Awaab’s Law into force for the social rented sector from October this year. Awaab’s Law is vital legislation that will empower social tenants to hold their landlords to account using the full force of the law if they fail to investigate and fix hazards within their homes within set timescales. It will also allow tenants to access the Housing Ombudsman if their landlord does not adhere to strict timelines for action.New requirements relating to electrical safety will also require social landlords to carry out electrical safety checks at least every five years, as well as mandatory appliance inspections on all electrical appliances that are provided by the landlord.In respect of new build homes, all building works must meet the safety and performance requirements set out in the Building Regulations 2010. The building regulations set minimum legal performance standards for new building work including when a building is being designed, constructed, or subject to major re-design. The building regulations are enforced through the building control process. Building control conduct checks to assure compliance with the building regulations.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to expand the (a) remit and (b) powers of the New Homes Ombudsman to include freehold homeowners with unresolved structural issues.

In October 2024, this government committed to establish a statutory New Homes Ombudsman which will give homeowners improved access to redress. The government will set out further details in due course.