Speeches by Reed.

“Unfortunately, by convention, I cannot share with you the conversations that I am having with the Treasury.”

“I have had conversations with the Chancellor, and so have my team with the Treasury. The conclusion of that will be announced at the Budget, and it would be wrong of me to anticipate that.”

“That is right. That is what we are working towards, but, with a new Secretary of State and new Ministers coming into post, we need to take time to look at where we are and make sure that we are happy.”

“I am due to chair my first one in a couple of weeks’ time. I hope you saw that it was a good signal that we have injected an additional £84 million since I came into the role.”

“A lot of those are in London as well. I have had the registered providers into the Department, as well as the developers, to talk some of this through. There were flexibilities in the London stimulus package that would make it possible for more of those units to be bought. We want to get to a point where the developers…”

“No. The way that we are working towards the 1.5 million target is kind of a hockey stick. We are still seeing the tail end of nothing happening under the previous Government. The stimulus that we are putting in for London and the changes brought about by the Planning and Infrastructure Bill are not in force yet. The Bi…”

“Yes, absolutely. This has been a cause of concern in local government for a very long time. While you would not expect me to and I cannot disclose the details of conversations that I have been having in the run-up to the Budget, I will happily share that the way that the local housing allowance works is an issue that w…”

“We should certainly listen to people in that organisation who have direct experience to see how we can make the shared ownership schemes work better for people. Clearly, I know people, as I am sure some of you around the table do, who have benefited from shared ownership, which enabled them to get that first foot on th…”

“You have to get a mixed environment. There will always be a role for shared ownership. For some people, it is the right kind of tenure, and it gives them the chance, as it clearly gave you, to get that first foot on the housing ladder. We are looking at lifetime ISAs and mortgage guarantees as well. There are other sch…”

“The social and affordable homes programme is £39 billion over 10 years, which is the biggest amount that has been made available for this purpose in a generation. Of those homes, 60% will be available at social rent. The other 40% will be affordable. Within that, about 30% will be shared ownership. Dame Sarah Healey: T…”

“That is right.”

“No, I do not. The whole of Government has to work together. I do not see the different Departments as competing with each other. I see them as trying to work in concert to get the outcomes that we want. That is what the Prime Minister meant by a mission-led Government. You are right to point to the crisis that we have …”

“To be clear, we are progressing work. There are no decisions.”

“On your point about housing targets, it is better to have housing targets than, like the previous Government, no housing targets. That is one of the reasons we are facing a housing crisis across the whole country. It is why temporary accommodation doubled; it is why rough sleeping doubled; it is why young people cannot…”

“Either of those are much more polite than some things I get called, but I am happy with Steve.”

“We are progressing work on all 12 sites that were identified. It may be that there could be more. There were other areas where local leaders were very keen to promote the idea of a new town and they were not recommended in the 12 that the taskforce identified, but that does not mean that nothing is possible in those lo…”

“On your first point, we want to make sure that we have an approach to housing targets that is consistent and fair. We know we need to engage with local authorities, including Milton Keynes, to make sure that we are working with what is feasible, what they want to achieve and what the community’s aspirations are for the…”

“The taskforce completed its work and identified 12 potential sites to proceed as locations for new towns. Of those that the taskforce identified, there were three that looked the most promising. We are now going ahead with the strategic environmental assessment on all those sites. I can make more detailed announcements…”

“I am a bit wary, Chris, of pre-empting announcements that are properly those of my successor in DEFRA.”

“I am going to refer back to my answer to a previous question. Looking at the environmental regulators is primarily the role of DEFRA. Dan Corry’s report is what I commissioned when I was in that role and what I was following. I know my successor has taken that up. Dan Corry is now a member of her departmental board. Th…”