Government response to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee Report: "Building more homes"

This is the government's response, published 13 December 2016.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government agrees that the country needs to build more homes to make housing more affordable, and says its Housing White Paper will set out further reforms "in due course".

• The Government says the Autumn Statement confirmed a further £5.3 billion of investment, taking planned housing investment to "over £25 billion" for the Spending Review period, including a £2.3 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund.
• On public land, the Government agrees that it is an opportunity to diversify the house building market. It is piloting "accelerated construction" with £1.7 billion, and says "Precise delivery numbers will depend on the outcome of this work".
• On planning, the Government agrees the challenge is turning permissions into housing starts "as swiftly as possible". It says its White Paper will set out a further package of reforms and that build-out transparency is the house building industry's responsibility.
• On council tax re-banding, the Government believes a revaluation is "unnecessary and expensive" and "could lead to increased council tax bills".

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