Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 3
3
We are disappointed that the Department remains unable or unwilling to clarify how it will...
Conclusion
We are disappointed that the Department remains unable or unwilling to clarify how it will achieve its ambition of 300,000 new homes per year by the mid-2020s. We are wearily familiar with the Department’s lack of clarity over how it intends to meet its ambition—not target—of 300,000 new homes per year by the mid-2020s. The Department asserts that the ambition is ‘incredibly challenging’, made more so by the current uncertain housing market conditions. It claims that this makes it impossible to be transparent over the path to meet this ambition as it is in part dependent on how developers respond to market conditions. The Department has plans to increase the range and variety of new homes that are built, speed up building, and encourage more small and medium-sized developers to build homes and encourage developers to build out sites and not land bank. However, if the Department does not set targets and map the path to meeting its ambition for 300,000 new homes a year, it cannot measure progress or assess value for money across its array of housing policies. Recommendation: We are frustrated that once again we must repeat our recommendation that the Department should clarify how its range of housing schemes, including First Homes, will each contribute to its ambition of building 300,000 new homes per year by the mid-2020s. It should write to us within three months, including an assessment of how many homes of each tenure it expects will be delivered and what types of homes count towards its 300,000 ambition.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
3. PAC conclusion: We are disappointed that the Department remains unable or unwilling to clarify how it will achieve its ambition of 300,000 new homes per year by the mid-2020s. 3a: PAC recommendation: We are frustrated that once again we must repeat our recommendation that the Department should clarify how its range of housing schemes, including First Homes, will each contribute to its ambition of building 300,000 new homes per year by the mid-2020s. 3.1 The government disagrees with this recommendation. 3.2 The department has and continues to be transparent about its objectives, and the progress towards them. In June 2019, the department published its latest Single Department Plan, including strategic objectives to increase supply. The Departmental Plan will be updated in line with the wider timetable, to be agreed with Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. The department publishes quarterly data on the progress towards raising net housing supply to 300,000 a year, meeting Conservative Party manifesto commitments. 3.3 This government is determined to level up opportunities across the country, building the homes this country needs. 3.4 The department has made significant progress having delivered over 1.8 million new homes since 2010, including 508,000 affordable homes and around 244,000 additional homes last year - the highest level in over 30 years. 3.5 COVID-19 and associated economic conditions have significantly impacted supply. To support house building, the government announced initial funding of £7.1 billion for a new National Home Building Fund, unlocking up to 860,000 homes. This includes £2.2 billion of new loan finance to support housebuilders across the country. 3.6 This forms part of the nearly £20 billion in multi-year capital investment announced in the 2020 Spending Review, including the new £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme will provide up to 180,000 new homes. 3.7 The Planning for the Future White Paper in August 2020 proposed reforms to streamline and modernise the planning process, with enough land and the long-term conditions for increased supply. 3b: PAC recommendation: The department should write to us within three months, including an assessment of how many homes of each tenure it expects will be delivered and what types of homes count towards its 300,000 ambition. 3.8 The government disagrees with this recommendation. 3.9 In terms of which types of home count towards the 300,000, the official measure used is the ‘Net Additional Dwelling Statistics’, which is published annually. This includes all new house building completions plus gains or losses from conversions and change of use and demolitions (also referred to as Net Supply of Housing). The definition of the types of homes that contribute to these statistics is available on page 15 of the publication, Housing supply; net additional dwellings, England: 2019-20.