Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 1
1
Acknowledged
Committee took evidence on improving local areas through developer funding.
Conclusion
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (the Department) on improving local areas in England through developer funding.1
Government Response Summary
The government agrees (with an unstated recommendation) and will explore proportionate and efficient ways of collecting and analysing data from Infrastructure Funding Statements (IFSs) to improve understanding of developer contributions. It also reminded Local Planning Authorities of their statutory duty to publish IFSs.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. statements (IFSs) helps local communities and developers see how contributions from development have been spent and understand what future funds will be spent on. While the primary responsibility for these documents sits with local authorities and their primary purpose is to enhance local transparency and accountability, the government recognises that data from IFSs could be used to improve understanding of how the developer contributions system is working. This would sit alongside existing and accredited official statistics, such as those on affordable housing supply in England. The department will therefore explore proportionate and efficient ways of collecting and analysing data from IFSs, alongside other relevant sources of evidence. Any authority that receives contributions is legally required to publish an IFS annually on their website. Guidance on producing an IFS is already available on the Planning Advisory Service (PAS) website – an organisation that is funded and supported by the government. Earlier this year, the Chief Planner also wrote to all local planning authorities (LPAs) to remind them of their statutory duty, and a reminder has been included in the Chief Planner’s Newsletter, with an additional invitation to LPAs to share their IFS directly with the department. million homes. 4.4 At the 2025 Autumn Budget, the government announced £48 million of additional investment to strengthen planning capacity across the public sector. Of this, £28.8 million is dedicated to the C&C Programme, enabling scale-up over the next three years. This will fund 350 additional planners, on top of the original commitment to recruit 300, bringing the total to around 1,325 planners by the end of this Parliament. Wider cross-government initiatives will take the total number of planning recruits supported by the Budget to around 1,400. Engagement with sector partners continues to inform programme design and future interventions.