Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Twenty-Ninth Report - The Affordable Homes Programme since 2015
Public Accounts Committee
HC 684
Published 7 December 2022
Recommendations
2
Accepted
Housing providers do not always build in areas of higher demand.
Recommendation
Housing providers do not always build in areas of higher demand. There is a mismatch between where housing providers build compared to areas of highest need. The Department tells local authorities how many homes, not just affordable homes, they should …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees to consider additional ways to work with LAs. The government will seek to improve this for successor programmes.
HM Treasury
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6
Accepted
The Department does not publish satisfactory data on the type, tenure, size, quality, or location...
Recommendation
The Department does not publish satisfactory data on the type, tenure, size, quality, or location of homes built under the Programme. The Department does not, for example, publish data on the number of homes built, where they are built, what …
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Government Response Summary
The government will report annually to Parliament on the performance of the Programme and will confirm the information it will be able to share in its first report.
HM Treasury
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10
Accepted
The Department told us it tried to ‘strike a balance,’ between a centrally driven approach...
Recommendation
The Department told us it tried to ‘strike a balance,’ between a centrally driven approach to need versus a local approach. The Department explained that outside London, Homes England identifies whether proposals for new homes are acceptable value for money, …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees to consider additional ways to work with LAs to take greater account in the Programme of local need for affordable homes. The Department is exploring how to give greater control over the 2021 programme to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the West Midlands Combined Authority.
HM Treasury
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14
Accepted
The National Audit Office report found that the Programme could bring greater value to other...
Recommendation
The National Audit Office report found that the Programme could bring greater value to other parts of government, for example, in reducing the numbers of people in temporary accommodation. Local authority spend on homelessness has increased 50% in real-terms from …
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Government Response Summary
The government will quantify wider savings to areas such as adult social care and temporary accommodation before the next iteration of the Programme, collecting evidence through resident surveys.
HM Treasury
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15
Accepted
The Department also commented that adult social care is another important example of the links...
Recommendation
The Department also commented that adult social care is another important example of the links and benefits that come from investing in housing, and that it is conducting research to quantify these savings.41 We asked the Department whether the 2021 …
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Government Response Summary
The government will collect evidence through resident surveys as part of the 2021 programme evaluation to understand the impacts of increasing affordable housing supply on areas such as adult social care and temporary accommodation, with first surveys in 2024 and repeating until 2029.
HM Treasury
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16
Accepted
We pressed the Department as to why it does not consider these wider savings when...
Recommendation
We pressed the Department as to why it does not consider these wider savings when it allocates funding through the Programme. The Department told us it is working on improving its research base to do so but contended that the …
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Government Response Summary
The government will quantify wider savings to areas such as adult social care and temporary accommodation before the next iteration of the Programme, collecting evidence through resident surveys.
HM Treasury
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17
Accepted
In contrast, the Department does consider welfare savings and quantified these in the 2021 programme...
Recommendation
In contrast, the Department does consider welfare savings and quantified these in the 2021 programme business case. The Department’s modelling showed that delivering new homes for social rent in London leads to significant savings in future housing benefit costs, compared …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees to quantify the wider savings it could make to areas such as adult social care and temporary accommodation, before the next iteration of the Programme. The evaluation for the 2021 programme will collect evidence through resident surveys to help understand many of these impacts, with the first surveys in 2024.
HM Treasury
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21
Accepted
The Department does not expect to deliver the intended benefits of the 2021 programme, and...
Recommendation
The Department does not expect to deliver the intended benefits of the 2021 programme, and there are significant risks that could mean housing providers build fewer homes than forecast.53 We asked the Department about whether it would be revising its …
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Government Response Summary
The government will share with Parliament a revised delivery plan for the 2021 programme. The government has asked Homes England and the Greater London Authority to work with their providers during Spring 2023 to confirm their programme commitments in light of new economic challenges to delivery and will report to the Committee with updated targets following the outcome of this review.
HM Treasury
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23
Accepted
We commented that it would be good if the Department transparently published data on the...
Recommendation
We commented that it would be good if the Department transparently published data on the tenure, area, and size of new homes.58 The NAO report used internal data from the Department, Homes England, and the Greater London Authority with regards …
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Government Response Summary
The government will provide an annual report to Parliament on programme delivery each year, once it has received final delivery figures for the financial year, and at the same point each year thereafter. The government will confirm the information it will be able to share in its first report.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (1)
1
Conclusion
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (the Department) and Homes England about the Affordable Homes Programme.1
Government Response Summary
The government will work with Affordable Homes Programme delivery agencies to confirm their programme commitments in light of new economic challenges to delivery and will report to the Committee with updated targets for programme delivery.