Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government when they will implement their
decision, announced in July 2022, to require all new homes to
meet higher standards of accessibility.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Levelling Up, Housing & Communities () (Con)
My Lords, we have proposed to mandate the M4(2) requirement in
building regulations as a minimum standard, leaving the current
M4(1) standard to apply by exception only when M4(2) is
impractical and unachievable. There will need to be a further
technical consultation that the building safety regulator will
need to take forward as part of its future work plan.
(CB)
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for her reply, and to the
Government for announcing that these higher standards for
lifetime homes will be implemented and mandated through the
building regulations. I say that on behalf of the many charities
that have been campaigning for years to have these higher
standards brought into practice. But that announcement was 18
months ago, and we have seen very little progress in getting on
with the consultation that should have followed. Since that time,
220,000 properties have been built that do not accord with the
new standards, and every further month we leave the consultation,
another 13,000 homes are built that do not accord with the
standards. When will we see some results from the Government on
this?
(Con)
I am afraid I will have to disappoint the noble Lord, as I cannot
give a specific timeframe for that further work. The building
safety regulator is responsible for introducing updates to the
building regulations and it is a new organisation with a busy
programme of work. However, his points are well made. To reassure
him, we are taking these considerations into account in a number
of ways. For example, last December we published an updated NPPF
which included a specific expectation that, when planning housing
for older people, particular regard is given to retirement
housing, housing with care and care homes. This reflects the
Government’s understanding that we need to take into account
accessibility and the changing needs of our population as we
build new homes.
(LD)
My Lords, Habinteg housing research shows that only 7% of our
existing housing stock meets even the most basic accessibility
standards. The Government’s report says that, on average, it
would cost only an extra £1,400 to build a new three-bedroom
semi-detached house to this standard—a tiny percentage of the
cost of a new house. This would mean that thousands of elderly
and disabled people could remain in their homes for life. The
Government keep saying that they want to implement this standard.
What is the delay?
(Con)
My Lords, local planning authorities should already assess the
housing needs of different groups, including accessibility needs
for those with disabilities or older people, and reflect them in
their policies and decisions. Guidance was introduced in June
2019 to help councils implement this policy and make use of the
currently optional technical standards for accessible and
adaptable housing, including M4(3) and M4(2)-compliant homes. As
I have set out, we plan to take forward our commitment to move to
mandatory for M4(2).
(CB)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that, if we are to reduce the
number of people in hospital who do not need to be there as their
medical treatment has been completed, we will need to make sure
that their accommodation is fit to meet their current needs? That
includes small things such as widening the door into the
bathroom. Could this be accelerated so that we can address some
of these issues?
(Con)
The noble Lord is absolutely right, and that is what the
different accessibility standards seek to address. I undertake to
make clear to the department the view of noble Lords today about
the importance of this work and the speed at which they wish to
see it undertaken.
(Con)
My Lords, further to the question of the noble Lord, , I too welcome the decision to
make these new accessibility standards mandatory, but the M4(2)
standards have been around since 2015 and the building industry
is already familiar with them. Surely, any consultation should be
quite quick and the regulations should come into effect during
the lifetime of this Parliament.
(Con)
My noble friend makes a good case. As he will know, the
Government have already consulted on the principle of this. A
technical consultation would be needed to take forward the
mandating of the standard.
(Lab)
My Lords, can the Minister estimate how much this—so far—18-month
delay has and will cost the public purse through future
adaptations of unfit homes and increased care costs due to a lack
of the decent, accessible homes that the Government know are
needed? Only 8,386 new social homes were built last year, but
52,800 families were added to social waiting lists. This
adaptation of homes would enable some family homes to be freed
up.
(Con)
I emphasise that local planning authorities should already assess
the housing needs of different groups, including accessibility
needs, in their local areas and reflect these in their policies
and decisions. As I say, guidance has been issued to councils to
help them implement this policy and we have updated the National
Planning Policy Framework to reflect some of the issues raised
today, but there is also further work that we need to do.
(CB)
My Lords, what environmental standards do the Government require
of all new homes, as they would benefit everybody and the
planet?
(Con)
The noble Baroness makes a good point. We should look at these
standards in the context of a raft of new building safety
regulations and standards that have been taken forward in recent
years, and the need for housebuilders to adapt to them. There was
a significant uplift to the environmental standards in 2021 and
we have just launched a consultation on the future homes
standard, which will be brought in by 2025 and ensure that all
new housing is effectively net-zero ready.
(Con)
My noble friend surely is aware that for care homes and similar
establishments, it is absolutely vital that these new changes be
implemented. I recognise that she has been in her present
position for only a brief time, but will she make that clear to
those responsible and send out a note to housing authorities,
drawing attention to what everybody seems to agree should be
happening?
(Con)
One of the ways we will signal and have signalled the importance
of this to local authorities is through the update to the
National Planning Policy Framework. It was updated in December
2023 to include a specific expectation that when planning housing
for older people, particular regard is given to retirement
housing, housing with care and care homes. So, we are already
taking action.
(CB)
My Lords, why is there no requirement to have solar panels on new
buildings, particularly houses? Around me in Devon, thousands of
houses are being built, not one of which has a solar panel. I
should declare that I have had solar panels on my roof since
2009.
(Con)
As I said, we had the interim uplift to energy efficiency
standards in 2021, and we have just started a consultation on the
future homes standard. That sets out two models that could
achieve the standard, one with solar panels and one without. The
reality is that the Government have focused on the outcomes that
need to be achieved and can be achieved by a number of
technologies. Those outcomes are consistent with our net zero
commitments and targets, and we are committed to taking them
forward.
(Lab)
My Lords, is this not just one aspect of the Government’s failure
to enforce the standards to which they are theoretically
committed, whether environmental, accessibility or others? Are
they trying to trade off the standards against numbers because of
their pathetic failure to meet the 300,000 homes a year ambition,
which was stated time and again?
(Con)
It is under this Government that we have seen some of the highest
housebuilding rates in 30 years. We are on track to deliver 1
million new homes during the course of this Parliament. We are
not trading off different standards, but we do need to consider
whether any new standards we bring in are deliverable by builders
and allow us to meet the needs of local communities and of our
environment, and the need to build more homes.
(Lab)
My Lords, the Government do not seem to like timelines. The
Minister says that there is an organisation responsible for
bringing this about, so why does she not open a discussion with
it to find out how long this will take it to implement, and have
some timelines that people can work to and understand?
(Con)
I reassure the noble Lord that the Government are in regular
contact with the building safety regulator. It was created by the
Building Safety Act in 2022 and will become fully operational
next April. Since its inception, it has been building its
capacity around a number of standards, as we have heard—and we
have not touched on the broader building safety standards
attached to fire and cladding. It is taking forward its work at
pace.
