This Government is committed to making the housing market work. By the mid-2020s, we aim to have increased house building to an average of 300,000 net new homes a year. And as we move towards achieving this target, we will not sacrifice higher quality and standards.<\/p>
We have already made commitments to provide better protection for purchasers of new build homes who experience snagging issues and we know more needs to be done. On 1 October 2018, we announced our intention for there to be a New Homes Ombudsman to protect the rights of homebuyers and hold developers to account. We also announced our intention to bring forward legislation to require all developers to belong to a New Homes Ombudsman.<\/p>
On 24 January, following a wide-ranging consultation with consumers and industry, we set out our plans to strengthen consumer redress for the whole housing market. I want to help plug the gaps in available redress services so that more people can get their housing disputes resolved without going through the courts. We have also made great strides to create greater fairness in the rental market by banning unfair letting fees, capping tenancy deposits and cracking down on rogue landlords.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4053", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mrs Heather Wheeler"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South Derbyshire"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mrs Heather Wheeler"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-01-30", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-01-30T17:47:51.643Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "7"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-01-22", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Housing: Construction"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government provides support for new house buyers with snagging issues; and if he will make a statement.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4604", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Stephen Kerr"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Stirling"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Stephen Kerr"} ], "uin" : "211342"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1045971", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1045971/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Department carried out all appropriate due diligence when it appointed Sir Ken Knight as Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser in 2007. Sir Ken took up an unpaid role as a Trustee with the Building Research Establishment (a charitable trust) in 2011 and would have been required to notify the Department of any such appointment. Due to the passage of time there are no extant records that confirm this action was undertaken.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4495", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kit Malthouse"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "North West Hampshire"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Kit Malthouse"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-02-13", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-02-13T16:53:54.55Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "7"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-01-22", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department took to ensure that there was no conflict of interest between Sir Ken Knight's role as (a) Chief Fire Officer and (b) a trustee of the Building Research Establishment's charitable parent company, the BRE Trust.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4268", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Steve Reed"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Croydon North"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mr Steve Reed"} ], "uin" : "211241"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1046127", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1046127/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
In July 2018 the Department introduced its new People Plan which covers the period 2018-20. The aim of the People Plan is to build a flexible and resilient workforce that will help us deliver our priorities. The Department is committed to supporting our people to maximise their potential and to experience varied and challenging career opportunities, including the opportunity to work in other parts of Government.<\/p>
Last year\u2019s People Survey saw a further rise in staff engagement, identifying MHCLG as a \u2018high performing\u2019 organisation for the first time.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1530", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for James Brokenshire"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Old Bexley and Sidcup"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "James Brokenshire"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-01-31", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-01-31T14:01:33.627Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "7"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-01-22", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Labour Turnover"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to reduce the turnover of staff in his Department.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/400", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for John Healey"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Wentworth and Dearne"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "John Healey"} ], "uin" : "211127"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 3, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }