Corporate report

Single departmental plan: 2015 to 2020

Updated 2 September 2016

This was published under the 2015 to 2016 Cameron Conservative government

This corporate report was withdrawn on 14 December 2017

This has been replaced by another version.

£4.6bn Total Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) in financial year 2015 to 2016

This includes £1.5 billion resource DEL and £3.1 billion capital DEL

£40.3bn Total expenditure for local government in financial year 2015 to 2016

This is the sum of DCLG local government DEL and locally financed expenditure in England, which includes forecasted growth in council tax and business rates. It does not include the impact of 100% business rate retention, which the government will consult on shortly.

Source: Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015

Vision

Our department has a driving focus to increase housing supply and make it easier for the 86% of people who say they want to own their own home, to achieve that aspiration.

DCLG will enable a shift in power from central to local government, with decentralisation bringing power closer to local communities. We want cities to have more control over transport, housing, skills and healthcare with elected metro mayors. We support local authorities to help create strong local economies and deliver high quality, value for money services.

Our ministers and management

Objectives

1. Driving up housing supply
2. Increasing home ownership
3. Devolving powers and budgets to boost local growth in England
4. Supporting strong communities with excellent public services

1. Driving up housing supply

Lead minister: Gavin Barwell MP, Minister of State for Housing and Planning and Minister for London

Lead official: Helen MacNamara, Director General, Housing and Planning

1.1 What DCLG is doing

Our ambition is to deliver 1 million new homes over the next 5 years. We have the most ambitious plan to build affordable homes since the 1970s and we are focused on accelerating housing supply by speeding up the planning process, bringing forward public sector land and helping small builders.

We will:

• ensure Local Plans are prepared in each area and take action where there is a significant shortfall between the homes provided for in these plans and the houses being built

• provide £8 billion to deliver over 400,000 affordable housing starts by 2020 to 2021, including £1.2 billion to unlock at least 30,000 Starter Homes on brownfield land

• support locally-led garden cities and towns, including funding for Ebbsfleet, Bicester, Barking Riverside, Brent Cross and Northstowe

• lead the government’s programme to release land for 160,000 homes by 2020, with DCLG directly contributing land for 36,000 new homes

• require local authorities to hold a register of available brownfield land

• create a Brownfield Fund to unlock homes on brownfield land

• ensure that 90% of suitable brownfield sites have planning permission for housing by 2020

• protect the Green Belt and maintain national protections for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, National Parks, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and other environmental designations, as set out in the National Planning Policy Framework

• consult on reforms to the New Homes Bonus, including means of sharpening the incentive to reward communities for additional homes

• invest £2 billion through a long-term loan fund unlocking housing development between 160,000 and 200,000 homes

• create 95,000 homes through the funding of Housing Zones that will transform brownfield sites into new homes

• provide £290 million for estate regeneration schemes to deliver more than 6,000 additional quality homes

• double the number of custom-built and self-built homes by 2020

• introduce Right to Build, requiring councils to allocate land to local people to build or commission their own home

• provide £1 billion for a Housing Development Fund to support small and custom builders

• create a new London Land Commission to identify and release all surplus brownfield land owned by the public sector

• ensure the sale of vacant high-value council houses with funding reinvested in discounts for Right to Buy housing association tenants and building new homes

• encourage and facilitate a diverse range of providers in the market

• offer 10,000 affordable rent to buy homes so tenants have the opportunity to save for a deposit while renting

1.2 How DCLG is doing

Net additions to the housing stock

170,690 net additions to the housing stock in financial year 2014 to 2015

Source: DCLG (England only)

Housing starts

139,680 housing starts in financial year 2014 to 2015

Source: DCLG (England only)

Number of published and adopted Local Plans

289 published Local Plans (84% of local government)

243 adopted Local Plans (70% of local government)

Public sector land

We will report progress on the amount of surplus public sector land sold for new homes when it becomes available.

2. Increasing home ownership

Lead minister: Gavin Barwell MP, Minister of State for Housing and Planning

Lead official: Helen MacNamara, Director General, Housing and Planning

2.1 What DCLG is doing

We want more people to have the security and stability of owning a home of their own. We are delivering a major boost to affordable home ownership with Starter Homes and extending Right to Buy to housing association tenants. We are helping first-time buyers by offering an unprecedented 25% bonus, up to a maximum of £3,000, on the money they save with a dedicated Help to Buy ISA.

We will:

• deliver 400,000 affordable housing starts by 2020 to 2021, focused on low-cost home ownership. This will include 200,000 Starter Homes which will be sold at a 20% discount compared to market value to young first-time buyers, and 135,000 Help to Buy: Shared Ownership homes

• implement a voluntary agreement with housing associations and the National Housing Federation that will extend Right to Buy level discounts to 1.3 million housing association tenants, giving them the opportunity to buy their own home

• extend the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme to 2021, supporting the purchase of up to 145,000 new-build homes

• create a London Help to Buy scheme offering a 40% equity loan in recognition of the higher housing costs in the capital

• work in partnership with HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs to launch the Help to Buy ISA and create a fairer playing field for first-time buyers

2.2 How DCLG is doing

Number of first-time buyers

268,200 first-time buyers in financial year 2014 to 2015

Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders. Available by subscription only.

Number of Help to Buy Equity Loan sales

81,014 properties sold from 1 April 2013 to 30 March 2016

Source: DCLG (England only)

Number and proportion of households by tenure

Proportion of a total of 22,514,000 households, in financial year 2014 to 2015

Tenure	% of 22,514,000
Owner-occupiers	63.6%
Private renters	19.0%
Social renters	17.4%

Source: English Housing Survey

3. Devolving powers and budgets to boost local growth in England

Lead minister: Andrew Percy MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for the Northern Powerhouse)

Lead official: Simon Ridley, Director General, Decentralisation and Local Growth

3.1 What DCLG is doing

For Britain to fulfil its potential, every part of the country must be enabled to achieve its own potential. That’s why we want to see a shift in power from central government to local government, with decentralisation bringing power closer to local communities. While individual cities and towns are strong, if they pool their strengths, they can become stronger than the sum of their parts.

We will:

• build on the historic Greater Manchester devolution agreement by devolving new powers and budgets to other major cities outside London, leading to the creation of directly elected mayors

• agree devolution deals with counties and other non-metropolitan areas, building on the ground-breaking deal agreed with Cornwall

• support the development of the Northern Powerhouse, including through the £400 million Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund to support smaller businesses

• support the Midlands Engine, including a devolution deal for the West Midlands and a major investment around the new Birmingham HS2 station

• invest in the East of England and the South West to improve connectivity and grow high-tech businesses

• devolve new powers over planning and skills to the Mayor of London

• reform the business rates system, allowing local authorities to keep 100% of the income they collect by 2020, giving them control of £13 billion of additional local tax revenues, and £26 billion in total business rate revenues

• With HM Treasury, back small firms by reviewing business rates so that:
  • by 2017, business rates properly reflect the structure of our modern economy and provide clearer billing, better information sharing and a more efficient appeal system
  • by 2020, the uniform business rate is abolished so that local authorities can cut business rates to generate wealth, employment and growth

We will also:

• unlock growth and development through the £12 billion Local Growth Fund, supporting local people to invest in infrastructure, housing and skills

• create 26 new or extended Enterprise Zones, taking the total to 44; extending the benefits of the programme to more local economies in cities, small towns and rural areas across England

• strengthen the role of Business Improvement Districts

• promote jobs and growth by backing Local Enterprise Partnerships

• continue to support the spread of neighbourhood plans

• give local authorities the equivalent of a 10% stake in DCLG’s public sector land sold in their area

• extend the Coastal Communities Fund until 2020 to 2021 to unlock the economic potential of coastal communities as part of a UK wide investment of at least £90 million

3.2 How DCLG is doing

Number of Enterprise Zones

36 Enterprise Zones already established, as of August 2016

46 Enterprise Zones to be established by 2020

Source: DCLG (England only)

Number of devolution deals

10 deals, up to August 2016

These are:

• Sheffield devolution deal
• North East devolution deal
• Tees Valley devolution deal
• Cornwall devolution deal
• Liverpool devolution deal
• West Midlands devolution deal
• Greater Manchester devolution deal
• Greater Lincolnshire devolution deal
• West of England devolution deal
• East Anglia devolution deal

4. Supporting strong communities with excellent public services

Lead ministers: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Marcus Jones MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Local Government)

Lead official: Jo Farrar, Director General, Local Government and Public Services

4.1 What DCLG is doing

We are working with councils as they support communities across the country with services as wide ranging as children’s services, commissioning adult social care provision and dealing with refuse and recycling.

Local government finance

We will:

• give local authorities further financial certainty by offering a 4-year settlement to any council that wishes to plan ahead with confidence

• introduce new flexibilities that encourage local authorities to dispose of surplus assets and invest in services - this will include freedoms to invest the capital proceeds from fixed asset sales (excluding Right to Buy) in reform projects to help deliver better public services

• help keep Council Tax low and ensure residents can continue to veto high rises via a local referendum

• make over £100 million of funding available to local authorities to support households and businesses affected by the 2015 and 2016 floods

Strengthen communities

We will:

• ensure local people have more say on local planning and let them vote on local issues
• make sure local communities know up-front that infrastructure such as schools and roads will be provided when new homes are granted planning permission
• help tackle aggressive parking enforcement and excessive parking charges, and take steps to tackle rogue and unfair practices by private parking operators
• strengthen The Community Right to Bid to require owners to set a clear ‘reserve’ price, and extend the length of time communities have to purchase assets
• fund the establishment of up to 100 pocket parks in deprived urban areas
• set up a Pub Loan Fund to help local people take control of pubs at risk of closure

Better public services

We will:

• encourage voluntary integration of services and administration between and within councils to promote savings and improve local services. For example, through piloting new approaches like the pooling of around £6 billion of health and social care funding in Greater Manchester and the £5.3 billion (2015 to 2016) Better Care Fund

• continue to reduce budget ring-fencing and remove Whitehall burdens to give local authorities more flexibility to support local services

• continue to support victims of domestic violence through a new long-term fund worth £40 million over the next 4 years

• provide local authorities the flexibility to raise council tax by up to 2% above the existing threshold to raise new funding to spend exclusively on adult social care

Supporting the vulnerable

We will:

• improve outcomes for families with multiple problems through the new, expanded Troubled Families programme to meet the Prime Minister’s commitment to work with up to 400,000 more families by 2020

• look to scale-up social impact bonds and payment-by-results, focusing on youth unemployment, mental health and homelessness

• take forward the Prime Minister’s Cohesive Communities Programme to boost opportunity and integration in the areas which need it most

• ensure a smooth transition of fire policy from our department to the Home Office that will support greater collaboration between the emergency services

• introduce a new Controlling Migration Fund to ease pressures on services and to pay for additional immigration enforcement

4.2 How DCLG is doing

Number of families engaged with the Troubled Families programme

100,690 as of 31 March 2016

Health and social care

We will report progress of local areas against the health and social care integration scorecard when it becomes available in Winter 2016.

Cohesive Communities Programme

We will report progress on the Cohesive Communities Programme once it is established following Louise Casey’s review due in 2016.

Delivering efficiently in DCLG

What DCLG is doing

As a department we are committed to reducing our operating costs over the Parliament, while continuing to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our services.

We are doing this by:

• reducing our supplier cost base by evaluating our contract portfolio and working with Crown Commercial Services to renegotiate wherever possible

• working with our shared service providers Crown Commercial Services, Government Legal Department, and Government Internal Audit Agency to improve ways of working and reduce costs

• further consolidating our office space

• working with arm’s length bodies towards new and more efficient operating models

• bringing together the delivery of finance, human resources and IT services across DCLG

• delivering excellent IT services to our users and taking advantage of cross- government platforms, technology services and the best commercial offerings

How DCLG is working collaboratively across government

DCLG will work collaboratively with Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and other government departments to deliver transformational change in key areas including:

• developing digital solutions that meet common standards set by the Government Digital Service and utilise cross-government platforms such as GOV.UK Verify, GOV.UK Pay or GOV.UK Notify as part of departmental digital services wherever this demonstrates the best value money solution for government

• rationalising our estate in a joined up way, looking to develop ‘government hubs’ with other government departments, releasing land for housing where possible and participating in the development of the new commercial property model

• working in partnership with: the Cabinet Office to deliver arm’s length bodies transformation plans; Infrastructure and Projects Authority on major projects programmes and prioritisation

• reducing losses through fraud and error alongside developing a debt management strategy

• delivering savings in our commercial relationships including through spend on common goods and services, delivered in partnership with Crown Commercial Services

• continuing to build our commercial capability and working with Crown Commercial Services to deliver the government’s commitment to 33% of spend with small and medium enterprises by 2020