The Bishop of Chelmsford received the following written answers on 22nd January 2024:
The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for 10-year rent settlements for social homes to create certainty for social housing providers.
Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con): The government recognises the value of longer-term rent certainty for Registered Providers of social housing, and continues to support the principle that social housing rents should be index-linked over the long-term. We will consult on future social housing rent policy in due course. That policy will need to strike an appropriate balance between protecting tenants, protecting taxpayers by limiting the costs associated with social housing rents, supporting investment in and management of social housing and supporting the delivery of new homes.
The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for establishing a commission on affordable housing to set levels of grant for affordable housing based on expert projections.
Baroness Scott of Bybrook: The Government does not set grant rates for affordable housing in our Affordable Homes Programme. Grant rates are assessed on a scheme-by-scheme basis and are benchmarked against national, local and scheme type averages to ensure bids are competitive on both costs and outputs.
It is right that we keep grant rates flexible to best support the sector to deliver a wide variety of interventions, whilst also ensuring that our assessment criteria drives good value for money.
The Church of England in Parliament 
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