In this Public Accounts Committee session on Starter Homes, the panel consisted of:
Jeremy Pocklington, (Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government); Tracey Waltho, (Director General, Housing and planning, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government); and Nick Walkley, (CEO, Homes England)
The starter homes programme was designed in 2015 to get first time buyers on the property market by offering discounts of 20% outside of London and 40% inside. The initial target was for 200,000 starter homes to be built. The programme was eventually abandoned with 0 starter homes being built.
Barry interrogates the witnesses on aspects of this programme such as:
how and why it failed
the funding and cost of the programme
what happened to people already registered on the programme
what is being done with affordable homes now
In his second round of questioning, Barry asked about additional powers to stop developers land banking, as well as asking why student accommodation was being counted in the new homes figures.
You can watch the exchanges below.