Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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20. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the action that will be taken to reduce the number of stages of approval that local authority housing schemes must go through within his Department. [52072/17]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Social housing projects funded by my Department, like all publicly funded construction projects, must comply with the Government’s Capital Works Management Framework, the objectives of which are to ensure greater cost certainty, better value for money and financial accountability. There are nine stages under the  Capital Works Management Framework, which my Department has streamlined to just four for social housing construction projects. 

In order to support the accelerated delivery of social housing homes, a review of the processes and procedures in place for the approval of construction projects was undertaken in February 2017. Arising from this review, a joint working group of the County and City Management Association and my Department was established to implement its key recommendations. 

The working group has agreed an overall target programme of 59 weeks for progressing typical social housing construction projects from stage 1 all the way through to getting on site. It has also produced more detailed guidelines on submissions to be made to my Department. In addition, it has revised the pilot single stage approval process for projects under €2m on foot of feedback from local authorities with the overall aim of increasing take up. Additionally, where local authorities bring forward Design and Build Contracts, for example using the framework for rapid delivery housing projects, the approval process can be tailored to a three stage process.

The Deputy can be assured that my Department is committed to the accelerated delivery of all social housing projects and will work with all local authorities and approved housing bodies to ensure that quality and value for money projects are delivered efficiently and effectively.