Home Ownership Incentive Schemes – Parliamentary Written Answer

Grant Shapps:  To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much has been spent from the public purse on advertising the Government's Own Your Home scheme.

Mr Marcus Jones: In 2015/2016 spend on the campaign has been approximately £4 million. Activity consisted of radio, press and consumer advertising, out of home on-street bus stop posters, digital and Facebook advertising and a series of 'How to' online videos promoted through You Tube. On average around 140 people are helped through government home buying schemes every day and over 335,000 households have been helped to buy a property since 2010, through schemes like Help to Buy and the reinvigorated Right to Buy.

Quarter Of A Million Homeowners Advertise For Lodgers

Almost quarter of a million (233,697) homeowners have advertised for lodgers since the announcement of the increase to the Rent a Room Scheme tax threshold to £7,500 per year. This is an increase of more than 5.2% on the same period a year earlier. The data also reveals August was the busiest since records began in 2007, with 31,109 people placing ads for lodgers. London is the only major city where annual lodger rents are still higher than the new threshold, which kicks in on 6th April 2016. Read more on 24dash.

Energy Department Misled Consumers over Green Deal Savings,

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has been ordered to drop an advertising campaign which misled viewers over the savings they could expect to make from the Government’s Green Deal scheme and failed to make clear the costs involved. In a further blow to the much criticised green initiative, DECC was criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) following complaints that it misled consumers.  Viewers complained about a television campaign which implied that savings under the scheme were guaranteed.  But the ASA found that “DECC could not guarantee that Green Deal repayments would exceed savings. Read more on the Independent website.