To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what action his Department is taking to promote building of new homes using modern methods of construction. [125872]

The office of the Deputy Prime Minister is promoting modern construction methods to get homes built more quickly, more safely, and to a higher standard through a number of measures including:

the £300 million Challenge Fund, which will produce over 8,000 homes in London and south-east England, of which 2,600 will be built using modern methods of manufacturing;

the Housing Corporation's target that, from 2004–05, at least 25 per cent. of grant-funded homes will be built using modern methods of construction; and

Millenium Communities projects, which act as exemplars of using the most efficient construction methodologies. We have asked English Partnerships to give a focus on modern methods at the Millennium Community in Milton Keynes.

The Approved Documents to the Building Regulations will give guidance on how modern methods of construction can comply with the Regulations.