Communities and Local Government is conducting research to gain a better understanding of the scale and extent of unspent section 106 contributions. Housing minister Margaret Beckett said the investigation was a response to questions MPs had raised about the amount of unspent planning cash for section 106 agreements held in local authority bank accounts around the country – estimated by Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle as £4 billion. He argues that this money could be used to provide social housing and get those in the construction industry back to work.