Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many housing association tenants are expected to buy their home under the Right to Buy scheme by (1) 2020 and (2) 2025; and whether they will place research on this topic in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Working with the National Housing Federation, the Government has secured an agreement with housing associations to give their tenants the opportunity to buy their home with an equivalent discount to the Right to Buy. This will deliver the manifesto commitment to extend the benefits of Right to Buy to 1.3 million tenants.
More details will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the cost of the right to buy discount for housing association tenants is expected to be each year until 2020; what assessment was carried out on the projected costs of discounts; and whether they will place any such research in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government has been clear that the sale of high value vacant council housing will pay for the cost of compensating housing associations for the discount, so the Right to Buy will be cost neutral.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they plan to take in respect of their starter homes policy, in the light of the decision in <i>R (on the application of West Berkshire District Council and Reading Borough Council) v. Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government </i>[2015] EWHC 2222 (Admin) removing affordable housing contribution exemptions from small developments.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
As my Rt. Hon Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his report Fixing the Foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation, as part of our manifesto commitment to build 200,000 Starter Homes over this Parliament, we intend to expand the current Starter Homes exception site policy to include more types of underused or unviable brownfield land and strengthen the presumption in favour of development for Starter Home developments.
The Government remains concerned about the burden certain Section 106 contributions place on small scale development and the possible impact on the number of houses being built. We are seeking to appeal the judgment
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the recommendations of the Non-Metropolitan Commission’s recent report, "Devolution to Non-Metropolitan England"; and what is their assessment of the possible gains for counties from devolution compared to those for city regions.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have not undertaken any formal assessment of that third-party report. However, I would draw attention to the recent Command Paper, Implications of devolution for England (Cm 8969) which sets out the Government’s approach to further decentralisation in England, including the views of both Coalition parties, both of which make reference to the role of England’s counties.