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Written Question
Public Sector: Ombudsman
Wednesday 10th April 2019

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2019 to Question 234661 on the draft Public Services Ombudsman Bill, what criteria the Government plans to use to determine whether the Housing Ombudsman Service will be brought within the scope of the Public Service Ombudsman.

Answered by David Lidington

The Government has not yet established the criteria that would be used to make such a
determination. Any decision to introduce the necessary secondary legislation would need to take into
account feedback received during pre-legislative scrutiny and the passage of the Bill. In addition the
Government published its response to Strengthening Consumer Redress in the Housing Market
consultation on 24 January 2019 which set out proposals to establish a new Housing Complaints
Resolution Service to provide a single point of access to redress across all housing tenures.


Written Question
Housing Ombudsman Service
Wednesday 10th April 2019

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2019 to Question 234648 on Housing Ombudsman Service, how many complaints the Housing Ombudsman Service received against (a) A2Dominion, (b) Clarion Housing Group, (c) London & Quadrant, (d) Notting Hill Genesis, (e) One Housing Group, (f) Peabody and (g) Southern Housing Group in 2018-19; and how many of those complaints were upheld.

Answered by Heather Wheeler

Between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019, the Housing Ombudsman received 1,452 complaints about (a) A2Dominion, (b) Clarion Housing Group, (c) London & Quadrant, (d) Notting Hill Genesis, (e) One Housing Group, (f) Peabody and (g) Southern Housing Group. The breakdown was as follows:


Landlord name


Count

A2Dominion
Housing Group Limited

121

Clarion Housing Group Limited

430

London & Quadrant
Housing Trust

261

Notting Hill Genesis

287

One Housing Group Limited

62

Peabody Trust

216

Southern Housing Group Limited

75


Total


1,452

A breakdown of the 377 complaints determined by the Housing Ombudsman between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019 for (a) A2Dominion, (b) Clarion Housing Group, (c) London & Quadrant, (d) Notting Hill Genesis, (e) One Housing Group, (f) Peabody and (g) Southern
Housing Group is below. Of these, a total of 171 cases were upheld by
the Housing Ombudsman.


Landlord name


Upheld


Not upheld


Total Determined

A2Dominion Housing Group Limited

16

20

36

Clarion Housing Group Limited

45

37

82

London & Quadrant Housing Trust

33

40

73

Notting Hill Genesis

29

39

68

One
Housing Group Limited

19

18

37

Peabody
Trust

23

43

66

Southern Housing Group
Limited

6

9

15


Total


171


206


377


Written Question
Housing Ombudsman Service
Wednesday 10th April 2019

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2019 to Question 234648 on the finding that the average time taken in 2018-19 to determine cases entering the Housing Ombudsman Service’s formal remit is expected to be less than seven months as of the end of March 2019, for what reason the Housing Ombudsman Service is advising people referring complaints to it that there is an eight to ten months wait for a determination on those complaints to be made.

Answered by Heather Wheeler

The Housing Ombudsman Service started the year with an average case determination time of 8 months and has used this as an indicator to customers throughout the year. On 4 April 2019, The Housing Ombudsman advised all staff of performance for 2018-19 and advised an update to their advice to customers, that determinations will take between 6 and 8 months. The Ombudsman's advice is that the expected timescales - using a range as the average - will not be experienced by all customers.This will vary dependent on the level of complexity of cases entering the Housing Ombudsman Service’s formal remit.


Written Question
Housing Ombudsman Service
Wednesday 10th April 2019

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2019 to Question 234648 on Housing Ombudsman Service, if he will instruct the Housing Ombudsman Service to set its subscription fee at the level required to deliver the resources to reduce the average waiting time for determination of a complaint to four months.

Answered by Heather Wheeler

The proposed fee for the next year was set out in the Housing Ombudsman’s draft Business Plan 2019/20 for consultation. Together with the Corporate plan 2019-22, it sets out a series of strategic priorities and measures of success for the coming year and includes its plans for subscription levels. The final level remains subject to Secretary of State approval.


Written Question
Housing Ombudsman Service
Wednesday 10th April 2019

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2019 to Question 234648 on Housing Ombudsman Service, for what reasons there has been a 24 per cent increase in cases entering the Housing Ombudsman Service’s formal remit for determination in 2018-19.

Answered by Heather Wheeler

The increase in cases entering the Housing Ombudsman’s formal remit is likely to reflect the increase in the volume of residents exiting landlords’ complaints procedures and still seeking resolution. We cannot comment with certainty on the reasons for the increase as the explanation will be the aggregate of individual factors across social landlords. Responsive repairs has continued to be the largest category of complaint received at 37 per cent of the overall number in 2017-18.


Written Question
Housing Ombudsman Service
Wednesday 10th April 2019

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2019 to Question 234648 on Housing Ombudsman Service, which stakeholders the Housing Ombudsman Service is required to consult with on the proposals within its draft Corporate Plan 2019-22 and draft Business Plan 2019-20; and which organisations have responded to those consultations.

Answered by Heather Wheeler

Under the Framework Document agreed between the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Housing Ombudsman, the Housing Ombudsman will consult with residents and members of the Scheme on the draft business plan each year. The Housing Ombudsman received 74 responses from individual landlord organisations, residents and resident organisations and other stakeholders. A list of respondents will be published together with the Business plan 2019-20 and Corporate plan 2019-22 once they have been agreed.


Written Question
Schools: Fire Prevention
Tuesday 9th April 2019

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the (a) Scottish and (b) Welsh Governments on the adequacy of school fire safety standards.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department will engage with the devolved administrations, as appropriate, when developing policy areas. Officials have been in contact with the relevant school specialists in the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Governments to alert them to the review of Building Bulletin 100 (fire safety in schools).


Written Question
Housing: Fire Extinguishers
Monday 8th April 2019

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the merits of the request by London Fire Brigade for sprinklers to be placed on all new-build residential developments.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

The Department is undertaking a technical review of the Building Regulations’ fire safety guidance. A call for evidence closed on 15 March. The call for evidence specifically asked for views on the provision of sprinklers.

The Department is currently analysing the responses to the call for evidence including that from the London Fire Brigade.


Written Question
Schools: Fires
Monday 8th April 2019

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the loss of school facilities used by the wider community as a result of fire.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department does not assess the impact of the loss of school facilities on the wider community. The majority of fires in schools are restricted to the room of origin, with very few leading to the loss of facilities.


Written Question
Schools: Fire Prevention
Monday 8th April 2019

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to prevent school fires breaking out as a result of hot works.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department has produced guidance to assist schools in the safe management of maintenance activity that creates a significant risk of fire (hot works). These activities include plumbing activities using blow torches, and roof repair activities that use liquefied petroleum gas and bitumen burners.

This guidance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/fire-risk-from-school-maintenance-or-building-works.