Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending the ban on new leasehold houses to flats.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking with representatives of the private parking industry to regulate parking fines.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to publish the private parking code of practice.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 16 May 2024 to Question 25157 on Local Government: Elections, whether the number of veterans turned away from polling stations on 2 May 2024 after attempting to use their Veterans ID card as voter ID will be included within the interim report by the Electoral Commission.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Gen Kitchen (Labour - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the prevalence of damp and mould in social housing in (a) Wellingborough constituency and (b) Northamptonshire.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current scale of antisemitic activity and incidents in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff working on the Building Safety Programme in his Department left in the 12 months to 30 April 2024.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Building Safety Programme and initiatives are staffed by civil servants working within the Safer and Greener Buildings Group of the department which has a wider set of responsibilities than the building safety initiatives.
45 employees permanently left the department having previously worked in the Safer and Greener Buildings Group in the 12 month period ending 30th April 2024. This is broadly equivalent to 11% of staff employed in the Group during the same period and circa 1% of the department’s total workforce in the same period.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2024 to Question 21211 on Ground Rent, whether his Department plans to make contingencies for the payment of (a) compensation and (b) legal fees that could be required for loss of income as a result of a ground rent cap.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government has engaged extensively with relevant stakeholders, and has published an Impact Assessment on a range of options to restrict ground rents. We will set out our position as part of the progress of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has taken steps to ensure that before selling homes under the Right to Buy scheme between 1980 and 2022, local authorities (a) assessed those buildings for (i) cladding and (ii) building safety defects and (b) informed prospective buyers of (A) non-standard construction in and (B) the life expectancy of such homes; and if he will provide guidance to local authorities on ensuring that (1) such assessments are made for before homes are sold under the Right to Buy scheme and (2) prospective buyers are informed of (x) non-standard construction in and (y) the life expectancy of such homes.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Local authorities are responsible for conservation areas. The Manual to the Building Regulations notes that where the functional requirement of Part B Fire Safety applies to buildings of special architectural or historic interest, local authority building control and conservation officers may be able to advise on how to comply appropriately, if guidance intended for common building situations might prove too restrictive.
We are aware of the action being taken by Barnet Council and continue to engage closely with them on the steps they are taking, following the Moss Hall Grove fire in June 2023.
I would be delighted to meet my Hon Friend and I know we are trying to do so, alongside our Rt Hon Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet, as soon as diaries permit.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of restrictions in conservation areas on the safety of (a) residential cladding materials and (b) fire safety remediation and mitigation measures.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Local authorities are responsible for conservation areas. The Manual to the Building Regulations notes that where the functional requirement of Part B Fire Safety applies to buildings of special architectural or historic interest, local authority building control and conservation officers may be able to advise on how to comply appropriately, if guidance intended for common building situations might prove too restrictive.
We are aware of the action being taken by Barnet Council and continue to engage closely with them on the steps they are taking, following the Moss Hall Grove fire in June 2023.
I would be delighted to meet my Hon Friend and I know we are trying to do so, alongside our Rt Hon Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet, as soon as diaries permit.