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, whether he has made an assessment of the impact of Stewart Milne Homes Northwest England (Developments) entering administration on building safety remediation in England.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
If the Hon Gentleman has specific concerns, we would be happy to receive them.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
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 it his policy to ban party political adverts from video streaming services.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Political advertising is a fundamental part of any democratic system and is an established way for political parties and campaigners to connect with the public and have their message heard.
The ban on paid political advertising on television and radio (introduced in the Communications Act 2003) continues to be supported across the political spectrum as it levels the playing field in political campaigning.
The Government remains committed to protecting the integrity of our democracy and continues to keep campaigning rules under close review to ensure that digital campaigning remains transparent and fair.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
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 it his policy to facilitate greater involvement of architects in the development stage of new housing schemes.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
National planning policy makes clear that local authorities should prepare their own local design codes in line with the principles set out in the National Design Guide and National Model Design Code, which can define what well-designed new development means in their local area.
The NPPF and supporting National Design Guide and National Model Design Code emphasise that effective engagement between local authorities, communities, applicants and other interests, such as architects, throughout the design process, including the preparation of design codes, is helpful to achieving well designed and sustainable new development.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure standards of (a) quality and (b) sustainability in new housing developments.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government legislated through the Building Safety Act 2022 to provide for a statutory New Homes Ombudsman and accompanying Code of Practice that set out expectations of scheme members around standards of conduct and standards of quality of work.
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, what data his Department holds on the number of buildings expected to have remediation paid for by a building owner that meets (a) the Developer Test (b) the Contribution Condition as of 15 April 2024.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Data on Building Safety Remediation progress is published on gov.uk.
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, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that signatories of the developer remediation contract are taking responsibility for buildings where they are a contractor.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Publicly available data on the developer contract can be found here.
The Department encourages developers to discuss challenges and successes with the oversight team. Best practice examples are shared with other developers as appropriate.
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, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of weeks to obtain planning permission for building safety remediation works following the transition to a new Building Safety Regulator on 6 April 2024.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Building regulations approval is separate from planning permission.
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 audits conducted by his Department from April 2023 to March 2024 under the Developer Self Remediation Terms have required the developer to undertake corrective action in relation to (a) Building and (b) Post-remediation Qualifying Assessments.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Publicly available data on the developer contract can be found here.
The Department encourages developers to discuss challenges and successes with the oversight team. Best practice examples are shared with other developers as appropriate.
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 audits his Department has conducted under the Developer Self Remediation Terms in relation to (a) building assessments and (b) post-remediation qualifying assessments between April 2023 and March 2024.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Publicly available data on the developer contract can be found here.
The Department encourages developers to discuss challenges and successes with the oversight team. Best practice examples are shared with other developers as appropriate.
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, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that developers who began work under Self Remediation Terms before 6 April 2024 continue to make progress on that work.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Publicly available data on the developer contract can be found here.
The Department encourages developers to discuss challenges and successes with the oversight team. Best practice examples are shared with other developers as appropriate.