Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to his Department's consultation entitled Modern leasehold: restricting ground rent for existing leases, closed on 17 January 2024, whether he plans to reduce ground rents.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I would refer my Rt Hon Friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 23795 on 3 May 2024.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will have discussions with the Regulator of Social Housing on whether it has instructed the Board of Tower Hamlets Community Housing to discontinue the negotiations with Poplar HARCA about the proposed merger of the organisations.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Regulator of Social Housing is an Arms Length Body with operational independence from government. It operates according to the regulatory framework which sets out the economic and consumer standards that registered providers of social housing are required to meet.
Tower Hamlets Community Housing is an independent private sector organisation that makes its own commercial decisions.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will have discussions with the Regulator of Social Housing on whether they have had discussions with any of the large G15 housing associations on taking over Tower Hamlets Community Housing.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Regulator of Social Housing is an Arms Length Body with operational independence from government. It operates according to the regulatory framework which sets out the economic and consumer standards that registered providers of social housing are required to meet.
Tower Hamlets Community Housing is an independent private sector organisation that makes its own commercial decisions.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will have discussions with the Regulator of Social Housing on whether the Board of Tower Hamlets Community Housing has produced an improvement plan as of 26 April 2024.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Regulator of Social Housing is an Arms Length Body with operational independence from government. It operates according to the regulatory framework which sets out the economic and consumer standards that registered providers of social housing are required to meet.
Tower Hamlets Community Housing is an independent private sector organisation that makes its own commercial decisions.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he asked the Regulator of Social Housing to report on the effectiveness of its involvement in the proposed merger between Swan Housing and Orbit in 2022.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Regulator of Social Housing is an arm’s-length body with operational independence from government. It sets the economic and consumer standards that registered providers of social housing are required to meet. The details of the Regulator’s engagement on the proposed merger between Swan Housing Association and Orbit is a matter for the Regulator.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
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 estimate of (a) the number of UK citizens living overseas who are eligible to register to vote and (b) projected levels of such registrations in the next six months.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the Impact Assessment on the Representation of the People (Overseas Electors etc.) (Amendment) Regulations 2023: The Representation of the People (Overseas Electors etc.) (Amendment) Regulations 2023.
The department has not made any projections of levels of registrations of UK citizens living overseas in the next six months.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he (a) has had or (b) plans to have discussions with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council on selling land designated for employment use as storage land.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Under section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972 local authorities have the power to dispose of surplus land in any manner they wish. The only requirement is for them to obtain Secretary of State consent should they wish to dispose of the land (otherwise than by a short tenancy) at lower than market price and guidance on this is set out in Disposal of land for less than the best consideration that can reasonably be obtained: circular 06/2003.
The Secretary of State has not had, and does not plan to have, discussions with the Council on this matter.
The department does not produce guidance on the utilisation of land sold as storage land.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance is available to local authorities on valuations when selling (a) land and (b) property.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Under section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972 local authorities have the power to dispose of surplus land in any manner they wish. The only requirement is for them to obtain Secretary of State consent should they wish to dispose of the land (otherwise than by a short tenancy) at lower than market price and guidance on this is set out in Disposal of land for less than the best consideration that can reasonably be obtained: circular 06/2003.
The Secretary of State has not had, and does not plan to have, discussions with the Council on this matter.
The department does not produce guidance on the utilisation of land sold as storage land.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance is available to local authorities on the utilisation of land sold as storage land.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Under section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972 local authorities have the power to dispose of surplus land in any manner they wish. The only requirement is for them to obtain Secretary of State consent should they wish to dispose of the land (otherwise than by a short tenancy) at lower than market price and guidance on this is set out in Disposal of land for less than the best consideration that can reasonably be obtained: circular 06/2003.
The Secretary of State has not had, and does not plan to have, discussions with the Council on this matter.
The department does not produce guidance on the utilisation of land sold as storage land.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many councils had a completed audit on time for the financial year 2023-2024.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The deadline for councils in England to publish audited accounts for financial year 2023/24 has not yet passed.