Asked by: Lord Whitehead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether it is his policy to commence section 43 of the Deregulation Act 2015.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government has no current plans to commence Section 43 of the Deregulation Act 2015. Local authorities may include in their local plans policies which set reasonable requirements for new development to meet higher energy performance standards than those required in building regulations. Policies must not be inconsistent with relevant national policies. The Written Ministerial Statement of 25 March 2015 set out relevant national policy.
Asked by: Lord Whitehead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether local authorities are legally empowered to set higher energy efficiency standards than those required by building regulations.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government has no current plans to commence Section 43 of the Deregulation Act 2015. Local authorities may include in their local plans policies which set reasonable requirements for new development to meet higher energy performance standards than those required in building regulations. Policies must not be inconsistent with relevant national policies. The Written Ministerial Statement of 25 March 2015 set out relevant national policy.
Asked by: Lord Whitehead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 25 March 2015 on Planning Update, HCWS488, whether it is his Department's policy that local authorities will continue to be able to set and apply policies in their local plans which require compliance with energy performance standards that exceed the energy requirements of Building Regulations.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government has no current plans to commence Section 43 of the Deregulation Act 2015. Local authorities may include in their local plans policies which set reasonable requirements for new development to meet higher energy performance standards than those required in building regulations. Policies must not be inconsistent with relevant national policies. The Written Ministerial Statement of 25 March 2015 set out relevant national policy.
Asked by: Lord Whitehead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether local authorities can set energy efficiency standards higher than Level 4 of the former Code for Sustainable Homes.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government has no current plans to commence Section 43 of the Deregulation Act 2015. Local authorities may include in their local plans policies which set reasonable requirements for new development to meet higher energy performance standards than those required in building regulations. Policies must not be inconsistent with relevant national policies. The Written Ministerial Statement of 25 March 2015 set out relevant national policy.
Asked by: Lord Whitehead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many starter homes have been completed since 2015.
Answered by Lord Sharma
No starter homes have been completed to date. However, the £1.2 billion Starter Home Land Fund is supporting the preparation of brownfield sites for delivery of homes.
The Homes and Communities Agency has already invested £126 million in over 40 sites with a capacity for over 5,000 homes.
Asked by: Lord Whitehead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if his Department will issue guidance to the private rented sector on the issuing of rental contracts that prohibit tenants from switching electricity suppliers.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government has issued guidance to the sector on the rights of tenants in choosing their own energy supplier in the form of a factsheet published by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) in September 2013 which is available online at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/83161/tenancyrightsfactsheetenglishweb.pdf
The factsheet makes it clear that under Ofgem rules, if a tenant is directly responsible for paying the electricity bill, they have the right to choose their own energy supplier and the landlord or letting agent should not unreasonably prevent this. A tenant is still entitled to switch supplier even if there is a default supplier clause in their tenancy agreement.
The only circumstance where a landlord has the right to choose the energy supplier is when they are directly responsible for paying for the gas or electricity. This arrangement would be made clear in the tenancy agreement signed by the tenant.