Asked by: Baroness Mone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with faith leaders about piloting the opening of places of worship in advance of step 3 of their plan to lift restrictions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic being in place.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Following publication on 11 May of “Our Plan to Rebuild”, which outlined the steps we would be taking to ease the lockdown restrictions, the Government launched a Places of Worship Taskforce to look at how places of worship can reopen and operate safely.
The Secretary of State and I have held a series of meetings with the Taskforce as well as holding faith-specific roundtables to hear the views of our faith leaders on how our places of worship can reopen. This is to ensure that those who visit and those who work there are protected as far as possible. The Government is working with the Taskforce as we develop guidance for our faith communities on the safe reopening of our places of worship. This will include guidance on individual prayer, and services and ceremonies such as weddings. This will be published in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Mone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with faith leaders about the provision of all services and events in places of worship once those places are reopened.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Following publication on 11 May of “Our Plan to Rebuild”, which outlined the steps we would be taking to ease the lockdown restrictions, the Government launched a Places of Worship Taskforce to look at how places of worship can reopen and operate safely.
The Secretary of State and I have held a series of meetings with the Taskforce as well as holding faith-specific roundtables to hear the views of our faith leaders on how our places of worship can reopen. This is to ensure that those who visit and those who work there are protected as far as possible. The Government is working with the Taskforce as we develop guidance for our faith communities on the safe reopening of our places of worship. This will include guidance on individual prayer, and services and ceremonies such as weddings. This will be published in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Mone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the publication of Our plan to rebuild: The UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy on 11 May, what discussions they have had with faith leaders about the number of people who will be permitted to gather in places of worship for services and events.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Following publication on 11 May of “Our Plan to Rebuild”, which outlined the steps we would be taking to ease the lockdown restrictions, the Government launched a Places of Worship Taskforce to look at how places of worship can reopen and operate safely.
The Secretary of State and I have held a series of meetings with the Taskforce as well as holding faith-specific roundtables to hear the views of our faith leaders on how our places of worship can reopen. This is to ensure that those who visit and those who work there are protected as far as possible. The Government is working with the Taskforce as we develop guidance for our faith communities on the safe reopening of our places of worship. This will include guidance on individual prayer, and services and ceremonies such as weddings. This will be published in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Mone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the current state of the UK housing market, and (2) how that market may be affected by Brexit.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As a matter of course the department works closely with industry and all levels of government to monitor and assess the future of the UK housing market.
We?are ?committed to delivering safe, secure and affordable housing to people across the country, and this has not changed. A key pillar of realising this commitment is our ambition to deliver more homes for the communities up and down the country that need them. We have made necessary legislation that means the UK’s regulatory requirements on construction products are the same as the EU’s requirements.
Asked by: Baroness Mone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce new non-tax incentives after Brexit to support the UK housing market.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is committed to delivering safe, secure and affordable housing to people across the country and is working closely with the industry to support the market.
I am focused on delivering the comprehensive suite of housing measures set out in the manifesto to deliver at least another million homes in the next five years and make further progress towards the target of 300,000 new houses a year by the mid-2020s.
This includes ambitious measures such as renewing the Affordable Homes Programme, making the planning system simpler, and a new single housing infrastructure fund.