Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to remove VAT from school uniforms.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Under the current VAT rules, all children’s clothing and footwear designed for young children who are less than 14 years of age, including school uniforms, attract a zero-rate of VAT, meaning that no VAT is charged on the sale of these items.
The UK is one of only two countries among the 37 OECD member countries to maintain a VAT relief for children’s clothing.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Arriva concerning restoring bus services run by Arriva in parts of West Yorkshire where bus drivers have been on strike.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, everywhere has access to great bus services and regularly engages with bus operators on a variety of issues.
Where there are disputes between a private entity and its employees relating to employees’ terms and conditions, it is the responsibility of the company concerned to resolve these issues and make conditions for their employees sufficiently appealing.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to simplifying the process of Compulsory Purchase Orders to enable local authorities to act more quickly where the completion of projects is unreasonably delayed.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government is absolutely clear that new homes should be built out as soon as possible once planning permission is granted. Where sites are stalled or there are delays to delivery, it is for local authorities and developers to work closely together on the issues. We recognise communities need to see the homes they want and need built promptly. We are, therefore, exploring further options to support faster build out as part of the wider package of proposed changes to the planning system. As set out in the recent Levelling Up White Paper, we are also exploring the provisions around compulsory purchase powers to help speed up the process. An announcement on the way forward will be made in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what actions are available to local authorities to take steps to mitigate planning blight.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government has provided various tools for local authorities to mitigate against incomplete developments or rundown sites. Most notably, Section 215 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990 (the Act) provides a local planning authority (LPA) with the power in respect of land in their area to take remedial steps by serving a notice on the owner and occupier, when the condition of that land adversely affects the amenity of part of their, or an adjoining area. The notice should provide a clear timeframe for compliance and clearly particularise the remedial work that must be undertaken.
The scope of works that can be required in S215 notices is wide and includes planting, clearance, tidying, enclosure, demolition, re-building, external repairs and repainting. Any works specified by a notice need to be compliant and not lead to any breaches of planning control.
The use of Section 215 is discretionary, and an LPA should decide whether a notice under these provisions would be appropriate in a particular case, taking into account all the local circumstances. LPAs also have powers under Section 219 of the Act to undertake the remedial works themselves and to recover the costs from the landowner.
In addition, planning blight notices are a statutory mechanism available to owner-occupiers of dwellings who cannot sell their property except for a significantly reduced amount because it falls within one of the categories of 'planning blight' set out in Schedule 13 to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. If such a notice is confirmed, the owner can require the public body behind the scheme to acquire the premises at open market value in the absence of the scheme.
More information on blight notices in relation to Compulsory Purchase Orders can be found on Gov.uk.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to amending section 215 of the Town and County Planning Act 1990 to allow local councils to prosecute land owners if schemes have not been completed within a reasonable time period.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government is absolutely clear that new homes should be built out as soon as possible once planning permission is granted. Where sites are stalled or there are delays to delivery, it is for local authorities and developers to work closely together on the issues.
Section 215 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990 provides a local authority with the power to take remedial steps by serving a notice on the owner and occupier, when the condition of land adversely affects the amenity of the area. However, the use of Section 215 is discretionary, and a local authority should decide whether a notice under these provisions would be appropriate in a particular case, taking into account all the local circumstances as Section 219 of the Act allows local planning authorities to undertake the remedial works themselves and recover the costs from the landowner.
We recognise communities need to see the homes they want and need built promptly. We are, therefore, exploring further options to support faster build out as part of the wider package of proposed changes to the planning system. An announcement will be made in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards achieving the voluntary contributions of £4 billion for the remediation of cladding from developers of blocks of flats between 11 and 18 metres in height.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Department has been working intensively with developers over recent weeks as it is essential that leaseholders living in their own flats in medium and high-rise buildings should not pay a penny to remediate historic cladding defects that are no fault of their own. We are clear that industry must develop a system to resolve the problems they have caused and pay to fix them. If they do not do the right thing and step in then, if necessary, we will impose a solution upon them in law. The Secretary of State recognises that other parties are also responsible for building safety failures and is bringing top cladding manufacturers operating in the UK into the talks. The Secretary of State is very clear on his expectations, and we have a process lined up to legislate where necessary if we don’t see the progress required.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk that developments of blocks of flats between 11 and 18 metres in height that used (1) special purpose vehicles, or (2) shell companies, for their construction could avoid paying towards the £4 billion cost for cladding remediation.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Leaseholders living in their own flats in medium and high-rise buildings should not pay a penny to remediate historic cladding defects that are no fault of their own. We are clear that industry must develop a system to resolve the problems they have caused and pay to fix them. If they do not do the right thing and step in then, if necessary, we will impose a solution upon them in law.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether registered social housing providers are eligible for grants from the Building Safety Fund towards the (1) removal, and (2) replacement, of flammable cladding.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Registered social housing providers are eligible to apply for funding from the Building Safety Fund towards the removal and replacement of unsafe non-Aluminium Composite Material cladding. The circumstances under which registered social sector housing providers can apply to the Fund are:
Additionally, providers will be treated as other leaseholders where they have leasehold interests in private sector blocks – provided those interests are for the purposes of social housing. Guidance for registered social landlords on applying for the Building Safety Fund to cover leaseholder costs is available (attached) at:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/949885/200724_Social_Housing_Providers_Guidance_Note_for_Applicants.pdf
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children with nutritional anaemia were treated in each of the English NHS regions in (1) 2019, and (2) 2020.
Answered by Lord Kamall
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce specific policies that will reduce the occurrence of nutritional anaemia in children.
Answered by Lord Kamall
While we have no specific plans to do so, the Government’s advice on a healthy, balanced diet for children is shown in the Eatwell Guide. The Eatwell Guide is a visual representation of the types and proportions of foods needed for a healthy balanced diet, including variety of iron rich foods essential in preventing anaemia.