Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the levels of fraud in the operation of postal voting; and what plans they have, if any, to introduce photo identification requirements for postal voting.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Electoral Commission publishes a report annually on electoral fraud. I also refer the noble peer to the report by (then) Sir Eric Pickles on electoral fraud, which identified a series of weaknesses in the postal vote process (attached). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/securing-the-ballot-review-into-electoral-fraud.
That report was commissioned following the 2015 Election Court ruling on electoral corruption in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
There are longstanding security measures which enhance the security of the postal voting process, including requiring postal voters to provide personal identifiers at the time of applying for a postal vote and which are checked at the time of a poll. The Elections Act 2022 introduces a package of sensible measures to enhance the security around absent voting including an identity check at the point of application for a postal vote, whereby an applicant will need to provide their National Insurance number to be checked against Government records. This process mirrors the current practice for Registering to Vote.
As is usual, the Government will keep this area of policy under review in the future.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they expect the provisions of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, if passed, will interact with the Building Safety Act 2022; and what steps they will take to ensure provisions in the Act concerning building safety standards are not undermined by the revocation of retained EU law.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the noble Baroness to the answer given (attached) to PQ 105305 on 12 December 2022.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to extend the criteria for disqualification to stand as a candidate for Parliament to include disqualification if named on the Sex Offenders Register; and if so, when.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Government is not currently planning to legislate to extend the disqualification criteria for UK Parliamentary General Elections beyond the criteria currently set out in the House of Commons Disqualification Act and the Representation of the People’s Act. We are keeping this issue under review and are committed to ensuring that our electoral arrangements are fit for purpose. In respect of Members of the House of Lords, HoLAC provides advice on nominations for all life peers, to ensure the highest standards of propriety.
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
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
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 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
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 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
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 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
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 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
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 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
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.