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 plans they have to retain a hybrid system of virtual and physical attendance at local council meetings, including meetings of council committees and full council meetings, after the COVID-19 national restrictions are lifted.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government keeps all policy under review. To extend the facility for councils to continue to meet remotely, or in hybrid form after 7 May 2021 would require primary legislation. We have received representations from local authorities and sector representative organisations making the case for the continuation of remote meetings beyond 7 May 2021 and are carefully considering next steps in this area.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many blocks of flats have aluminium composite material cladding; and how many of those blocks are (1) 18 metres or more in height, and (2) below 18 metres in height.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Department publishes data on the number of high-rise residential and publicly owned buildings in England with ACM cladding systems unlikely to meet Building Regulations. The latest data is available (attached) at:
Information on buildings below 18 metres is not held.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many blocks of flats have flammable cladding other than aluminium composite material; and how many of those blocks are (1) 18 metres or more in height, and (2) below 18 metres in height.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
For high rise residential buildings over 18 metres, local authorities and housing associations are undergoing a data collection exercise as part of an ongoing programme to build a more complete picture of high-rise residential buildings and the variety of external wall systems in use. We will publish appropriate summary information from the data collection in our monthly Building Safety Programme data release in due course.
Data estimating the proportion of high-rise residential buildings in England with little or no cladding can be found (attached) in this release: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-safety-programme-estimates-of-ews1-requirements-on-residential-buildings-in-england/building-safety-programme-estimates-of-ews1-requirements-on-residential-buildings-in-england.
This information on buildings below 18 metres is not held.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many households live in blocks of flats with flammable cladding.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Department publishes data on the number of dwellings in high-rise social sector residential and private sector residential buildings in England with ACM cladding systems unlikely to meet Building Regulations. The latest data is available (attached) at:
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 estimate they have made of the cost of removing and replacing flammable cladding on all blocks of flats.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The information on flammable cladding for all blocks of flats is not held. However, section 11 of the Building Safety Bill: Impact Assessment (attached) estimates the average costs per building for addressing safety remediation in high rise buildings. These estimates consider all necessary remediation, which goes beyond façade remediation.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the the Royal College of Psychiatrists' analysis published on 14 September that estimated that the number of high-risk drinkers has risen from 4.8 million in February to 8.4 million during the COVID-19 pandemic; and what steps they plan to take based on any such assessment.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Local authorities are responsible for assessing local needs and commissioning alcohol services to meet these needs, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Health England (PHE) supports local authorities in this work by providing advice, guidance and data.
PHE has been collecting and publishing a range of data on alcohol sales and consumption during the period of the pandemic. This data can be viewed as part of the Wider Impacts of COVID-19 on Health monitoring tool, which is available in an online only format.
The data indicates that while many people have taken the opportunity of lockdown to moderate their drinking, or to not drink at all, there is a group of people who are drinking at levels which increase their risk of harm.
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 plans they have to delay proposals to allow local authorities to keep 75 per cent of business rates income until the Treasury’s fundamental review of business rates has reported.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government has?confirmed that 75 per cent business rates retention will not be implemented in 2021-22.??This decision was taken to allow both the Government and councils to focus on meeting the immediate public health challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Looking beyond 2021-22, in determining the next steps, we will need to consider the impact the pandemic has had on both the demand for public services across councils, and their access to local resources. This will also require a careful consideration of the link between the fundamental review of business rates and the future of the business rates retention policy.
We will set out the timetable for our proposed way forward in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to providing temporary additional funding to schools to help fund the increase in cleaning costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department is providing additional funding to schools, on top of existing budgets, to cover unavoidable costs incurred between March to July, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, that cannot be met from their existing resources.
Schools have been eligible to claim for: increased premises related costs associated with keeping schools open over the Easter and summer half term holidays; support for free school meals for eligible children who are not in school, where schools are not using the national voucher scheme; and additional cleaning costs required, due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, over and above the cost of existing cleaning arrangements. We have published detailed guidance on the fund at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-schools.
The first claims window for the fund closed on 21 July. All claims for funding within the specified cost categories and maximum limit have already been paid. We are assessing all other claims, which will be paid later in the autumn if approved.
There will also be a further opportunity in autumn for schools to claim for exceptional costs they faced between March to July. This second claims window will be available for schools who were unable to claim in the summer and will be for the same eligible cost categories.
As set out in our reopening guidance, schools should use their existing resources when planning to welcome all children back for the autumn. The guidance can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures#funding.
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 plans they have to honour the commitment made by the Local Government Minister on 18 October 2018 to amend section 80 of the Local Government Act 1972 to disbar persons required to sign the Sex Offenders Register from acquiring or holding public office as councillors or mayors.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
It is essential that all our councillors, mayors and London Assembly members are held to the highest standards of conduct.
That is why the Government has committed to legislate on this issue as soon as Parliamentary time allows.
These challenging times have put the Government’s legislative programme under pressure. However, the Government will seek an early opportunity to legislate on this matter as soon as is practicable.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish guidance on how solo singers can perform in a COVID-19-safe way either (1) inside, or (2) outside.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The existing guidance for the performing arts provides guidance for performances by solo singers in both indoor and outdoor settings. Since 15 August, live indoor performances in front of a socially distanced audience have been able to take place provided the performance space is COVID-19 secure and groups of up to 6 in the audience are kept separate from one another to ensure they do not mix and do not exceed the new legal limits.