Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any decrease in the number of trading standards officers since 2016; and what funding they will provide to local authorities to enable them effectively to enforce existing legislation in the purview of the trading standards.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the noble Lady to the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Local Government and Building Safety) comments on Trading Standards: Staffing and Resources at HC volume 728, debated on Monday 20 February 2023.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for the Thames Freeport project to give preference to freight transport of spoil and building materials via the river between the three sites at Dagenham, Tilbury Dock and London Gateway; and what plans they have to ensure permanently improved waterway links from those sites.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Thames Freeport has significant opportunities to move freight (including e-commerce), waste, goods and spoil in and out of central London by the river - from the deep-sea terminals in the East to the population centre and industrial base in the West. The greater use of the tidal Thames for moving materials and goods in and out of central London will help reduce congestion, air pollution and emissions. Work is underway to develop and scale up pilot projects, with the Thames Freeport playing a key role.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the new UK Shared Prosperity Fund on the total amount of funding awarded by local authority area for partnerships between universities for research purposes, compared with funding received under the previous EU schemes to which universities were entitled to apply; and what steps they intend to take to address any disparities identified by that assessment.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The UKSPF is not a direct replacement for EU structural funds. It improves on these funds by giving local areas a greater say in investments. DLUHC recognises the important role of universities and has made them an integral part of local partnership groups in the development of investment plans and ongoing delivery. Universities are still entitled to apply for UKSPF funding in their local areas.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what mechanisms exist within the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to enable local authorities to work together and with universities to bid for funding for research projects that require large-scale collaboration across regions or nations.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
UKSPF is being delivered by lead local authorities and universities can bid for funding locally, but there is no limit on the scale and scope of projects which can be delivered across regional and national borders.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Greenhalgh on 17 February (HL6007), to explain why there has been a long delay since the conclusion of their consultation on toilet provision and whether they have allocated funding to take forward the results of this consultation.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
‘Toilet provision for men and women’ call for evidence closed on 26 February 2021. A very high number of responses to the call for evidence were received, all of which have now been read and analysed. The department has a team dedicated to taking forward the work and the potential changes to the Building Regulations resulting from the call for evidence. An update will be made in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what records they have, if any, of the total numbers of local authority (1) owned, and (2) operated, vehicles; what percentage of those are (a) electric, or (b) hydrogen, powered; what targets have they set, if any, for local authorities to increase the percentage of their fleets which are zero carbon; and when they forecast any such targets will be reached.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Local Authorities are autonomous bodies who have the power to make internal decisions regarding their fleets. The Government does not currently collect data on the breakdown of vehicle types in the local government fleet, or data on the emissions from those vehicles.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) collects data on local emissions as a whole, and is responsible for public sector decarbonisation. The Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles (OZEV) is responsible for the deployment of low carbon vehicles, including the decarbonisation of government fleets. OZEV's Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy will set out the role of local authorities in contributing to the rollout of electric vehicles.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish their response to their consultation on toilet provision for men and women, which ran from 31 October 2020 to 26 February 2021.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government ran a call for evidence on toilet provision for men and women from 31 October 2020 to 26 February 2021. We are considering the responses and how to take this work forward.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prepare for when both the CE and UK Conformity Assessed markings will be accepted for construction materials; how they will ensure there are enough testing facilities for each type of product; and how many new testing facilities they estimate will be required for products that are currently tested in the EU.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Since January 2021, construction products that meet UK requirements and bear the UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) mark can be placed on the market in Great Britain. To provide sufficient time for businesses to transition to the new requirements and to ensure that the supply of construction materials continues to meet demand, construction products can continue for a time-limited period to be placed on the market in Great Britain without any need for reassessment or re-marking if EU requirements are met - this includes products bearing the CE marking.
The Government is working closely with industry to help them manage these changes for all goods sectors, including construction products. There are capacity and capability constraints for UK conformity assessment bodies to assess construction products against some UK designated standards. We are working with industry to identify the right support, and any interventions that may be required, to ensure that products can continue to be placed on the market in Great Britain.
However, businesses must prepare for the end of recognition of the CE mark in Great Britain, and affix the UKCA marking using a UK-recognised approved body. Guidance explaining the necessary actions for businesses to take was published in September, and legislation to enable this came into force on 31 December 2020. We have engaged extensively with stakeholders to assess issues and develop mitigations, including for Assessment and Verification of Constancy of Performance (AVCP) system 3 products. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will soon be updating its guidance to provide further detail on what industry must do to prepare for the end of recognition of the CE mark in Great Britain for construction products.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether universities will be eligible to bid to the Shared Prosperity Fund for funding for research projects.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will be a flagship policy in delivering this Government’s commitment to level up the country and will target the people and places most in need across the UK. It will be focused on our domestic priorities and seize the opportunities that come from our departure from the EU and the bureaucracy of EU structural funds.
Spending Review 2020 set out the main strategic elements of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in the Heads of Terms. We will publish further details about the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in a UK-wide Investment Framework later in 2021 and its funding profile will be set out at the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to require all new-build (1) residential, and (2) commercial, developments to have electric vehicle charging points.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The government consulted in 2019 on options to amend the building regulations to require electric vehicle chargepoints in residential and non-residential buildings. We will publish a response, which will set out our plans for the new requirements coming into effect.