Asked by: Lord Cryer (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to introduce reforms leasehold in this Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 176567 on 21 April 2023.
Asked by: Lord Cryer (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of not allowing owners of three or more properties to receive funding for fire safety works on the progress of remediating buildings with fire safety issues.
Answered by Lee Rowley
As with all policies, the Government continues to monitor this situation and the progress of remediation of buildings. The Government is committed to introducing a new scheme to provide funding for the remediation or mitigation of the fire safety risks linked to external wall system defects on medium-rise buildings (11-18m) where a responsible developer cannot be identified, traced, or held responsible. An initial pilot of the scheme opened in November 2022, targeting a small number of buildings that have interim measures or simultaneous evacuation measures in place. Further details will be set out in due course.
The availability of funding for fire safety risks linked to external wall system defects from the Building Safety Fund, and in due course the Cladding Safety Scheme, takes no account of the number of properties owned by leaseholders. Residential properties are bought both as personal residences and commercial investments and Parliament determined that it was appropriate to draw that distinction at the ownership of three properties, when considering this matter in relation to protecting leaseholders, during the passage of the Building Safety Act 2022.
Asked by: Lord Cryer (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when the Building Safety Fund for remedial works to medium rise blocks will begin.
Answered by Lee Rowley
As with all policies, the Government continues to monitor this situation and the progress of remediation of buildings. The Government is committed to introducing a new scheme to provide funding for the remediation or mitigation of the fire safety risks linked to external wall system defects on medium-rise buildings (11-18m) where a responsible developer cannot be identified, traced, or held responsible. An initial pilot of the scheme opened in November 2022, targeting a small number of buildings that have interim measures or simultaneous evacuation measures in place. Further details will be set out in due course.
The availability of funding for fire safety risks linked to external wall system defects from the Building Safety Fund, and in due course the Cladding Safety Scheme, takes no account of the number of properties owned by leaseholders. Residential properties are bought both as personal residences and commercial investments and Parliament determined that it was appropriate to draw that distinction at the ownership of three properties, when considering this matter in relation to protecting leaseholders, during the passage of the Building Safety Act 2022.
Asked by: Lord Cryer (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the (a) nature and (b) value was of all (i) contracts, (ii) consultancies and (iii) other services placed with the accountancy firms (A) Deloitte & Touche, (B) Ernst & Young, (C) KPMG and (D) PricewaterhouseCoopers in each year since 2010-11 by (1) their Department, (2) any predecessor Departments and (3) departmental agencies.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
In line with Government transparency requirements, since 2016 we have published details of our contracts on Contracts Finder. Further information is available here.