Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - 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 report by the Cass Business School, the Association of Retirement Community Operators, and the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation Too Little, Too Late? Housing for an ageing population, published on 3 June.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
This Government is committed to ensuring that more people than ever before can access a safe, secure, affordable place to call home. That is why, in the revised National Planning Policy Framework, we strengthened policy to create a clear expectation that all councils have policies in place for addressing the housing needs of older people. We also widened the definition of older people in the Framework to include those approaching retirement and have published further planning guidance to assist councils to get the right policies in place. Many older people are already benefiting from the more than 460,000 affordable homes we have delivered since 2010.
Building on the current £9bn Affordable Homes Programme, the Chancellor announced in the last budget that we are investing £12bn to build affordable homes between 2021/22 and 2025/26. This will be the biggest cash investment in affordable housing for a decade. Since 2012-13 we have also provided over £2.7bn, delivering around 280,000 adaptations by the end of 2018-2019 to ensure older and disabled people can live independently and safely in their own home.
The cross-government initiative 'Home of 2030' aims to inspire and reward the ambition of housing providers, designers, the supply chain and others through a design and delivery competition which addresses the major challenges of future housing needs: an ageing society and climate change. The competition's aim is to normalise new homes which are low-carbon, deliver low energy bills and are age-friendly, enabling all generations to live independently in housing which adapts to their needs as they age.
The Government is working hard to ensure our economy is protected in the long term and is committed to building more homes. We will continue our progress towards our target of 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s. This will see us build at least a million more homes, of all tenures, over the next Parliament – in the areas that really need them. This includes reform of the planning system, including ensuring that planning permissions are built out more quickly, and more than £44bn of financial support over five years to 2022/2023.
We are continuing to work with providers and others to ensure we can provide a range of housing options to meet the needs of everyone including older people and welcome this report as a contribution to the debate about how we can encourage the provision of a range of high-quality housing options for older people.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to (1) restore the position of Directors of Public Health as executive board members of local authorities, (2) review local authority staffing levels and budgets, (3) give responsibility for testing and contact tracing to local authorities, and (4) decentralise such operations from Whitehall.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
MHCLG continues to work closely with local authorities to ensure they can respond to the Covid-19 crisis.
It is not for government to review local authority staffing levels and budgets. As democratically elected organisations local authorities are independent from central government. This means that they are responsible for managing their financial budgets and ensuring that they have a capable workforce in order to deliver a quality service to residents. Councils, rather than central government, are best placed to make independent decisions on staffing so that they can deliver within the resources available and with an understanding of what is best value for local taxpayers.
To support local authorities in the fight against coronavirus, government is giving the sector an unprecedented £3.2 billion in additional funding
As part of our efforts to increase testing, the Department for Health and Social Care has contacted each of the Local Resilience Forums to outline how they can work effectively in responding to local demand. Part of this will include coordinating the deployment of Mobile Testing Units (MTUs), which have been designed to clinical requirements by Army engineers and can be easily set up in under 20 minutes.
With regard to contact tracing, we?recognise that there needs to be a strong and complementary localised element to the national track and trace model. Developing a truly integrated approach will ensure that the national offer is well linked with local community support for those who may need to self-isolate. That is why my Department is working closely with DHSC and local bodies to understand how we can best do this.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what special provision they will make for the care of rough sleepers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The Government recognises the challenges faced by those who are homeless or sleeping rough during the Covid-19 outbreak. We are working closely with local authorities and the sector to minimise the risk for vulnerable people and those currently unable to self-isolate.
As an initial first step we have announced £3.2 million in emergency funding for local authorities to help?rough sleepers and those at risk of sleeping rough to self-isolate. This funding will assist local authorities with providing accommodation and support to vulnerable people who are at risk of, or who have been diagnosed with, Covid-19
This is in addition to a £1.6 billion fund allocated to local authorities to help them respond to coronavirus (Covid-19) pressures across all the services they deliver. This includes increasing support for the adult social care workforce and for services helping the most vulnerable, including homeless people.
Public Health England have also published guidance for those working in hostel and day centre environments.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 26 November 2018 (HL Deb, col 534), what progress they have made in examining the possibility of a round table initiative in response to the migration crisis; whether they intend to hold such a round table; if so, when; and if not, why not.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
My officials have been in touch with their Home Office counterparts to explore the possibility of holding a roundtable. I will write to my Ministerial colleagues at the Home Office to determine progress.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - 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 findings of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights report on discrimination and hate crime against Jews in the EU; and what action they intend to take in response.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The findings of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights report on discrimination and hate crime against Jews in the EU show clearly that we cannot be complacent in the fight against antisemitism, or hate crime of any form.
The Government has shown its commitment to tackling antisemitism, as the first country to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism in 2016, and we remain alive to issues of concern in Jewish communities through our Cross-Government Working Group to Tackle Antisemitism.
In the recently refreshed Hate Crime Action Plan, we have reinforced this by supporting work to develop counter-narratives to those that fuel antisemitism, and continuing to prioritise tackling antisemitism in our policy work.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on average, each night, how many homeless people in England sleep outside; and whether they expect that number to increase in 2018, compared to 2017.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The annual autumn rough sleeping count is a single night snapshot of the number of people sleeping rough in local authority areas.The latest statistics can be found (attached) at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/667302/Statutory_Homelessness_and_Prevention_and_Relief_Statistical_Release_Jul_to_Sep_2017.pdf
We do not collect data on the number of people sleeping rough each night of the year.
This Government is committed to preventing and reducing homelessness in England. No one should have to sleep rough. That is why we have committed to halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it altogether by 2027.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Westminster City Council about deaths and hospital admissions of homeless people sleeping rough in the borough.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Ministers at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government meet with representatives of local authorities, voluntary and charity sector organisations, policy experts and other partners on a regular basis to discuss a range of issues including homelessness and rough sleeping.
The Government publishes a list of all ministerial meetings with external bodies on departmental business on a quarterly basis. This is available (attached) at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/668182/Ministerial_meetings_Jul_to_Sep_2017.csv/preview
Our new Homelessness Advice and Support Team, drawn from local authorities and the homelessness sector, is providing support to local authorities to help them address their homelessness challenges. They have visited a significant number of local authorities across England, including Westminster.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they expect the number of children in hostels and other temporary accommodation in England to rise; and what steps they are taking to reduce this number.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
We are implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act, which commences in April 2018. The Act significantly reforms England’s homelessness legislation, ensuring that more people get the help they need earlier to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.
The law is clear that households with dependent children should only be accommodated in B&B in an emergency and then for no longer than 6 weeks.
Our new Homelessness Advice and Support Team, drawn from local authorities and the homelessness sector, are providing targeted challenge and support to help Councils improve their practice and performance – including the use of B&B accommodation for families.
The Government remains committed to combating homelessness and rough sleeping. To achieve this, we have set up a Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce that will focus on prevention and affordable housing. We have allocated over £1 billion over the course of the spending review to tackle and reduce homelessness. This includes £315 million Homelessness Prevention funding and a Flexible Homelessness Support Grant which local authorities can use more strategically to prevent homelessness from happening in the first place. This amounts to £402 million over the two years from 2017/18, with further funding to be announced for 2019/20.