Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people have declared income from letting property by parliamentary constituency for the most recent period for which figures are available.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
The number of individuals that have declared property income and that pay each of the marginal rates of income tax specified, rounded to the nearest thousand, are as follows:
Tax rate | Number of individuals |
Additional higher rate | 91,000 |
Higher rate | 543,000 |
Basic rate | 1,439,000 |
The numbers of individuals in each parliamentary constituency that declared income from property lettings via their self-assessment tax returns in 2020-21, rounded to the nearest 10 are provided in the attached table.
Please also note that:
Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role gas and electric hybrid heating systems will play in the longer-term decarbonisation of heat on the gas grid.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Heat and Buildings Strategy acknowledged that hybrid heat pumps could play a transitional role in decarbonising heat in homes. The Government plans to use an upcoming consultation to explore the potential future role of hybrid heat pumps.
Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made as to whether hybrid heating systems combining boilers with heat pumps are a long-term option for the future of heating in homes, rather than an interim solution in lieu of installing either a hydrogen boiler or heat pump system.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Heat and Buildings Strategy acknowledged that hybrid heat pumps could play a transitional role in decarbonising heat in homes. The Government plans to use an upcoming consultation to explore the potential future role of hybrid heat pumps.
Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of which types of home in terms of (1) energy efficiency, and (2) construction, would be the most appropriate to install a hybrid heating system combining boilers with heat pumps.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Hybrid installations could potentially play a transitional role in decarbonising heating, especially in homes where building fabric efficiency cannot be sufficiently upgraded making them less suitable for a standalone low temperature heat pump. The Government will consider research and methods for targeting hybrid deployment in buildings in future consultations.
Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the potential deployment rates of heat pumps into heating systems with a gas boiler, and (2) the consequent impact on carbon reduction in the (a) short, (b) medium, and (c) long term.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Hybrid heating systems currently make up only a small proportion of the UK’s domestic heating market, with less than 2000 being sold in 2021. The Government plans to use an upcoming consultation to explore the potential future role of hybrid heat pumps.
Where a hybrid system is installed with a fossil fuel boiler the emissions savings depend on a number of factors including their usage, design and the thermal efficiency of buildings.
Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what research they have (1) undertaken, or (2) used, to assess the role hybrid heating systems combining boilers with heat pumps can play in decarbonising heat in homes.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is collecting data on the in-situ performance, carbon reduction and use of hybrid heat pumps on the gas grid through the Electrification of Heat Demonstration Project, which has installed 153 hybrid (including five “compact hybrid”) systems. 75 homes were installed with hybrid heating systems under the Freedom Project over 2017-2018. Hybrids were also installed under the Optimised Retrofit Programme by the Welsh Government. In addition, seven compact hybrid heat pumps have been installed under the Hycompact project.
Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish their Biomass Strategy.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is actively progressing work on the biomass strategy, including work on the assessment of the priority use of biomass across the economy, which will be explained in the forthcoming strategy. The Government plans to publish the Biomass Strategy in due course.
Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why it is necessary to terminate the whole of an existing agri-environment scheme if a part of that scheme is included in an application for the new English Woodland Creation Grant Offer.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
We recognise that the absence of a widely available legal route to take land out of an existing Environmental Stewardship (ES) or Countryside Stewardship (CS) into a new England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) agreement without significant/full reclaim of payments is a blocker for some woodland creation applicants. We are looking at how we may be able to transfer land in CS or ES agreement to EWCO, where this results in an environmental gain.
We are actively exploring options to find a way forward for existing agreement holders. In the meantime, the guidance in the EWCO manual remains valid. We will provide an update to potential applicants as soon as we have made tangible progress via our gov.uk pages and the Forestry Commission's e-alert. We remain committed to trebling our tree planting rates in England as part of our commitment to plant 30,000 hectares per year across the UK by the end of this Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits to the economy of the private rental sector.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
We have not made an assessment to quantify the contribution of the private rented sector (PRS) to the economy. We recognise that the PRS plays an important role on providing homes to over 4 million households in England. The Government is committed to delivering a package of reforms to ensure the PRS can operate effectively and meet the needs of both tenants and landlords.
The PRS supports labour market mobility, allowing households to move easily both within and between regions, leading to a more efficient allocation of labour and skills. This is due to the relative ease with which renters can give notice and sign new tenancies, and the relative lower costs of moving, when compared to owner-occupier house sales. A key part of our future PRS reforms is to ensure the flexibility of private rental tenancies is retained, whilst balancing increased security for those tenants who need and want it, alongside driving an improvement in the quality and standards of PRS accommodation.
In addition, the Build to Rent sector continues to attract investment with analysis by Savills estimating that approximately £1.2 billion was invested into the UK’s Build to Rent sector during the first quarter of 2021.
Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their press release Support for renters continues with longer notice periods, published on 12 May, on what grounds they have concluded that many landlords are “highly vulnerable to rent arrears”.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The UK Government has put in place an unprecedented package of support for renters during the pandemic, including financial measures to enable them to continue paying rent to landlords.
However, we know that 45% of landlords have just one rental property and 38% have between two to four properties. For most landlords, income from rent makes up 42% of their total gross income making them highly vulnerable when their tenants build up rent arrears.
The Government has to balance supporting tenants with landlords' ability to exercise their right to justice where needed. As national restrictions continue to ease, it is appropriate that the emergency measures start to lift but we are doing so gradually.