Planning: Accessible Homes

Lord Fowler Excerpts

Wednesday 4th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I am afraid I am the wrong person to answer that. I spent 20 years in local government and have every confidence that local councils know the needs of their communities, and can respond to them in a way that ensures we see the drive for standards and improved accessibility needed in our homes.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, I am glad to report that all supplementary questions have been asked and we now move to the next Question.

Housing Delivery Test

Lord Fowler Excerpts

Tuesday 13th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, the worst that can happen through the housing delivery test is a presumption of sustainable development. No fines can be incurred. The affordable homes programme will mean some £12 billion going towards building the social homes that this country much needs. On housing quality, as Minister for Building Safety and Communities, I am pleased to say that we are going through the pre-legislative scrutiny of the building safety Bill to ensure that we can drive that volume while ensuring that we have the safe and good-quality homes that we need.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked.

Housing: Rent, Evictions and Covid-19

Lord Fowler Excerpts

Tuesday 13th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, the mission to end rough sleeping is at the heart of what this Government are trying to achieve. I point to the Everyone In programme, led by Dame Louise Casey, and the Next Steps programme, which have given significant support to ending rough sleeping. This is our endeavour as a Government.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

May we have short supplementaries, please?

[Lord Flight (Con) [V]]

My Lords, we all understand why the Government are seeking protection for renters affected by Covid-19. As others have mentioned, should there not also be some form of protection for landlords suffering as a result of Covid-19? A lot of landlords are elderly people and their source of income may be the rental from one property. We have to look at both renters and those who are renting.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, I remind the House that the Procedure Committee has recommended that supplementaries should not last longer than 30 seconds. During the last Question there were examples of questions by Members from nearly all parties and groups that went on for longer than that. It would be of benefit to all noble Lords if Members restricted their supplementaries to 30 seconds.

Covid-19 Secure Marshals

Lord Fowler Excerpts

Tuesday 15th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked, and that brings this part of Question Time to an end.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, unusually, today, we have to have a 10-minute break.

English Language Learning

Lord Fowler Excerpts

Monday 27th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh]

My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord. The recent census showed that 770,000 people who live in England speak little or no English. We need to work hard to ensure that we provide them with those skills, so that they can benefit fully from life in this country.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked, and we now move to the second Oral Question.

Churches: Reopening of Buildings

Lord Fowler Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh]

My Lords, that is precisely the point of the review being conducted by Danny Kruger MP to look at how we can sustain the tremendous effort during the pandemic into the recovery phase; I will not pre-empt his report.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this question has elapsed. We now come to the fourth Oral Question.

Homelessness

Lord Fowler Excerpts

Monday 13th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh]

I refer the noble Baroness to my previous answer. Certainly these buildings could be repurposed where appropriate. We expect local authorities and registered providers to bring forward enough units to deal with the issue of finding longer-term accommodation for the homeless.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed. We now move to the fourth Oral Question in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Chidgey.

Local Government: Economy

Lord Fowler Excerpts

Tuesday 9th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh]

My Lords, the mission of this Government is to ensure that all four nations recover from the shock of this ghastly pandemic. Of course, there will be continued engagement and consultation with the devolved Administrations.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed. We will now move to the third Oral Question, so I call the noble Lord, Lord Haskel.

Covid-19: Planning System

Lord Fowler Excerpts

Monday 8th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh]

I thank my noble friend for raising this issue. It is important to recognise that over a period of just two months, £27 billion has been provided in funding for local authorities and local areas—a considerable sum. We will continue to look at all measures required to ensure that we reboot the economy after this wretched pandemic.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked and I congratulate colleagues on that. We now move to the second Oral Question, which is from the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund

Lord Fowler Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh]

I can give my noble friend that specific assurance.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, I congratulate colleagues and the Minister because we got through all 10 questions—something that we have not done very frequently during Question Time—so I thank noble Lords for that. The third Oral Question comes from the noble Lord, Lord Howell of Guildford.