Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with governments around the world regarding sustainable construction for large scale railway projects; and how these discussions will inform future infrastructure.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department regularly engages with foreign governments to identify areas for future trade and growth, closer collaboration and knowledge sharing on large infrastructure projects, and to identify opportunities to promote the UK rail supply chain.
Using international engagement as a key driver for growth, the Department also ensures that its priorities are reflected in discussions with other governments. These include decarbonisation, pursuing trade opportunities, promoting British business and knowledge sharing.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the consultation on sex for rent will be launched; and whether stakeholders and relevant organisations will be invited to take part.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government is clear that exploitation through ‘sex for rent’ has no place in our society.
Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, there are two existing offences which can be used to prosecute this practice. In 2019, the CPS amended their guidance on ‘Prostitution and Exploitation of Prostitution’ to include specific reference to the potential availability of charges for offences under sections 52 and 53 of the 2003 Act when there is evidence to support the existence of ‘sex for rent’ arrangements. Both offences carry a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment.
In January 2021, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) authorised the first charge for ‘sex for rent’ allegations under Section 52. The individual against whom these allegations were made pleaded guilty to two counts of inciting prostitution for gain earlier this year.
These offences have also been included in Schedule 7 of the Online Safety Bill, which reflects the most serious and prevalent illegal content online. This will mean that services will be under a duty to proactively search for, remove and limit people’s exposure to this content, while also protecting users’ freedom of expression.
We are committed to improving the protection of vulnerable people from exploitation. In the cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, which was published in July 2021, we committed to working with partners inside and outside of Government on the issue of sex-for-rent.
We have also committed to launching a public consultation on the issue of sex-for-rent to hear as wide a range of views as possible on the nature of sex-for-rent; the existing response and what more could be done to prevent exploitation and protect victims. We are working to launch this consultation soon.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they made (1) to inform their plans for a no-let period of three months, after an eviction for sale, and (2) of whether this is long enough to deter unscrupulous landlords from abusing the grounds for sale.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
The Government is clear that misuse of the new grounds of possession and any attempt to find loopholes within our reforms will not be tolerated. We are engaging widely with stakeholders to assess the impact of our enforcement proposals and consider what action is necessary to prevent landlords misusing grounds for possession.
Where a landlord wishes to gain possession to sell their property, they will need to be prepared to provide evidence in court to prove that this is their intention. Introducing a ban on re-marketing and re-letting will allow tenants to more easily demonstrate misuse of the grounds – they can, for example, show that a property has been marketed online. Our assessment is that a three-month restriction acts as an additional deterrent by increasing the costs of misusing a ground substantially and is likely sufficient to prevent a rogue landlord from profiting by immediately re-letting the property at a higher rent. However, we recognise that landlords’ circumstances can legitimately change and the three-month restriction provides a balanced and proportionate approach, ensuring that good landlords are not unfairly burdened if this happens.
The three-month restriction is one part of a comprehensive approach to enforcing the new tenancy regime. Other proposals include giving local authorities the powers to issue fines to landlords and allowing tenants to seek redress through a new Ombudsman covering all private landlords.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prosecutions have been brought under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 for (1) harassment, and (2) unlawful eviction, by each police force in England and Wales in 2020 and 2021.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of prosecutions, for the years 2017 to 2021, in England and Wales, in the Outcomes by Offence data tool 2021 (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 21 MB). An extract of this tool is provided alongside this response with the requested figures in. Instructions on how to access this data are also included below.
In the Outcomes by Offence data tool:
Select the ‘Prosecutions and Convictions’ worksheet.
Filter by HO offence code and select the following offences:
08701 - Unlawful eviction of occupier (Contrary to section 1(2) and (4) of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977)
08702 - Unlawful harassment of occupier (Contrary to section 1(3A) and (4) of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977)
Move the Police Force Area filer to the rows area for a breakdown by PFA.
The following HO offence code may also be of interest:
08703 - Protection of occupiers against eviction and harassment (S.210 Housing Act 2004 and S.3 Caravan Sites Act 1968)
If the police were to charge a different offence, such as common assault, that would not be included in the attached table.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what kind of proof a landlord will be obliged to provide to prove that they intend to sell or move themselves or families back into a property, under plans to be set out in the Renters Reform Bill.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
Where landlords want to use the new moving or selling grounds to seek possession, they will need to be prepared to prove their intention in a court. We will share further guidance on what evidence could be used to demonstrate their intent in due course, and will consider how to ensure this is as simple as possible while protecting tenants from unlawful eviction.
We encourage landlords to communicate with tenants about their intentions early, and share evidence where possible, to avoid unnecessary disputes about the legitimacy of eviction notices arising. Tenants may wish to request further information from their landlord or seek independent advice.
We are clear that attempts to misuse these grounds are unacceptable, and we will restrict landlords from remarketing or reletting the property within three months of using these grounds.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they made (1) to inform their plans for two-month eviction periods to be set out in the upcoming Renters Reform Bill, and (2) of whether this is sufficient notice for a family with children in school to find a new home in their local area.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
The Government is committed to delivering a fairer and more effective rental market that works for both tenants and landlords. As set out in our 'A Fairer Private Rented Sector' White Paper, the Government has committed to ending Section 21 no fault evictions. At the same time, we will reform the grounds for evictions to ensure that landlords are able to get possession of their properties when they need to, these reforms will include mandatory grounds for if a landlord wishes to sell or move into the property with two months’ notice periods. To protect tenants' security, landlords will not be able to use these grounds in the first six months of a tenancy and to prevent misuse they will not be able to relet the property in the 3 months following the end of the tenancy.
The notice period we are proposing balances the needs of both tenants and landlords, giving tenants and their families time to find a new home while ensuring landlords can manage their assets when they need to do so. However, we encourage landlords to work flexibly with their tenants and notify them of their intentions as far in advance as possible. We encourage tenants who receive notice to consider their options as soon as possible and to contact their local authority if they are at risk of homelessness.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many diagnoses the NHS has made of (1) anxiety, and (2) depression, in each of the past five years; and whether this information can be broken down by the type of accommodation of the patient.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The information is not held in the format requested, as the relevant datasets do not include data on diagnoses.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, how many children have moved schools in each year for the past five years in England; and how many school moves were due to families being forced to move due to no fault evictions.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Every year, the department collects and publishes data on the total number of applications and offers made for entry into primary and secondary school. The information is summarised in the table below and can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/secondary-and-primary-school-applications-and-offers.
Number of applications received for primary and secondary schools in England between 2018/19 and 2022/23 | ||||||
| 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2022/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 |
|
Primary | 608,180 | 608,957 | 612,146 | 580,771 | 576,147 |
|
Secondary | 582,761 | 604,496 | 600,352 | 605,206 | 614,059 |
|
Parents may also request for their child to move schools at any other point, for example, due to a house move. These are called ‘in year’ admissions. The department does not hold data on the total number of children admitted to school in-year each year. The department does not hold data on the number of school moves as a result of no fault evictions.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of private renters who pay (1) energy bills, and (2) council tax, as part of their rent.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The English Housing Survey provides information on the number of private renting households who pay energy bills or council tax as part of their rent. In 2021, 162,000 households, or 3.7% of private renting households, pay their electricity bills as part of their rent; 131,000 households (3%) pay their gas bills as part of their rent; and 120,000 households (2.8%) have their council tax included as part of their rent.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how private tenants who pay their council tax or energy bills as part of their rent will be able to claim their energy bills support grant if (1) their rent has already risen this year, and (2) it has not already risen this year.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
There are rules which can protect tenants and ensure they receive the benefit of this policy. A copy of Ofgem’s guidance on how to ensure customers are being charged no more than they should when they buy the electricity through their landlord, including what to do if they think there has been a mistake, is attached.