Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 29 November (HL3286), what discussions they have had with the Charity Commission about their legal resources and ability to quickly address issues raised by tenants of the National Trust.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Department for Communities and Local Government has not had any conversations with the Charity Commission regarding their resources.
Tenants of National Trust properties can refer concerns to the Charity Commission, who are the independent regulator of charities, where they consider there to be a breach of charity law.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they regularly meet the Roman Catholic hierarchy of England and Wales to discuss public policy issues.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
As Minister for Faith I meet with members of the Catholic hierarchy in the course of my work. In March 2017 I met the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols. In November 2016 I visited St John's Cathedral in Portsmouth, in March 2017 St Mary’s Cathedral in Newcastle upon Tyne and, in July 2017, the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral to learn about the excellent work these cathedrals do to support their communities.
I plan to visit more Catholic places of worship in the coming year. The Government wholeheartedly supports the invaluable work being done by people around the country who are inspired by their faith and we are making sure that the voices of people of faith are heard in Government, as is appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 7 November (HL2762), whether there is an independent regulator or other body to which tenants of National Trust properties may refer concerns.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Tenants of National Trust properties can refer concerns to the Charity Commission, which is the independent regulator of charities.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 23 October (HL1773), whether they have any plans to establish an independent regulator to oversee the standards of housing owned and let by charities such as the National Trust.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government is determined to improve and raise standards in the rented and leasehold sector. Local authorities already have strong powers to tackle rogue landlords and poor property conditions.
We have already introduced a range of additional powers through the Housing & Planning Act 2016 with Rent Repayment Orders and Civil Penalties of up to £30,000 for certain housing offences as an alternative to prosecution which came into force on 6 April 2017.
The Government is also seeking views on the regulation of letting and managing agents and the approaches government could take to implement any such regulation, and has published a Call for Evidence, ‘Protecting consumers in the letting and managing agent market, which closes on 29 November 2017.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 14 September (HL1315), how tenants of (1) housing associations, and (2) land in the ownership of large charities, may request information about their stewardship.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
In respect of housing associations, the independent Social Housing Regulator is responsible for regulation of registered providers in England. They set regulatory standards that housing associations are expected to meet. It is the responsibility of boards of housing associations to ensure their organisation meets the regulator's standards, and that they are open and accountable in how their organisation meets its objectives.
Specifically under the tenant empowerment and involvement standard the regulator expects associations to provide support to their tenants to develop and implement opportunities for involvement and empowerment. This includes supporting their tenants to exercise housing management functions; the formation and activities of tenant panels or equivalent groups; providing timely and relevant performance information to support effective scrutiny by tenants of their association’s performance and providing support to tenants to build their capacity to be more effectively involved including holding boards to account.
Requests for information about stewardship of charitable assets – including land – should be made to the charity and its trustees. Registered charities with an annual income over £25,000 must submit a copy of their annual accounts and trustees’ annual report to the Charity Commission. These accounts and other information about individual charities can be found on the Commission’s charity register -www.gov.uk/checkcharity
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
Her Majesty's Government which London borough has the highest number of people sleeping rough; what is their estimate of that number; and what was the corresponding number in 2010.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Nobody should ever have to sleep rough. We have already allocated £30 million of funding specifically to support rough sleepers, including people at risk of sleeping rough, new rough sleepers and those with the most complex needs - our ambition is to halve rough sleeping by 2022, eliminating it by 2027.
DCLG publishes regular statistics on rough sleeping. This is available by local authority (the latest figures are attached) at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rough-sleeping-in-england-autumn-2016
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of faulty new-build homes being sold in England; and whether they intend to discuss that issue further with the housebuilding industry.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government makes no estimate of faulty new build homes. In our Housing White paper we set out our ambition for a housing market that works for everyone. We expect all housing developers to deliver good quality housing, deliver it on time and to treat house buyers fairly, resolving any problems quickly. All new homes are also subject to supervision by Building Control – local authorities and approved inspectors. DCLG Minsters will continue to raise the issue of quality regularly when they meet with the industry.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
Her Majesty's Government what, when they use it, is their definition of "sleeping rough".
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
For the purposes of the Department's annual rough sleeping estimates, the definition is as follows: People sleeping, about to bed down (sitting on/in or standing next to their bedding) or actually bedded down in the open air (such as on the streets, in tents, doorways, parks, bus shelters or encampments). People in buildings or other places not designed for habitation (such as stairwells, barns, sheds, car parks, cars, derelict boats, stations, or “bashes” which are makeshift shelters, often comprised of cardboard boxes).
Nobody should ever have to sleep rough. We have already allocated £30 million of funding specifically to support rough sleepers, including people at risk of sleeping rough, new rough sleepers and those with the most complex needs - our ambition is to halve rough sleeping by 2022, eliminating it by 2027.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the need for high quality, high density housing in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The White Paper, Fixing our Broken Housing Market, sets out the case for lasting reform that will deliver more homes. This includes the need for new housing to be well designed and make good use of land. Responses to the White Paper are being assessed. Housing in Wales is a matter for the Welsh Assembly.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what comparative assessment they have made of home ownership levels in the UK and in other countries in the G20.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government has not carried out any assessment of home ownership levels in the G20. The latest assessment of comparative home ownership levels was carried out by the Organisation for Economic and Co-operative Development (OECD) for their HM1-3 Housing Tenure Report which was published in December 2016.
The latest Organisation for Economic and Co - operative Development report (attached) can be found at:
https://www.oecd.org/els/family/HM1-3-Housing-tenures.pdf
Since 2010, over 362,000 households have been helped by the Government to buy a property through schemes such as Help to Buy and the reinvigorated Right to Buy. In addition, mortgage repossessions are at their lowest level since 2004.