Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether spending on public libraries has fallen for a fifth successive year in 2017–18.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The latest data on the total net current expenditure on library services by local authorities across England is shown in the table:
Library Service Net Current Expenditure, England 2012-13 to 2017-18 |
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| 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 |
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Net current expenditure (£m) | 824 | 804 | 762 | 733 | 671 | 641 |
Number of authorities' data from which the total is calculated * | 150 | 150 | 151 | 152 | 150 | 151 |
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Source: Local authorities' Revenue Outturn returns to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government |
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* 152 local authorities in England are responsible for delivering library services. Five did not provide a valid figure in one or more of these years. | ||||||
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what performance targets apply to the Planning Inspectorate in respect of their time taken to (1) acknowledge appeals submitted, (2) undertake an appeal either by the written representation procedure or by a formal hearing, and (3) notify interested parties of the outcome of an appeal; and whether those targets are being met.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
We are working hard on a number of fronts to improve our performance. One of the known challenges is recruiting the right number of inspectors. This has been a consistent issue for the Inspectorate over a number of years. In response to this, we are now developing different models for entry to the inspector workforce as well as procuring around 100 Non Salaried Inspectors and undertaking a further recruitment of Inspectors.
Through our transformation programme we are undertaking an end to end review of our processes, challenging the effectiveness of the technology that supports all our casework and looking forensically at our working practices. This work has already begun to deliver a significant improvement in performance, such as halving the time it takes to validate cases from over two weeks in 2017 to currently under one.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) cases have been considered, and (2) applications have been approved, by the Planning Inspectorate in relation to applications to build new homes in areas of high flood risk in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government does not hold the data requested.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of new homes built in areas of high flood risk in England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Department produces statistics on the estimated percentage of new residential addresses created in National Flood Zone 3. Those for England for each year from 2013-14 to 2016-17 period are given in attachedTable 1.
Figures for the estimated proportion of dwellings built in England within flood risk areas for years before 2013-14 are given in attached Table 2, these figures are not directly comparable with the latest figures due to an update to the statistics production methodology. To put these figures in context. The total number of new build completions for the last five financial years for which figures are currently available are given in attached Table 3.
The revised National Planning Policy Framework clarified the strong planning safeguards against flood risk that are in place. to remove uncertainty and help ensure they are properly implemented. The Framework is clear that local planning authorities should consider the strict tests in national planning policy that protect people and property from flooding, and where these tests are not met, development should not be allowed.
Where development in flood risk areas is necessary, national planning policy is clear that it should be safe, resilient and not increase flood risk elsewhere.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether, and to what extent, freeholders breach their statutory obligations to provide leaseholders with accounts they are entitled to receive; and whether they have any plans to take action against freeholders who breach obligations to leaseholders.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The provision of service charge accounts is a matter between leaseholders and freeholders and so no such assessment has been made. We do, however, believe very strongly that service charges should be transparent, communicated effectively and that there should be a clear route to challenge or redress if things go wrong.
Leaseholders are entitled under Section 21 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 to require their landlord to supply them with a written summary of costs which have been incurred in the last complete service year period and the landlord must comply with the request within one month. The Act also entitles leaseholders who have received such a summary to require the landlord to allow them to inspect the documents supporting the summary. The landlord must comply with that request within two months. Failure to comply with these obligations without reasonable excuse is a summary offence punishable with a fine.
On 1 April, we published the response to our recent call for evidence on ‘Protecting consumers in the letting and managing agent market’. Here proposals include establishing a working group to consider how fees such as service charges should be presented to consumers and to explore the best means to challenge fees which are unjustified. As part of this work, consideration will also be given to standards around service charges and how to include them in a statutory code of practice.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish the funding prospectuses for the next round of the Community Housing Fund announced in November 2017; and whether, in the light of the delay to their publication, they intend to extend the funding beyond 2018–19.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
A new Homes England programme to deliver the Community Housing Fund was launched on 2 July. Community groups and local authorities in all parts of England outside London are now able to apply for capital and revenue funding to bring community-led housing schemes forward. Homes England have published a prospectus on their website (attached) at www.gov.uk/topic/housing/funding-programmes and a copy will be placed in the library of the House.
Through this fund, housing will be delivered where the mainstream market is unable to deliver. The housing it helps provide will be tailored to meet specific local needs and will remain locally affordable in perpetuity. It will help sustain local communities and local economies and help raise the bar in design and construction standards. Now that it is launched, it will unlock a pipeline of thousands of new homes and help this innovative sector grow to make a substantial additional contribution to housing supply. A similar programme is being developed for London – delivered by the Greater London Authority – and an announcement on that will be made later this year
The Community Housing Fund is currently funded over the remainder of the current spending review period ending in March 2020.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many second homes in England are registered as businesses and are therefore not required to pay council tax.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Second Homes are liable for Council Tax. Where a property is available for letting commercially for short periods totalling at least 140 days per year, then it will be assessed for business rates and added to the business rates list. As of April 2018, there were 46,698 holiday lets liable for business rates in England.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the requirement in Wales that second homes registered as businesses are let for 70 days per year.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Responsibility for council tax and business rates is delegated to the Welsh Government and it would be for them to make any formal assessment of their policies. However, the Government is aware of the requirements in Wales and will consider those in the context of its own approach to second homes and holiday lets.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many second homes which are registered to pay business rates pay nothing because they attract small business rate relief.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Second Homes are liable for Council Tax. Properties available to let for 140 days or more per year are rated as a self-catering property and valued for business rates. The Valuation Office Agency’s latest statistics show (attached) that there are just over 41,000 non-domestic properties classified as holiday homes as at September 2016.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to take steps to require (1) Homes England to report key financial parameters for all housing associations, including (a) board remuneration, and (b) the salary of the highest paid director and chief executive, and (2) that annual returns be made available to the public free of charge.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Housing associations are independent organisations regulated by the independent Regulator of Social Housing and board members are responsible for ensuring that the provider’s business is effectively managed. The Regulator’s statutory objectives include ensuring that registered providers of social housing are financially viable and properly managed, and perform their functions efficiently and economically. The Government expects housing associations to take a responsible approach that delivers value for money for tenants and taxpayers.
To deliver its objective, the Regulator has published a Governance and Financial Viability Standard, which sets out a number of requirements on private registered providers (including housing associations). This includes a requirement that providers:
The Regulator also has powers to direct private registered providers on the preparation of their annual accounts. Under this Direction, the accounts should contain information on board remuneration and the salary of the highest paid director and chief executive officer.
A list of all registered providers is available (attached) at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/current-registered-providers-of-social-housing. Information on Directors of companies is available from Companies House, and on the trustees of registered charities from the Charity Commission.
The Secretary of State is not able to direct the Regulator on the governance arrangements of housing associations, and the Regulator has no plans to change the current approach.