Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of immigration on the increase in rough sleeping in England since 2013.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government has not made an assessment of the impact of immigration on the number of people sleeping rough.
However, national street counts and intelligence driven estimates of people sleeping rough are conducted every year in autumn and these take account of an individual’s nationality. The most recent data (for England) is from the autumn 2018 annual street count and estimate, which returned a total figure of 4,677 rough sleepers in England - showing a fall in numbers for the first time in 8 years - 1,048 of these self-reported as non-UK nationals.
To tackle this issue, we are making £5 million of funding available to help local areas support non-UK national rough sleepers off the streets. This funding will complement the projects which we have already funded through the £100 million Controlling Migration Fund (CMF) for local authorities to work with non-UK nationals who sleep rough. Further CMF funding allocations will be announced shortly.
This Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy which sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 21 September (HL1798) concerning local authority financing, whether they are planning to recommend to local authorities that charges for non-essential services should cover the full costs of, or make a profit on, those services.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Local authorities already have sufficient powers to charge and trade for discretionary services and are able to make these decisions themselves.
The Local Government Act 2003 granted powers for local authorities to charge and trade for services that they have a power to provide but are not obliged or have a duty to provide. The power for local authorities to trade commercially is only exercisable through a company structure and like other bodies, local authorities are subject to and must abide by competition law.
These powers were incorporated in the general power of competence provisions set out in the Localism Act 2011 and allow local authorities to do anything that individuals generally may do unless it is specifically prohibited in law.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to remove restrictions on local authorities raising council tax to meet the needs of their communities.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government is committed to working with local authorities to protect hard-working council tax payers from excessive increases. In the Spending Review, the Government announced a new adult social care precept worth 2 per cent for authorities with responsibility for adult social care for the remainder of the Parliament, subject to the approval of the House of Commons. This new precept was in addition to a ‘core’ council tax referendum principle of 2 per cent, which would be reviewed annually. The Government has set out its proposals for council tax referendum principles for 2017-18 in the Local Government Finance Settlement Technical Consultation, released on 15 September 2016.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the planning inspector of the public inquiry into the Leeds New Generation Transport schemes visited any European city operating trolley bus systems to ascertain whether its system could be emulated in Leeds, and if not, why not.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
I can confirm that as part of the public inquiry into the Leeds New Generation Transport Scheme the Inspector did not visit any European city operating trolley bus systems to see if its system could be emulated in Leeds. The Inspector had regard to all the evidence put to the inquiry, this may have included information about other trolley bus schemes in the world, however the Inspector's remit was to look at the scheme for Leeds specifically put forward by the Applicant, having regard to the evidence submitted by all parties to the case.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 15 January concerning the Right to Buy scheme (HL4050), how many social housing units were lost to provide the £600 million; how many will be provided from that money; what consideration they have given to the wider fairness of offering property at a discount to those who have already enjoyed a social housing tenancy; and whether Stamp Duty on such sales is levied at full market value or on the discounted value.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Government is committed to helping tenants achieve their home ownership aspirations. The Right to Buy Scheme has helped almost 2 million households to enjoy the benefits of home ownership, including greater independence, and the security of owning a valuable asset.
Over £600 million has been generated from 14,731 additional Right to Buy sales since the policy was reinvigorated in April 2012. All but two stock holding authorities have entered into agreements with the Government to replace that stock on a one-for-one basis within three years, and any one-for-one receipts not used by authorities will be returned to the Homes and Communities Agency or the Greater London Authority for investment in new affordable housing.
Stamp Duty is worked out as a percentage of the price the tenant pays for a property. Information on Stamp Duty can be obtained from: www.hmrc.gov.uk/sdlt/intro/rates-thresholds.htm
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will review their policy of right to buy in the light of the continued shortages of social housing to rent.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Government is committed to enabling social tenants to achieve their aspiration for home ownership where this is the right option for them.
We are also committed to ensuring that affordable rented housing is available to those who need it most.
Over £600 million has been generated from additional Right to Buy sales since the policy was reinvigorated, and this is being recycled directly into providing new affordable homes for rent.
Since April 2010, this Government has delivered 217,000 affordable homes, and council housebuilding is at its highest rate for 23 years.