Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on the launch of the Older People’s Housing Taskforce.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Older People’s Housing Taskforce launched on 16th May. The independent Taskforce, led by Professor Julienne Meyer, is looking at how the country can provide greater choice of housing for older people, and will report to Government within around 12 months. The panel of 19 Taskforce members was announced at the inaugural meeting, with a spread of expertise across the retirement housing sector including providers, academia, social care, local authority leaders and property investment.
Since the launch, the Taskforce has been meeting on a regular basis to progress its work. On 24th July, the Taskforce launched a Call for Evidence, which is open until 18th September for representations from the sector.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they plan to offer Ukrainian refugees housed with British families when the initial six month period of the Homes for Ukraine scheme ends.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
As we move towards the next phase of the programme, we have set out options and support available to sponsors and guests that are coming to the end of their initial six-month sponsorship. Updated guidance is published on gov.uk for sponsors, guests, and local councils. This includes information on rematching, and helping guests to live independently by providing guidance on the UK housing market, support in developing necessary language skills and finding jobs.
The guidance for the Homes for Ukraine guests, hosts and councils setting out all the support options available to them can be accessed (attached) here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils#four-to-6-months-after-guests-have-moved-to-your-area
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that Durham County Council may lose up to £14 million in its annual budget following the implementation of the Fair Funding Review.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government announced in April that it would not proceed with the implementation of the Review of Relative Needs and Resources, and wider local government finance reform, in 2021-22. This decision was taken in the interest of creating stability for local authorities and has allowed both government and councils to focus on meeting the immediate public health challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pressures of the pandemic recede, we will work with local government to understand the lasting impact it has had on both service demands and revenue raising. We will then revisit priorities for reform of the local government finance system, taking account of wider work on the future of business rates and Adult Social Care. No decisions have been taken from which to make assessments of how individual local authorities will be affected, and any final decisions will be taken in the context of this year’s Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Fair Funding Review on the budgets of local authorities with high levels of deprivation; and what estimate they have made of the expected average change to the annual budgets of local authorities with high levels of deprivation following the implementation of the Fair Funding Review.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government announced in April that it would not proceed with the implementation of the Review of Relative Needs and Resources, and wider local government finance reform, in 2021-22. This decision was taken in the interest of creating stability for local authorities and has allowed both government and councils to focus on meeting the immediate public health challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pressures of the pandemic recede, we will work with local government to understand the lasting impact it has had on both service demands and revenue raising. We will then revisit priorities for reform of the local government finance system, taking account of wider work on the future of business rates and Adult Social Care. No decisions have been taken from which to make assessments of how individual local authorities will be affected, and any final decisions will be taken in the context of this year’s Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Covid Recovery Commission Paper One: Levelling up communities, published on 11 October; and what metrics they have developed to judge the success of their ‘levelling-up’ agenda.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government is focusing on levelling up economic opportunity across the whole of the United Kingdom and considers a wide range of evidence in developing levelling up policy. The Spending Review will agree priority outcomes and metrics with departments which will be published. Strong local leadership is a key pillar of our levelling up agenda, and the English Devolution and Local Recovery White Paper will set out our plans for further devolution in England in due course.