Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to increase funding for homeless shelters in Birmingham.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 167159 on 23 March 2023.
Night shelters in Birmingham have also been allocated £301,000.00 from the Night Shelter Transformation Fund 2022-25. This multiyear fund provides faith and community groups with resource to provide self-contained emergency accommodation for rough sleepers.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps his Department has taken to protect the rights of leaseholders.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Secretary of State set out, in the House, his intention to bring the 'outdated and feudal' tenure of leasehold to an end. The Government wishes to extend the benefits of freehold ownership to more homeowners.
That is why we have committed to end the sale of new leasehold houses, and to reinvigorate commonhold so it can finally be a genuine alternative to leasehold; it is why we have banned the charging of ground rent in new leases which takes away that incentive to build leasehold; and it is why we will make it easier for leaseholders to purchase the freehold of their building, and take control of their building management, by enhancing enfranchisement and the Right to Manage.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to abolish the system of lease holding.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Secretary of State set out, in the House, his intention to bring the 'outdated and feudal' tenure of leasehold to an end. The Government wishes to extend the benefits of freehold ownership to more homeowners.
That is why we have committed to end the sale of new leasehold houses, and to reinvigorate commonhold so it can finally be a genuine alternative to leasehold; it is why we have banned the charging of ground rent in new leases which takes away that incentive to build leasehold; and it is why we will make it easier for leaseholders to purchase the freehold of their building, and take control of their building management, by enhancing enfranchisement and the Right to Manage.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Institution of Civil Engineers' Policy Position Statement entitled Defining the outcomes from levelling up, published on 16 June 2022, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recommendation that the levelling up missions should be aligned with the UN Sustainable Goals.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill is designed to establish the framework for missions, not the content of missions themselves.
The framework provides ample opportunity to scrutinise the substance of missions against a range of Government policies including the Sustainable Development Goals.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2023 to Question 117424 on Social Rented Housing: Inspections, when routine inspections of small social housing providers were last inspected.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Regulator of Social Housing sets the standards registered providers must meet. The same standards apply to all providers regardless of size, and the regulator has the same expectations of all providers delivering good quality homes and services. The regulator currently considers referrals alleging breaches of the standards, and can take regulatory action where a breach has caused, or will cause if no action is taken, serious detriment to tenants. Through the Social Housing Regulation Bill, we are removing the ‘serious detriment test’, which will lower the bar for intervention and allow the Regulator to investigate or take enforcement action in relation to consumer matters without having to meet the current high bar of ‘serious detriment’.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring The Regulator of Social Housing to conduct routine inspections of small social housing providers.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The same standards apply to all providers regardless of size, and the regulator has the same expectations of all providers in terms of delivering good quality homes and services.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to make provisions as part of the Social Housing Regulation Bills to ensure residents of small housing associations receive an adequate service from their landlords.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Social Housing (Regulation) Bill is currently in the House of Commons. The Bill will facilitate the creation of a new proactive consumer regulation regime, ensuring the Regulator of Social Housing is able to drive up service delivery to tenants and take effective action against those providers who are not delivering the required outcomes for their tenants. All registered providers, regardless of their size, will continue to be required to comply with the relevant regulatory standards. All providers will also be required to report on a set of Tenant Satisfaction Measures, enabling tenants to see how their landlord is performing and hold them to account.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of refugees housed as part of the Homes for Ukraine scheme who are now homeless.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Homelessness management information pertaining to Ukrainian nationals in England is updated on gov.uk every 4 weeks. The most recent update includes data up to 21 October 2022. A total of 2,175 Ukrainian households have been owed a homelessness prevention or relief duty, based on a response rate of 73% of local authorities. Of this figure, 845 households arrived under the Ukraine Family Scheme and 1,170 households via the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme. Further information can be accessed via the following link.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what protections his Department has implemented for students in the private renting market.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
The Government has taken significant action over the past decade to protect all tenants, including students. This includes capping tenancy deposits at five weeks' rent and preventing landlords and agents from charging undue or excess letting fees. We have also improved standards by requiring landlords to provide smoke and carbon monoxide detectors as well as conduct electrical safety checks.
The Government published a White Paper on 16 June 2022 setting out our plans to reform the private rented sector and level up housing across the country. Our reforms will provide more secure and high-quality homes and create a stable rental market for landlords to remain and invest. We know that some landlords are concerned about how the new tenancy system will work for students, and we are considering how we can best support the student lettings market.