Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authorities have sold off (a) all and (b) more than 50 per cent of council smallholdings since 1997.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Records held by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) show that in 1997 a total area of 119,977 hectares was held for smallholdings purposes by local authorities in England. Data on land held for smallholdings purposes by individual local authorities in 1997 is unavailable. A recent report published by Defra records that, at 31 March 2018, the total area of land held by 43 reporting smallholdings authorities in England was 89,020 hectares (for the whole estate), of which 83,600 hectares were let as smallholdings (for 40 reporting authorities).
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to strengthen regulations to prevent developers and landowners putting netting on hedgerows.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Wild birds are protected by law and therefore any development project must consider the impact on local wildlife and take precautionary action to protect their habitats. The revised National Planning Policy Framework is clear that planning policies and decisions should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by minimising the impacts on and providing net gains for biodiversity. The Government has announced plans to require developers to deliver biodiversity net gain through the forthcoming Environment Bill. This will mean habitats for wildlife must be left in a measurably better state than they were before any development.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which local authority areas have (a) achieved and (b) sought unitary status in each year since 2010.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
Whilst to date since 2010 no local authority areas have achieved unitary status, two new unitary councils will be established in Dorset on 1 April 2019, we have announced that subject to Parliamentary approval a new unitary council for Buckinghamshire will be established on 1 April 2020, and we are currently consulting on a proposal made by seven councils in Northamptonshire to establish two new unitary councils covering that county on 1 April 2020. In addition to these areas since 2010 certain councils in Oxfordshire have made a proposal for unitary status for that county which is not being pursued.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the benefits secured by local authority areas that have moved to unitary status.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Government has made no recent assessment of the benefits secured by local authority areas that have moved to unitary status, but is aware of certain independent reports which have made such assessments. These include a report commissioned by the County Councils Network and authored by Phil Swann in 2016 called “Learning the Lessons from Local Government Reorganisation - An Independent Study“, which found that larger unitary councils are most likely to be able to generate economies of scale, be resilient, and be able to take strategic decisions in an integrated way with the broader public sector.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answers of 20 November 2018 to Questions 190336 and 190337, what estimate he has made of the expenditure by private registered providers of social housing on maintenance and repairs in (a) 2014, (b) 2015 and (c) 2016.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Expenditure on maintenance and major repairs by private registered providers of social housing was £5.1 billion in 2014, £5.2 billion in 2015 and £5.1 billion in 2016.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2018 to Question 190338 on Housing: energy, how much Homes England plans to spend on increasing the energy efficiency of the existing housing stock over the next (a) five and (b) 10 years.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Homes England are rightly focused at ensuring more homes are built where the country needs them most, and therefore have no specific commitments regarding energy efficiency of existing stock.
However, this Government is firmly committed to raising energy efficiency in existing homes and has launched a number of initiatives to tackle this issue. In particular the Clean Growth Strategy aims to ensure that as many homes as possible will be upgraded to an Energy
Performance Certificate Band C by 2035, where practical, cost effective and affordable.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answers of 20 November 2018 to Questions 190336 and 190337, whether he has made an estimate of how much of the £4.8bn spent by social housing providers was spent on increasing the energy efficiency of (a) the housing stock and (b) houses occupied by persons in fuel poverty.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Department has made no such estimates.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made a recent assessment of the effectiveness with which local authorities undertake their duty to provide independent advocacy services to people subject to the Mental Health Act 1983; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
Under the Mental Health Act 1983, and as set out in the Code of Practice , local authorities have a duty to ensure timely access to appropriately trained independent mental health advocates and ensure that patients are informed of the support that an advocate can provide. I have not assessed the effectiveness with which local authorities provide independent advocacy services; policy responsibility for the Mental Health Act 1983 and for the provision of independent mental health advocates lies with the Department of Health and Social Care.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Regulator of Social Housing has information on the spending plans of housing providers to tackle fuel poverty among people in their housing stock over the next (a) five and (b) 10 years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Regulator of Social Housing does not produce estimates of, or collect information on, future spending on energy efficiency by housing providers.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Regulator of Social Housing has estimated how much providers will spend on increasing the energy efficiency of their housing stock over the next (a) five and (b) 10 years.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Regulator of Social Housing does not produce estimates of, or collect information on, future spending on energy efficiency by housing providers.