Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on the development of the Shared Prosperity Fund; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jake Berry
Now we have left the European Union, we will create the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which will bind together the whole of the United Kingdom, tackling inequality and deprivation in each of our four nations.
The Government has been clear that final decisions about the design of the Fund must take place after a cross-government Spending Review. In the meantime, stakeholder views from across the UK have helped inform progress on policy design.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What his Department’s policy is on the One Yorkshire devolution proposals.
Answered by Jake Berry
This government’s ambition is for full devolution across England and we are committed to publish an English Devolution White Paper which will set out our plans.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support (a) architects, (b) engineers, (c) approved Inspectors, (d) quantity surveyors and (e) fire engineers in renewing their professional indemnity insurance.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We are aware of challenges that construction professionals are facing with securing professional indemnity insurance. While this is principally a matter for those professionals and their insurers, we are in contact with trade bodies and insurance bodies to consider whether and how government can help. We are working with the Association for Consultant Approved Inspectors and insurance bodies to look at options for helping Approved Inspectors to secure insurance that provides adequate cover for their clients, residents and the firms themselves. In parallel, we intend to review the role of Approved Inspectors under the future building safety system, as part of which we will review the insurance requirements for the sector.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of people who own their home on a (a) freehold and (b) leasehold basis in England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
My Department has recently published estimates of the number of leasehold dwellings in England. These can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/estimating-the-number-of-leasehold-dwellings-in-england-2015-to-2016
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the rise in the level of ground rent for leaseholders who own their leaseholds in (a) Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle constituency and (b) England in the last 20 years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Department does not hold this information.
The Government’s consultation, Tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market, considered a number of issues within the leasehold sector including the sale of new built leasehold houses, and onerous ground rents. The consultation also sought views on what further areas of leasehold reform should be prioritised and why.
The public consultation, which closed on 19 September, received around 6,000 replies. We are carefully analysing the responses, and will issue the Government response in due course.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to bring forward legislation to reform leasehold; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Government’s consultation, Tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market, considered a number of issues within the leasehold sector including the sale of new built leasehold houses, and onerous ground rents. The consultation also sought views on what further areas of leasehold reform should be prioritised and why.
The public consultation, which closed on 19 September, received around 6,000 replies. We are carefully analysing the responses, and will issue the Government's response in due course.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that freeholders offer leaseholders the first option to purchase that freehold; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Government’s consultation, Tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market, considered a number of issues within the leasehold sector including the sale of new built leasehold houses, and onerous ground rents. The consultation also sought views on what further areas of leasehold reform should be prioritised and why.
The public consultation, which closed on 19 September, received around 6,000 replies. We are carefully analysing the responses, and will issue the Government response in due course.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to require formal planning for all proposals involving cladding.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Generally the installation of cladding will be development that requires planning permission. There may be circumstances where the external appearance of the building is not materially altered where planning permission is not required, depending on the scale of the operation, but this is a matter for each local planning authority to determine in the first instance.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to enable councils to access flats bought under right to buy in order to undertake compliance checks for fire safety.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Local authorities have strong powers to deal with poor quality, unsafe accommodation and we expect them to use those powers. Under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), local authorities can issue an Improvement Notice or a Hazard Awareness Notice if they find a defect in the property. Failure to comply with an Improvement Notice is a criminal offence for which local authorities can impose a financial penalty of up to £30,000 or prosecute in the courts which have the power to impose an unlimited fine. In extreme circumstances, the local authority may decide to make repairs themselves, or to prohibit that property from being rented out. The HHSRS applies to all residential properties, regardless of who owns them. Leases will normally also provide a landlord with the right to inspect in good faith where there is concern about the maintenance or repair.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 places a duty on housing providers to undertake a fire risk assessment of the common parts of their properties and to put in place and maintain adequate fire precautions to manage the risk that lives could be lost in a fire. The Order is enforced by fire and rescue authorities. Failure to comply with the provisions of the Fire Safety Order may to lead to prosecution and potentially a significant fine or custodial sentence.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will provide funding to councils to test cladding for fire safety on high rise flats which do not have aluminium composite material panels.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We are prioritising testing on buildings where people sleep overnight, which have Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding, and are of a certain height. Where appropriate, organisations are working with the fire and rescue service locally to put in place precautionary safety checks and measures.