Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to publish a strategy on his Department's role in the delivery of net zero by 2050, including the role of local authorities in retrofitting existing homes and commercial buildings.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Department has worked closely with BEIS to develop the Net Zero Strategy and the Heat and Buildings Strategy, which outline our approach to reaching net zero and to decarbonising heat in buildings.
Local authorities play an essential role in driving local climate action across energy, housing, and transport. We continue to work with local authorities, capitalising on their unique knowledge of their communities, which is essential to ensuring effective delivery of net zero locally.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether a Minister in his Department has been assigned as the lead on his Department's role in helping to deliver net zero.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
As the lead Minister on net zero for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, I look forward to driving the delivery of net zero for our Department. I recognise that as the department for levelling up and housing policy, we play an important role in the government's ambition to reach net zero.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the role of local authorities in meeting the Government's net zero target.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Secretary of State meets regularly with Cabinet Colleagues on the commitment to net Zero. The CAI last convened on 28 September to discuss high-priority climate change issues. The agenda item for this meeting was the Net Zero Strategy, which includes a commitment to set clear expectations and guidelines on how central and local government interact when delivering net zero, and a new Local Net Zero Programme which centres around the Local Net Zero Forum, announced in the Net Zero Strategy. The Forum will provide a framework for central and local government to collaborate on issues relating to capacity and capability to support local places' ambitions on net zero
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what consultation he has undertaken with local government representatives from across the political spectrum since his appointment as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Since September, the Secretary of State has held meetings with the chair of the Local Government Association, has met with the M10 network of Metro Mayors, and has spoken at the Local Government Association's Councillors' Forum, comprised of councillors representing different political parties from councils across England and Wales. He has also met with the chair of the County Councils Network. Other Ministers from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities continue to meet regularly with councils and local government representative bodies.
Further to this, my Department continues to lead the Government's significant and regular engagement with councils and local government sector bodies throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to ensure information is getting to councils and that we are made aware of any areas of concern.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the revised timetable is for the Fair Funding Review.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Spending Review will conclude later in the week, at which point the Government will set out its proposals for the future of the local government finance system.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what statistics his Department holds of the financial impact of the covid-19 outbreak on local authorities after June 2021.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Local Authority COVID-19 Financial Impact monitoring results are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-covid-19-financial-impact-monitoring-information . Monitoring returns are an essential source of evidence in our work to understand the financial pressures that local authorities are experiencing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department plans to provide additional resources to local authorities with high rates of covid-19 transmission.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government has allocated over £12 billion directly to councils since the start of the pandemic. Of this, over £6 billion is unringfenced in recognition that local authorities are best placed to decide how to meet the major COVID-19 pressures in their local area. We continue to closely monitor the sector's finances as we emerge from the pandemic.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what consultation his Department carried out on the design of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2021.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Government has been engaging with key stakeholders on the design and priorities of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund since 2016, including holding a series of regional engagement events which helped to identify the opportunities for UK Shared Prosperity Fund policy and learn lessons from EU funding.
Since the publication of the UKSPF Heads of Terms at Spending Review 2020, we have continued to engage widely on UKSPF across a variety of different organisations and sectors.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, by what deadline his Department will inform applicants for the Community Renewal Fund on whether their application has been successful.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Applications for the UK Community Renewal Fund (CRF) closed at midday on 18 June 2021. There has been significant interest in the CRF across the four investment priorities and bids are being assessed in line with the published assessment process. Outcomes will be announced in due course and bidders informed.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department plans to take to incorporate learning from projects funded by the Community Renewal Fund into the design of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
To help local areas prepare over 21/22 for the introduction of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, we are providing an additional £220 million through the UK Community Renewal Fund to support our communities across the UK to pilot programmes and new approaches.
As set out in the prospectus, the UK Community Renewal Fund will help inform the design of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund through funding of one-year pilots. We want to use the UK Community Renewal Fund to test greater integration of types of interventions and greater flexibility between investment themes than under EU structural funds.
UK community Renewal Fund applications were expected to build on local insight and knowledge, demonstrate how projects complement other national and local provision, and align with long-term strategic plans for local growth, target people most in need and support community renewal. Applicants, if successful, will need to develop an evaluation plan with between 1-2% of their award to be dedicated to that evaluation with a minimum threshold of £10,000.