Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department have made an assessment of the potential merits of conducting a phased implementation of the Future Homes Standard.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
When the Government makes changes to the Building Regulations, transitional arrangements are put into place which set out the conditions under which a building can be built to the previous standards. These arrangements mean that developers have certainty and assurance about the standards which they have to build to, and that work which is already in progress can be completed without major disruption.
In December 2021, the Government implemented an uplift in energy efficiency standards as a stepping-stone to the Future Homes Standards. As part of that, a one-year transitional period was put in place.
A full technical consultation on the Future Homes Standard is planned and as part of this we will consider what transitional arrangements are appropriate. Monitoring the impact of the 2021 uplift and the associated transitional arrangements will be a consideration in that process.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of exempting developments that receive planning permission before 2025 from the Future Homes Standard requirements.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
When the Government makes changes to the Building Regulations, transitional arrangements are put into place which set out the conditions under which a building can be built to the previous standards. These arrangements mean that developers have certainty and assurance about the standards which they have to build to, and that work which is already in progress can be completed without major disruption.
In December 2021, the Government implemented an uplift in energy efficiency standards as a stepping-stone to the Future Homes Standards. As part of that, a one-year transitional period was put in place.
A full technical consultation on the Future Homes Standard is planned and as part of this we will consider what transitional arrangements are appropriate. Monitoring the impact of the 2021 uplift and the associated transitional arrangements will be a consideration in that process.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who the responsible authority is for oversight of Thames Freeport.
Answered by Lia Nici
Freeports bring together a broad coalition of local private and public sector partners to drive investment, innovation, and job creation across their regions. Each Freeport has a Governing Body formed of those partners, which is responsible for delivering the Freeport as agreed with the UK Government, and a nominated local authority, accountable to DLUHC for managing UK Government funding for the Freeport and ensuring the Governing Body operates effectively. In the case of the Thames Freeport, the accountable local authority is Thurrock Council.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when successful applicants to the Community Renewal Fund will be notified.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Applications were submitted to UK Government for assessment by lead authorities in Great Britain, and by local applicants in Northern Ireland. We expect to support a range of projects by theme and size, but applicants were encouraged to maximise impact and deliverability through larger projects (£500,000+) where possible. Successful UK Community Renewal Fund bids will be for 2021/22 only and should be scaled accordingly.
There has been significant interest in the Community Renewal Fund 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. We will provide further guidance on Community Renewal Fund as soon as possible, to enable bidders to plan for delivery once decisions have been announced.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the total value is of bids submitted to the Community Renewal Fund from (a) Scotland, (b) Wales, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) England.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Applications were submitted to UK Government for assessment by lead authorities in Great Britain, and by local applicants in Northern Ireland. We expect to support a range of projects by theme and size, but applicants were encouraged to maximise impact and deliverability through larger projects (£500,000+) where possible. Successful UK Community Renewal Fund bids will be for 2021/22 only and should be scaled accordingly.
There has been significant interest in the Community Renewal Fund 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. We will provide further guidance on Community Renewal Fund as soon as possible, to enable bidders to plan for delivery once decisions have been announced.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many bids were received for funding from the Community Renewal Fund from (a) Scotland, (b) Wales, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) England.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Applications were submitted to UK Government for assessment by lead authorities in Great Britain, and by local applicants in Northern Ireland. We expect to support a range of projects by theme and size, but applicants were encouraged to maximise impact and deliverability through larger projects (£500,000+) where possible. Successful UK Community Renewal Fund bids will be for 2021/22 only and should be scaled accordingly.
There has been significant interest in the Community Renewal Fund 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. We will provide further guidance on Community Renewal Fund as soon as possible, to enable bidders to plan for delivery once decisions have been announced.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
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 12 July 2021 to Question 27216 on Levelling Up Fund, what the value is of the initial applications received from (a) Scotland, (b) Wales, (c) England and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The first round of the Levelling Up Fund received significant interest from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland bidding authorities across the three investment priorities of the Fund. Bids are currently being assessed in line with the published assessment process. Outcomes from the first round of bids for the Levelling Up Fund will be announced later in the year and bidding authorities will be informed in due course.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
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 12 July 2021 to Question 27216 on Levelling Up Fund, how many applications were received from (a) Scotland, (b) Wales, (c) England and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The first round of the Levelling Up Fund received significant interest from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland bidding authorities across the three investment priorities of the Fund. Bids are currently being assessed in line with the published assessment process. Outcomes from the first round of bids for the Levelling Up Fund will be announced later in the year and bidding authorities will be informed in due course.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the (a) Levelling Up Fund and (b) UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Both the Levelling Up Fund and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund are core parts of our Levelling Up agenda and I regularly speak to my ministerial colleagues about both funds. These discussions will inform our Levelling Up white paper, and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund Investment Framework, which we plan to publish later this year.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
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 1 July 2021 to Question 21267 on Levelling Up Fund, how much funding he plans to allocate through the first round, for which applications closed on 18 June 2021.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Levelling Up Fund is a competitive fund, with funding distributed to places across the UK on the basis of successful project selection. The Fund will set aside at least £800 million across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland over four years from 2021-2022 to 2024-2025.
For the first round of funding, at least 9% of total UK allocations will be in Scotland, 5% in Wales, and 3% in Norther Ireland.
It is expected that investment decisions will be made by the UK Government for the first round of funding by autumn 2021.