Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much and what proportion of the funding allocated in the first round of the Levelling Up Fund has been distributed to successful bidders as of 15 November 2022.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Details on LUF that has been spent or is forecast for spend are available here. We will announce details of the second round of the Fund by the end of the year.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham 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 has put in place a process to provide feedback to unsuccessful applicants to the Levelling Up Fund.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The published Levelling Up Fund technical note states that we will provide feedback on unsuccessful bids to round 2 of the Fund once the outcome of this round of funding has been announced.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many people in his Department at each civil service grade have worked on the application process for investment zones since the announcement of that policy.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Further to the announcement made at Autumn Statement, policy development and application process work was delivered by existing civil servants as part of their usual work in the department. Both my predecessor and I make best use of our officials within the parameters set by our budget settlement. Details are published annually in departmental accounts.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much his Department has spent on (a) establishing and (b) managing the application process for investment zones since the announcement of that policy.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Further to the announcement made at Autumn Statement, policy development and application process work was delivered by existing civil servants as part of their usual work in the department. Both my predecessor and I make best use of our officials within the parameters set by our budget settlement. Details are published annually in departmental accounts.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Answer of 7 November 2022 to Question 76093 on Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: Impact Assessments, if he will provide a timetable for the publication of those impact assessments.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 76093 on 7 November 2022.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to ensure that representatives of the deaf community are consulted on the development of his Department's policies on (a) deprived communities and (b) disability.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The department complies with the Public Sector Equality Duty to consider the needs and disadvantages faced by people with protected characteristics.
Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether any severance pay by his Department to former Secretaries of State and Ministers has been declined since 5 July 2022.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The provision of severance payments for ministers is set out in legislation.
Details of the severance payments made to ministers when leaving office are published in departments' annual reports and accounts.
Similarly, the provision of severance payments for special advisers is set out in the Model Contract, which is available on gov.uk, including provisions for repayment of severance if reappointed. The cost of severance payments made to special advisers across government is published annually by the Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much in total his Department has issued in severance pay to former Secretaries of State and Ministers since 5 July 2022; and if he will provide the totals for each individual award.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The provision of severance payments for ministers is set out in legislation.
Details of the severance payments made to ministers when leaving office are published in departments' annual reports and accounts.
Similarly, the provision of severance payments for special advisers is set out in the Model Contract, which is available on gov.uk, including provisions for repayment of severance if reappointed. The cost of severance payments made to special advisers across government is published annually by the Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will publish the impact assessment for the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Yes, the impact assessment will be published in due course.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2022 to Question 64279 on Levelling Up Fund, how the project adjustment process works; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
As I outlined in my previous response, we can work with places who wish to make reasonable adjustments to the scope and phasing of projects as they seek to mitigate delivery challenges including cost inflation. Where a place puts forward a reasonable project adjustment request, the department will seek assurances in a number of areas including whether there is a good case for the change, whether it continues to deliver value for money, and can be delivered.