Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department operates a ban the box employment policy in respect of ex-offender job applicants with unspent convictions; and how many employees of his Department have unspent convictions.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Department is committed to ensuring that all of our recruitment is done in a fair and open manner, and that all applicants are treated equally.
Consequently, we do operate a ban-the-box policy within our recruitments, and applicants are not asked to provide any information on previous unspent convictions at any point in the selection process.
While successful applicants are subject to criminal record and security clearance checks during pre-appointment, declaration forms are not retained centrally once monitoring checks have been carried out.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department provides on rental of a property without provision of drinking water; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Barwell
Any property without basic amenities such as drinking water is a potential risk to the health and safety of the occupants. Local authorities have strong powers under the Housing Act 2004 to tackle such situations, including prohibiting the property from being used.
The Renting a Safe Home Guide is aimed at helping tenants identify hazards of health risks, and provides advice on what to do if the property is unsafe.