Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the consultation paper on the Shared Prosperity Fund.
Answered by Jake Berry
The Government recognises the importance of reassuring local areas on the future of local growth funding as we leave the European Union and of providing clarity on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
The Government has been working closely with interested parties across the UK whilst developing the fund. Government officials have held 25 engagement events across the UK, attended by over five hundred representatives from a breadth of sectors, which has helped inform progress on policy design
We will come forward with further details in due course.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what proportion of the shared prosperity fund will be allocated to (a) the North West and (b) Wirral.
Answered by Jake Berry
Following our departure from the European Union, the 2019 Conservative Manifesto has committed to creating a UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which binds together the whole of the United Kingdom, tackling inequality and deprivation in each of our four nations, and at a minimum match the size of European Structural Funds in each nation.
The Fund will invest in UK priorities and tackle inequalities between communities by raising productivity, especially in those parts of the UK whose economies are furthest behind.
However, the Government has been clear final decisions about the design of the Fund must take place after a cross-government Spending Review.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate he has made of the number of children in temporary accommodation in (a) the North West, (b) Liverpool City Region, (c) Wirral and (d) Wallasey constituency in each of the last five years.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The number of children in temporary accommodation in the North West and Wirral at the end of each financial year where figures are available from 2015 to 2019 are provided here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness.
Data is collected at the local authority level and therefore not available at lower geographical areas. Figures for Wallasey are therefore not available. Liverpool City Region can be calculated by summing figures for Liverpool, Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, St. Helens and Wirral. In December 2019 we announced the allocation of £263 million in funding for 2020/21 to local authorities designed to support them to deliver services to tackle homelessness. The purpose of this funding is to give local authorities more control and flexibility in managing homelessness pressures and supporting those who at risk of homelessness, including providing them with temporary accommodation.
England and regional totals include imputations for missing values, including Halton, so the sum of individual figures will not match these totals.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much and what proportion of the Housing Infrastructure Fund funding has been allocated to (a) the North West and (b) Wirral Council.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Around £215 million of this has been allocated to the North West, including £6 million to Wirral Council’s Northbank project, which will unlock up to 1,100 homes at Wirral Waters.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many houses in (a) Wallasey constituency and (b) the North West were unoccupied in 2019.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Statistics on vacant dwellings in England and in each local authority district are published in the Department’s live table 615 which is available at the following link. This table shows the annual total numbers of empty homes and those vacant longer than six months and also vacants in the local authority, housing association and other public sector tenures.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-dwelling-stock-including-vacants
Statistics on vacant dwellings at parliamentary constituency level are not centrally collected. Statistics for 2019 are scheduled to be published in Spring 2020.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to increase the provision of (a) affordable and (b) social housing in (i) the North West, (ii) Merseyside and (iii) Wallasey.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many homes have been purchased through the Help to Buy scheme in (a) the North West, (b) Merseyside and (c) Wallasey in each of the last six years.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what meetings her Department has had with Wirral Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
We have stepped up our preparedness significantly and are speaking regularly to councils and partners, including through a delivery board and a network of nine regional lead chief executives. Every council has designated a Brexit Lead Officer to work with central government to intensify their local preparations and, in total, we have made £77 million available to help local areas get ready for Brexit.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 5.16 of the Budget 2018 Red Book, what proportion of the £410 million for adult and children's social care will be allocated to Wirral Council.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Department published the local authority allocations of the £410 million announced at Budget 2018 for adult and children's social care online on 29 January 2019. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-care-support-grant-final-allocations-for-2019-to-2020.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what long-term funding is available for tackling homelessness in Liverpool City Region.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
This Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy which sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. Already, this has provided over 1,750 new bed spaces and 500 staff– this means there are more people in warm beds tonight as direct result of government funding.
In all, the Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period. As part of the 1.2 billion, Liverpool City Region has received £3 million, including Housing First Pilot funding to help tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
Future years funding (from 2020-21 onward) for homelessness and rough sleeping are dependent on Spending Review negotiations, therefore we are not able to clarify at this stage how much funding Liverpool City Region will receive in future to support work to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, however there will be funding opportunities open to all local authorities to bid for in the near future including the Rapid Rehousing Pathway, an initiative to support rough sleepers and those at risk of rough sleeping.