Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to provide councils with a long-term extension of the statutory override on the treatment of Dedicated Schools Grant deficits.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In August 2022 we carried out a voluntary Call for Evidence across local authorities with the objective to understand current and projected Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) financial positions and inform decision making around extending the DSG statutory override beyond March 2023. This was not a formal consultation and we are unaware of a consultation that launched on 7 June. The data collected in this Call for Evidence was to support DLUHC policy development and was unvalidated, therefore it would not be appropriate to publish as such.
We understand a decision on the DSG statutory override needs to be communicated to the sector as soon as possible to provide certainty for the next - and future - financial years. We plan to announce this ahead of the Local Government Finance Settlement.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to publish the outcome of the consultation, launched on 7 June, on extending the statutory override on the treatment of Dedicated Schools Grant deficits beyond March 2023.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In August 2022 we carried out a voluntary Call for Evidence across local authorities with the objective to understand current and projected Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) financial positions and inform decision making around extending the DSG statutory override beyond March 2023. This was not a formal consultation and we are unaware of a consultation that launched on 7 June. The data collected in this Call for Evidence was to support DLUHC policy development and was unvalidated, therefore it would not be appropriate to publish as such.
We understand a decision on the DSG statutory override needs to be communicated to the sector as soon as possible to provide certainty for the next - and future - financial years. We plan to announce this ahead of the Local Government Finance Settlement.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of arrangements to extend the statutory override on the treatment of Dedicated Schools Grant deficits.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In August 2022 we carried out a voluntary Call for Evidence across local authorities with the objective to understand current and projected Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) financial positions and inform decision making around extending the DSG statutory override beyond March 2023. This was not a formal consultation and we are unaware of a consultation that launched on 7 June. The data collected in this Call for Evidence was to support DLUHC policy development and was unvalidated, therefore it would not be appropriate to publish as such.
We understand a decision on the DSG statutory override needs to be communicated to the sector as soon as possible to provide certainty for the next - and future - financial years. We plan to announce this ahead of the Local Government Finance Settlement.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether regulations designed for large housing associations restrict small charitable housing groups from expanding; and what plans they have to amend the regulations to remove any such restrictions.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Regulator of Social Housing is responsible for the regulation of registered providers of social housing in England.
The regulator’s primary focus is on promoting a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver the homes that we need. The regulator’s economic and consumer standards apply to both large (1,000 homes or more) and small (fewer than 1,000 homes) registered providers. It is for individual providers to ensure compliance with the standards and the regulator does not specify how they should do that. The regulator’s publication (attached), Regulating the Standards, outlines its operational approach to assessing compliance with the economic and consumer standards for both large and small providers.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the Community Housing Fund will be available.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Departmental budgets for 2021/22 have been confirmed at the recent Comprehensive Spending Review and £4 million in revenue grant funding has been made available to reopen the Community Housing Fund. We are currently considering how these funds should be most effectively deployed. In addition, organisations that are registered as providers of social housing may seek capital funding from the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme operated outside London by Homes England.
The Government recognises that the community-led housing sector offers significant potential for helping to meet housing need across England. In addition to helping increase the rate of delivery of new housing, it will help deliver a range of benefits including diversifying the housebuilding sector, improving design and construction quality, developing modern methods of construction, and sustaining local communities and local economies. The support and close involvement of the local community enables the community-led approach to secure planning permission and deliver housing that could not be brought forward through mainstream development.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made (1) of the requirement for councillors to publish their home addresses on council websites, and (2) of the effect of this requirement on the safety and welfare of councillors, and female councillors in particular; and what plans they have to remove this requirement so that councillors have parity with Members of Parliament.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
At present, councillors are required to register their home address as part of their council’s register of interests given that planning decisions, for example, can have a substantial impact on an area in which a councillor lives. Registers of interests are typically published on council websites, but there are already provisions in section 32 of the Localism Act 2011 to allow councils to withhold sensitive interests from the public register where their disclosure could lead to violence or intimidation.
The Committee on Standards in Public Life’s review of Local Government Ethical Standards noted that the sensitive interest provisions are often only used when a member has already experience intimidation or harassment, and so recommended that councillors should not be required to register their home addresses as a disclosable pecuniary interest. The Government is considering the recommendations from the CSPL’s report and we intend to publish a response in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Greenhalgh on 28 October (HL9181), what plans they have to ensure that councils in England can meet remotely after the expiry of the relevant powers under the Coronavirus Act 2020.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
There is no option under current legislation to extend the current regulations under the Coronavirus Act 2020 as section 78 (3) contains the sunset date of 7 May 2021.
The Government has received representations from the Local Government Association and others from the local government sector making the case for extending and making permanent the provision for local authorities to meet remotely or in hybrid form. The Government is considering this carefully. To extend the facility for councils to continue to meet remotely, or in hybrid form, would require primary legislation.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which EU funding streams were taken into account to inform their allocation of £1.5 billion a year to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) will help to level up and create opportunity across the UK?for people and?places.??
Funding for the UKSPF will ramp up so that total domestic UK-wide funding will?at least match receipts from EU structural funds, on average reaching around £1.5 billion per?year.?Its funding profile will be set out at the next Spending Review.
£1.5 billion is the average annual investment from EU Structural Funds (including ERDF, ESF and ETC) over the previous EU funding round.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government for how many years will the UK Shared Prosperity Fund be allocated a £1.5 billion annual budget.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) will help to level up and create opportunity across the UK?for people and?places
Funding for the UKSPF will ramp up so that total domestic UK-wide funding will?at least match receipts from EU structural funds, on average reaching around £1.5 billion per?year.?Its funding profile will be set out at the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the regeneration of town centres.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Government is working to deliver a package of long-term measures that support town centre regeneration. This includes the £3.6 billion Towns Fund, where we brought forward over £80 million funding this year to support immediate improvements in 101 towns selected for deals. The fund will support local areas in England to renew and reshape town centres and high streets in a way that improves experience, drives growth and ensures future sustainability.
Our £1 billion Future High Streets Fund competition will help create jobs and build more resilient local economies and communities. We are in the final stages of assessing the proposals from the 101 shortlisted applicants and expect to announce the outcome of the competition soon.
Further, the Government is launching a new Levelling Up Fund worth £4 billion for England. This will invest in local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities and will support economic recovery.
Government is also providing support through the High Streets Task Force, helping local leaders in their work revitalising their high streets and town centres by providing proactive support to local areas to develop data-driven innovative strategies and connect local areas to relevant experts.
In addition, Government has recently reformed the use classes order to create a new ‘Commercial, Business and Service’ use class which will give businesses greater flexibility to change to a broad range of uses, such as shops, leisure, and offices as well as nurseries and health centres, without the need for planning permission. More widely we are looking to transform the planning system as set out in the White Paper ‘Planning for the Future’ which will make it simpler, quicker and more accessible, and more certain for developers.