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 domestic abuse refuge services.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
This Government continues to support the provision of safe accommodation with support to ensure those fleeing from abuse have somewhere safe to go.
Since 2014 we have invested £80 million in safe accommodation services, including refuges to support victims of domestic abuse. This includes a £10 million COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund for safe accommodation charities, supporting a significant number of organisations to keep services running. In addition, we have secured free PPE for domestic abuse refuges.
Following the outcome of Spending Review, £125 million funding will be allocated to local authorities for the new duty to provide support within safe accommodation, including refuges, for 2021-22.
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 the well-being benefits of small scale community housing, including almshouses.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
As part of its contribution to the Loneliness Strategy being led by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has commissioned the London School of Economics to undertake research into the benefits of community-led housing in respect of addressing loneliness. The final report of the research is expected in 2021.
We are currently consulting widely on the proposals for reform set out in the Planning White Paper, and we will be listening carefully to all the representations made, including those from organisations representing almshouses. In relation to s106 planning obligations, we are consulting on proposals to replace the existing system of developer contributions with a new Infrastructure Levy, which will deliver at least as much onsite affordable housing as at present.
The upcoming government guidance on producing local design codes will set out more detailed parameters for key elements of successful design, recognising the need for a variety of housing tenures, including community and co-housing schemes, to create diverse, equitable and resilient communities. Further information on this will be published 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 what plans they have to protect and promote small-scale community housing models, such as almshouses, as part of their reforms of the planning system.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
As part of its contribution to the Loneliness Strategy being led by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has commissioned the London School of Economics to undertake research into the benefits of community-led housing in respect of addressing loneliness. The final report of the research is expected in 2021.
We are currently consulting widely on the proposals for reform set out in the Planning White Paper, and we will be listening carefully to all the representations made, including those from organisations representing almshouses. In relation to s106 planning obligations, we are consulting on proposals to replace the existing system of developer contributions with a new Infrastructure Levy, which will deliver at least as much onsite affordable housing as at present.
The upcoming government guidance on producing local design codes will set out more detailed parameters for key elements of successful design, recognising the need for a variety of housing tenures, including community and co-housing schemes, to create diverse, equitable and resilient communities. Further information on this will be published 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 what plans they have to enable small-scale housing models, such as almshouses, to benefit from affordable housing levies, including section 106 agreements.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
As part of its contribution to the Loneliness Strategy being led by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has commissioned the London School of Economics to undertake research into the benefits of community-led housing in respect of addressing loneliness. The final report of the research is expected in 2021.
We are currently consulting widely on the proposals for reform set out in the Planning White Paper, and we will be listening carefully to all the representations made, including those from organisations representing almshouses. In relation to s106 planning obligations, we are consulting on proposals to replace the existing system of developer contributions with a new Infrastructure Levy, which will deliver at least as much onsite affordable housing as at present.
The upcoming government guidance on producing local design codes will set out more detailed parameters for key elements of successful design, recognising the need for a variety of housing tenures, including community and co-housing schemes, to create diverse, equitable and resilient communities. Further information on this will be published 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 what assessment they have made of powers under the Coronavirus Act 2020 to enable councils to hold remote meetings; and whether they plan to change the Local Government Act 1972 to allow councils to retain these powers beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Local authorities have responded magnificently to the challenge of ensuring vital council business continues by conducting council meetings remotely during these unprecedented times.
It is widely acknowledged that the remote meetings regulations have helped local authorities?to?make business critical decisions in a democratic way whilst protecting the health and safety of their members, officers and the public.
Government will be considering carefully the case for extending these regulations as necessary in the coming months.
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 the proportion of Council Tax warrants paid at compliance stage, without enforcement visits taking place; and what assessment they have made of the adjusting of inflation in providing an economic incentive for resolving cases at compliance stage.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government does not routinely collect data on the proportion of council tax arrears paid at compliance stage, without enforcement visits taking place. The Government is considering the operation of the compliance stage, including for council tax, as part of its ongoing review of the Taking Control of Goods regulations and is due to publish its findings in due course. The fees that may be charged by enforcement agents are set down in regulations. The question of whether to increase the fees in line with inflation is kept under review.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish the lessons that they learned from allocating funding under the European Social Fund that have influenced the design of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government understands the importance of local growth funding to places and people and is committed to creating the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to succeed European structural funds, providing vital investment in local economies, cutting out bureaucracy and levelling up those parts of the UK whose economies are furthest behind.
The Government has engaged with key stakeholders on the design and priorities of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund since 2016, including holding a series of engagement events across the UK. As we approach the transition from European Social Fund to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, we will continue to engage with partners in order to aid policy development.
Final decisions on the design of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will need to be made through a cross-Government Spending Review, and we will set out further plans for the fund 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 what assessment they have made of the role of local government in supporting the Government's jobs and skills recovery plan following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
On 8th July the Chancellor announced measures across a range of targeted work-based training offers to support people to build the skills they need to get into work. This amounts to investment of £1.6 billion in employment support schemes, which will substantially expand existing provision. This includes £111 million to triple traineeships for 16-24 year olds will help more young people gain the skills to progress to apprenticeships, further education and other employment. We are providing employers with £2,000 for each young person they hire as an apprentice and offering £1,500 for each new apprentice hired aged over 25. We are also providing £101 million for school and college leavers to study high value Level 2 and 3 courses when there are not employment opportunities available to them, providing funding of £17 million to almost triple the number of Sector-Based Work Academy placements, and giving the National Careers Service an extra £32 million funding so it can provide careers advice to 269,000 more customers.
Through our Plan for Jobs we have set out how we will support people to stay in and access good jobs as we drive forward our recovery. This includes investing £2 billion to directly support hundreds of thousands of young people through the Kickstart Scheme which will provide fully subsidised jobs for young people across the country.
As part of raising the participation age legislation local authorities have duties to track all academic age 16 and 17 year olds, identify those not in education, employment or training or at risk of becoming so and supporting them to re-engage in education or training. This includes a September guarantee where local authorities need to ensure that all year 11 students and year 12 students on a one year course have a suitable offer of education or training for the following September. We are working closely with local authorities to support these duties and monitor September guarantee offers.
Across these areas the government recognises the need to work closely with local government to support these various interventions and is proactively taking forward conversations with local government on delivery of these programmes.
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 the Local Government Association reports Resident satisfaction with councils' response to COVID-19, published in May, and Polling on resident satisfaction with councils: Round 26, published in June, and in particular, the findings on levels of trust in councils.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
We read the LGA reports with interest. They show an increase in both resident satisfaction and trust in local councils since February. This reflects the vital role local authorities are playing to keep their communities safe during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow local authorities to borrow against future Community Infrastructure Levy receipts to invest in infrastructure to help unlock housing growth.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Regulations 2010 (as amended) do not permit local authorities who charge CIL to borrow against the value of future receipts to invest in infrastructure, with the exception of the Mayor of London.
Regulations introduced in 2019 permit the Mayor of London to borrow against any future income generated by the Mayoral CIL charge and use the receipts collected to repay the loan value. This is specifically for funding relating to Crossrail.
Whilst local charging authorities are not permitted to borrow against the levy receipts, they may use the Levy to repay any expenditure on infrastructure that has already been incurred, under Regulation 60.
Presently, there are no plans to amend the existing Regulations to allow local authorities to borrow against any future receipts to invest in infrastructure to unlock housing growth.