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 the selective licensing regime, introduced in the Housing Act 2004 to tackle rogue landlords, has resulted in Almshouse Charities that are not registered providers of social housing being financially penalised.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Only registered housing providers are exempt from selective licensing. This is to ensure that all privately rented accommodation is properly regulated. We take this approach to ensure that high standards are maintained in all rental properties and all tenants are protected. Almshouse Charities are free to register as providers of social housing and some 25 per cent already are. Where almshouses decide not to register, local authorities have discretion to discount or waive fees associated with the licensing process.
Going forward, the Government has commissioned a thorough and independent review into the effectiveness of selective licensing. This is on schedule to report in Spring 2019. The Department will consider the outcomes of the review carefully, including how selecting licensing works for local communities and charitable organisations.
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 first-time buyers on low to middle incomes who are unable to afford a deposit whilst paying rent on a home.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Government-backed schemes including Help to Buy - Equity Loan, Help to Buy ISA and Lifetime ISA have helped over 500,000 households into home-ownership since 2010. The Autumn Budget 2018 provided an additional £7.2 billion for a new Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme to run from April 2021 to March 2023, which will exclusively help first time buyers. In addition to this the Stamp Duty relief for first time buyers introduced at the Autumn Budget 2017 will help over one million households over the next 5 years.
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 approval rate of new affordable Rent To Buy housing since the publication of the revised National Planning Policy Framework on 24 July 2018; and whether they intend to publish further guidance to encourage local authorities to consider this form of affordable housing.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The number of planning permissions granted for different type of affordable housing is not recorded at a national level. Homes England publish statistics on the number of affordable housing units delivered through schemes such as Rent to Buy and the Greater London Authority report on units delivered through their affordable housing programmes.
We are reviewing guidance that will assist delivery of Rent to Buy and will publish this 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 discussions they have had with the Tees Valley Mayor, the South Tees Development Corporation and businesses about investment in and the regeneration of in the old Sahaviriya Steel Industries site.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government is working with Mayor Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley Combined Authority and the South Tees Development Corporation to promote new investment across the entire development corporation site. Government is looking to promote new developments in low carbon electricity generation; manufacturing and process industries, as well as research and development into innovative technologies aligned with the Industrial Strategy and Clean Growth Strategy. Any proposals for additional funding would need to meet public funding guidelines. On the part of the site owned by SSI-in-liquidation, development is currently constrained because of the charges held by three Thai banks. Negotiations are ongoing to remove these charges by the South Tees Development Corporation, supported by Her Majesty's Government.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have held discussions with the South Tees Development Corporation about proposals it is considering regarding investment in and the regeneration of the old Sahaviriya Steel Industries site; and if so, what are those proposals.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government is working with Mayor Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley Combined Authority and the South Tees Development Corporation to promote new investment across the entire development corporation site. At this stage, proposals are commercially confidential. Any proposals for public support for these investments would need to meet public funding guidelines.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government in what ways the South Tees Development Corporation is accountable to the Treasury; and what involvement they have, if any, in the decisions made by the Corporation in relation to approving bids for investment.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Following the devolution of mayoral development corporation powers to the Tees Valley Combined Authority, and the designation by the Tees Valley Mayor, the Government was required to seek Parliamentary approval to the Order establishing the South Tees Development Corporation. The object of the South Tees Development Corporation is to secure the regeneration of its area, and it may do anything it considers appropriate for these purposes. It is not accountable to the Treasury; it is accountable to the Tees Valley Mayor who decided to establish it. The Mayor is also the Chair of the South Tees Development Corporation and appoints its members. The Mayor is accountable to the Combined Authority and the Tees Valley electorate.
Any requests made for national public funding by the Tees Valley Combined Authority or the South Tees Development Corporation are assessed by the relevant Department and, where appropriate, Her Majesty’s Treasury in line with the guidelines of ‘Managing Public Money’. As part of its devolution deal the Tees Valley Combined Authority has been given an investment fund of £15m a year for 30 years. The Combined Authority has responsibility for how it will invest these funds within the scope of an agreed assurance framework, which sets out how they will appraise, monitor and evaluate schemes to achieve value for money. Investment decisions made by the Mayor and the Combined Authority are subject to the agreement of the Combined Authority and local scrutiny. An independent panel will assess the impact of investments on economic growth at five yearly Gateway Reviews. Further information on the governance arrangements of the South Tees Development Corporation is available (attached) on its website: https://www.southteesdc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/STDC-17-18-Signed-Annual-Governance-Statement.pdf and https://www.southteesdc.com/about-us/transparency-required-information/
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of the South Tees Development Corporation is funded by the public purse.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government has provided £5 million of grant to the Tees Valley Combined Authority to support the operations of the South Tees Development Corporation in 2018/19 and 2019/20. The latest budget plan for the development corporation over these 2 years outlines expenditure of £7.572 million. The actual amounts spent, and the sources of the income will be available in the statement of accounts for those years when published. The South Tees Development Corporation's statement of accounts for 2017/18 - its first year of operation is available (attached) - here: https://www.southteesdc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/STDC-17-18-Signed-Accounts.pdf
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government policies have been assessed against the Family Test; and whether they will publish any such assessments.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government is committed to supporting families. To achieve this, in 2014 we introduced the Family Test, which aims to ensure that any impact on family relationships and functioning is recognised early on during the process of policy development and help inform the policy decisions made by Minsters. There is no requirement for departments to publish the results of assessments made under the Family Test.
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 case for increasing the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap above the £1 billion announced in the Autumn Budget 2017.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
I refer to the written statement that I made on 26 June about affordable housing (please see below the link; number HLWS772). We will monitor how authorities respond to this opportunity, and consider whether any further action is needed.
https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Lords/2018-06-26/HLWS772/
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to ensure full transparency of local authority funding allocations so that councils can see why their funding allocations are what they are, as they seek to set new funding baselines as part of the local authority Fair Funding Review.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government is conducting a review of the relative needs and resources of local authorities in England, with a view to setting fresh baseline funding levels in 2020-21. In line with the principles set out in the consultation paper published in December 2017, we are committed to implementing an approach that is as simple and transparent as possible, while recognising this should not be at the expense of accuracy and fairness. We are working closely with local government representatives to consider the factors which drive local authorities’ spending and the resources available to them to fund local services, and how we should account for these in a way that draws a more transparent and understandable link between local circumstances and resource allocations.