Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what reason student ID is not valid for voting ID purposes.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Further to the Government's policy statement on voter identification, which set out the reasons for the forms of identification accepted in polling stations under the new rules, identity cards bearing the Proof of Age Standards Scheme hologram (a PASS card), including for example the National Union of Students’ (NUS) Totum ID Card, are accepted.
The data requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans bring the Right To Acquire scheme in line with the Right To Buy scheme.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Government is keeping its homeownership options under review, however, there are no current plans to bring the Right to Acquire scheme in line with the Right to Buy scheme.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to disapply the local connection tests for veterans seeking social housing who left service over five years ago.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Government recognises the special position of members of the Armed Forces and their families.
We have changed the law so that those serving in the Armed Forces as well as former Service personnel with urgent housing needs are always given 'additional preference' for social housing.
Statutory guidance is clear that members of the regular Armed Forces, their bereaved spouses and civil partners, and seriously injured reservists, must not be disqualified for an allocation of social housing because they lack a local connection to an area.
The guidance also makes it clear that local authorities are expected to disapply any local connection requirement from divorced or separated spouses or civil partners of Service personnel who are required to move out of accommodation provided by the Ministry of Defence.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many people are located in temporary accommodation because they are unable to be offered a permanent property due to rent arrears.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
The latest statutory homelessness statistics for July to September 2022 can be found here.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the number of former council-owned properties that are owned by private landlords seeking to let those properties.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to disapply the local connection tests for veterans seeking social housing who are referred through Op Fortitude.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
We introduced regulations in 2012 that prevent local authorities from applying a local connection test to disqualify serving personnel as well as those within 5 years of having left the Armed Forces. Statutory guidance is also clear that members of the regular Armed Forces, their bereaved spouses and civil partners, and seriously injured reservists, must not be disqualified for an allocation of social housing because they lack a local connection to an area.
Further statutory allocations guidance issued in June 2020 makes clear that local authorities are expected to disapply any local connection requirement from divorced or separated spouses or civil partners of Service personnel who are required to move out of accommodation provided by the Ministry of Defence.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, will he make it his policy to require the introduction of male hygiene bins in public toilets.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 83564 on 17 November 2022.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 7 February 2022 to Question 114817 on Land: Regeneration, if he will publish the results of his Department's review into existing community asset frameworks which allow communities to protect local spaces.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Local communities should determine which spaces and places are most important to them.
The Government's £150 million Community Ownership Fund helps communities to acquire local assets which are important to them, this can include existing Assets of Community Value.
Details of announcements will be set out in the usual way.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2022 to Question 141284 on Community Assets, when he plans to consult on options to enhance the existing Assets of Community Value Scheme.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Local communities should determine which spaces and places are most important to them.
The Government's £150 million Community Ownership Fund helps communities to acquire local assets which are important to them, this can include existing Assets of Community Value.
Details of announcements will be set out in the usual way.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his planned timetable is for the abolition of Section 21.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Everyone deserves to live in a safe and secure home and ensuring a fair deal for renters remains a priority for this Government. The Queen's Speech committed to introducing a Renters Reform Bill that would repeal section 21 evictions and we will do so as soon as time allows in this Parliament.