Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential impact of the change to the move-on period on levels of homelessness.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce deprivation in the North East.
Answered by Jacob Young
We have provided over £881 million to support local regeneration projects across the towns and cities of the North East.
This figure includes over £270 million provided through the three rounds of the Levelling Up Fund, over £276 million supporting high streets and Town Deals in eleven places across the North East, and £120 million for six towns included in the recently-announced Long Term Plan for Towns.
We are also giving people in the North East the tools needed to shape a better future. In May, the North East will become the first region in England fully covered by mayoral combined authorities. These mayors will take on leadership and responsibility for long-term investment funds totalling £1.85 billion, making a direct impact on economic growth and tackling deprivation.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support first-time home buyers in the North East.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
I refer the Hon. Member to my answer to Question UIN 200393 on 17 October 2023.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to support life sciences in the North East as part of the North East Devolution Deal.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The new powers and funding agreed through this devolution deal will give the region greater say on how it is run as well as the ability to seize opportunities to innovate and grow. The Health and Life Sciences sector is one of many assets in the North East to be proud of and this deal will bring opportunity to build on that existing sector strength and the excellent work already being done by the likes of the region’s universities, the National Innovation Centre for Ageing and many others, to ensure growth of the sector for the future.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what measures his Department has in place to (a) regulate the carbon footprint of new buildings; and in what way those regulations are monitored and (b) reported on for new builds.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The 2021 Net Zero Strategy set out Government's ambition to help the construction sector improve reporting on embodied carbon in buildings and confirmed we are exploring the potential of maximum embodied carbon levels in new buildings in the future.
We have taken action to reduce the in-use emissions of buildings by introducing an uplift to energy efficiency regulations in 2021 and will shortly consult on the Future Homes and Buildings Standards which will see new homes net zero ready from 2025 onwards, thus requiring no further retrofit work as the electricity grid decarbonises. The energy performance of new buildings can be assessed by viewing the associated Energy Performance Certificates which are publicly available and are produced when the building is completed.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 potential changes in the level of (a) employment and (b) private sector co-investment in R and D projects since the end of European Regional Development Fund support for innovation.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is a successor, and not a replacement, to the former European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund.
Each place was tasked with working with local partners - including businesses and education and innovation providers - to develop an investment plan. Places could choose from a range of interventions, including investment in research and development (R&D). It is for places to decide how they use their allocation for R&D, and this will depend on locally identified priorities.
Each place was also strongly encouraged to consider match funding from the private, public and third sectors and leverage options to maximise fund impact.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 8 June 2023 to Question 187652 on UK Shared Prosperity Fund, whether the expenditure on science, research and development and innovation will be captured through routine reporting.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Further to the answer given to Question UIN 190622 on 26th June 2023, a number of interventions and projects could accommodate activity geared towards R&D and Innovation but would not be exclusively for this purpose.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 15 June 2023 to Question 188909 on Land Registry: Applications, what the average time was for an HM Land Registry Application Enquiry that did not involve a first time registration to be processed in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
HM Land Registry (HMLR) publishes information about its average processing times for each category of application type on GOV.UK here. The information is updated monthly and reflects the average experience based on the previous month's activity.
Applications to register new titles that are created by a transfer or lease of land that is not already registered would be included in the category of applications to register land for the first time.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 15 June 2023 to Question 188909 on Land Registry: Applications, whether the grant of a new title is considered an application to register land for the first time.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
HM Land Registry (HMLR) publishes information about its average processing times for each category of application type on GOV.UK here. The information is updated monthly and reflects the average experience based on the previous month's activity.
Applications to register new titles that are created by a transfer or lease of land that is not already registered would be included in the category of applications to register land for the first time.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 8 June 2023 to Question 187652 on UK Shared Prosperity Fund, if his Department will make an estimate of the proportion of the supporting local businesses pillar that will be spent on science, research and development and innovation.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
As set out in the answer given on 8 June 2023 to Question UIN 187652, allocations are managed locally, but DLUHC will collect spend and performance data captured through routine reporting.