Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of incorporating the agent of change principle in future legislative proposals on planning issues.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government is supportive of ensuring that existing facilities, including music venues, do not have unreasonable restrictions put on them because of changes in their area due to new developments. That is why the National Planning Policy Framework includes the 'agent of change' principle. This sets out that planning policies and decisions should ensure that new development can be integrated effectively with existing business and community facilities. This policy includes a specific mention of music venues.
The Government continues to engage with the sector on how local music and cultural venues can be protected through our wider reforms to planning policy.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a statutory right of comment for grassroots music venues on planning applications.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government is supportive of ensuring that existing facilities, including music venues, do not have unreasonable restrictions put on them because of changes in their area due to new developments. That is why the National Planning Policy Framework includes the 'agent of change' principle. This sets out that planning policies and decisions should ensure that new development can be integrated effectively with existing business and community facilities. This policy includes a specific mention of music venues.
The Government continues to engage with the sector on how local music and cultural venues can be protected through our wider reforms to planning policy.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of passport applications that will need to be submitted between 15 March 2023 and the end of the year; how many applications there were in the same period last year; and whether she plans to amend staffing arrangements to meet the service delivery targets in place.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
With approximately 5 million people having delayed their passport application due to the restrictions upon international travel caused by COVID-19, the elevated demand for passports will continue throughout 2023.
HM Passport Office has processed more than two million applications across January and February, with over 99.5% of standard UK applications being processed within ten weeks and 95.5% being processed within three weeks.
Given the exceptional cause of this demand, the exact volumes and profile of when this will arrive is less predictable than in a normal year. The current expectations are that demand will be within 6.1 million and 7.1 million between the weeks ending 19 March 2023 to 31 December 2023. Between 15 March 2022 and 31 December 2022, HM Passport Office received 6,484,414 passport applications.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what process her Department follows when an enquiry received through the HM Passport Office line for hon. Members is passed to the escalation team.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
When a passport-related enquiry is received via the MP Hotline to escalate an application, where possible, HM Passport Office will prioritise the case in line with its policies.
The customer’s details will be added to an escalations log, pending the receipt of the evidence required. Once received, the information is urgently passed onto the team that specialise in these cases to liaise directly with the customer if necessary and issue the passport once all checks have been satisfactorily completed.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the savings in benefits payments that will be made because of the restriction on social housing rents increasing by the lower rate of seven per cent in the next financial year.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Details of the DWPs estimated expenditure were published at Autumn Statement 2022 and can be found here.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on the (a) number of timber fire doors and (b) size of the timber fire door manufacturing sector; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department welcomes the views of industry on all the measures proposed in our December 2022 consultation, including on testing capacity and transition periods for the proposed changes. In this consultation we are proposing to remove the national classification from Approved Document B and utilise the more robust and up to date internationally recognised standard. During the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the use of the national classification system came under scrutiny, and flaws in its use were presented in the oral expert evidence. The BS 476 series standards have not been reviewed by the British Standards Institution in detail for some time (over 20 years on average). In addition, in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower and following an investigation by the Department several issues were highlighted with the consistency of fire resistance performance of some fire doors.
Upon completion of the public consultation, and subsequent analysis of the responses, the department will publish, alongside the government response, a full regulatory impact assessment which will include a detailed assessment of the impacts of the changes to the guidance. This assessment will be informed by the responses to the consultation and the evidence provided.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what additional support his Department plans to make available to timber fire door manufacturers to ensure a smooth transition from the national fire door testing standard BS476 to the proposed new standard EN1634-1; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department welcomes the views of industry on all the measures proposed in our December 2022 consultation, including on testing capacity and transition periods for the proposed changes. In this consultation we are proposing to remove the national classification from Approved Document B and utilise the more robust and up to date internationally recognised standard. During the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the use of the national classification system came under scrutiny, and flaws in its use were presented in the oral expert evidence. The BS 476 series standards have not been reviewed by the British Standards Institution in detail for some time (over 20 years on average). In addition, in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower and following an investigation by the Department several issues were highlighted with the consistency of fire resistance performance of some fire doors.
Upon completion of the public consultation, and subsequent analysis of the responses, the department will publish, alongside the government response, a full regulatory impact assessment which will include a detailed assessment of the impacts of the changes to the guidance. This assessment will be informed by the responses to the consultation and the evidence provided.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had discussions with the timber fire door manufacturing sector on his Department's proposals to remove the national classification BS476 for fire door resistance from Approved Document B; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department welcomes the views of industry on all the measures proposed in our December 2022 consultation, including on testing capacity and transition periods for the proposed changes. In this consultation we are proposing to remove the national classification from Approved Document B and utilise the more robust and up to date internationally recognised standard. During the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the use of the national classification system came under scrutiny, and flaws in its use were presented in the oral expert evidence. The BS 476 series standards have not been reviewed by the British Standards Institution in detail for some time (over 20 years on average). In addition, in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower and following an investigation by the Department several issues were highlighted with the consistency of fire resistance performance of some fire doors.
Upon completion of the public consultation, and subsequent analysis of the responses, the department will publish, alongside the government response, a full regulatory impact assessment which will include a detailed assessment of the impacts of the changes to the guidance. This assessment will be informed by the responses to the consultation and the evidence provided.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to his Department's consultation document Sprinklers in care homes, removal of national classes, and staircases in residential buildings published on 23 December 2022, what evidence supports proposals to remove the national BS476 classification for fire door resistance from Approved Document B; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department welcomes the views of industry on all the measures proposed in our December 2022 consultation, including on testing capacity and transition periods for the proposed changes. In this consultation we are proposing to remove the national classification from Approved Document B and utilise the more robust and up to date internationally recognised standard. During the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the use of the national classification system came under scrutiny, and flaws in its use were presented in the oral expert evidence. The BS 476 series standards have not been reviewed by the British Standards Institution in detail for some time (over 20 years on average). In addition, in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower and following an investigation by the Department several issues were highlighted with the consistency of fire resistance performance of some fire doors.
Upon completion of the public consultation, and subsequent analysis of the responses, the department will publish, alongside the government response, a full regulatory impact assessment which will include a detailed assessment of the impacts of the changes to the guidance. This assessment will be informed by the responses to the consultation and the evidence provided.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the impact on the (a) productivity of and (b) costs to timber fire door manufacturers of the proposed 12-month transition period for moving from the current national fire door testing standard BS476 to the proposed new standard EN1634-1; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department welcomes the views of industry on all the measures proposed in our December 2022 consultation, including on testing capacity and transition periods for the proposed changes. In this consultation we are proposing to remove the national classification from Approved Document B and utilise the more robust and up to date internationally recognised standard. During the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the use of the national classification system came under scrutiny, and flaws in its use were presented in the oral expert evidence. The BS 476 series standards have not been reviewed by the British Standards Institution in detail for some time (over 20 years on average). In addition, in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower and following an investigation by the Department several issues were highlighted with the consistency of fire resistance performance of some fire doors.
Upon completion of the public consultation, and subsequent analysis of the responses, the department will publish, alongside the government response, a full regulatory impact assessment which will include a detailed assessment of the impacts of the changes to the guidance. This assessment will be informed by the responses to the consultation and the evidence provided.