Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps the Government will take to ensure that local authorities are adequately supported to deliver policies proposed in the forthcoming levelling up White Paper.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
Core Spending Power for local government is expected to rise from £50.4 billion in 2021-22 to up to £53.9 billion in 2022-23. The forthcoming Levelling Up White Paper will set out our plans for strengthening accountable local leadership. This is alongside recent investments including the Levelling Up Fund, UK Community Renewal Fund and Towns Fund where Government is working closely with councils right across the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the open letter from the Association of Electoral Administrators and Society of Local Authority of Chief Executives, what steps his Department plans to take to help ensure that the proposed shortening of the UK general election timetable will not lead to voter disenfranchisement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
There are no provisions in the Elections Bill or in the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill on this matter.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of living in buildings with dangerous cladding on the mental health of residents.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
MHCLG has regular engagement with leaseholder groups and recognises the effect on residents living in high-rise buildings with unsafe cladding. That is why the Government is investing over £5 billion to remediate high rise residential buildings with unsafe cladding.
Mental health is one of the Government’s top priorities and we are working across Government to ensure that all people, regardless of their residential situation, get the help and support they need. Where residents of buildings fitted with flammable cladding need mental health support, they should make contact with their GP to discuss these issues so they may be referred to mental health services as appropriate. In addition, we are working with the NHS, Public Health England and MIND, to develop resources signposting all residents to key services to help those concerned about their mental health and financial situation.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will set out a deadline by which all unsafe cladding in all buildings must be replaced.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government acknowledges that remediation of unsafe cladding is complex, and must be done properly so that it makes buildings and residents safe. However, we still expect remedial works to progress at pace and for building owners to take their responsibilities for making their buildings safe seriously. It is our expectation that building owners will have completed ACM remedial works on all high-rise residential buildings by the end of 2021. The Government has announced new measures that will protect leaseholders who have been affected by unsafe cladding, including a further £3.5 billion for remediation of unsafe cladding on buildings of 18m and above. With the £1.6 billion we had already committed, this now represents an unprecedented over £5 billion investment in building safety through which the Government will fund the cost of replacing unsafe cladding for leaseholders in residential buildings of 18 metres and over in England.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to include provisions in the forthcoming Building Safety Bill to guarantee that remedial costs arising from the replacement of dangerous cladding in all buildings, regardless of height, will not be passed on to leaseholders.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has repeatedly said that building owners should step up and not pass these costs on to leaseholders. Where developers or building owners have been unable or unwilling to do so, the Government has stepped in, providing £1.6 billion for the removal of unsafe cladding on buildings of 18 metres and above. With the further £3.5 billion of grant funding recently announced, this will bring the amount provided to an unprecedented over £5 billion.
Buildings below 18 metres will not carry the same inherent risks as a building above 18 metres, however we do understand that some will need cladding remediation. We understand that many leaseholders in blocks below 18 metres are concerned about the cost of remediation, and we want to make sure the residents and leaseholders in these buildings have peace of mind and financial certainty.
To this end, we are establishing a generous financing scheme to ensure cladding removal can take place where required on buildings between 11 and 18 metres. The most a leaseholder will now have to pay towards remediating unsafe cladding is £50 per month.
The Building Safety Bill’s provisions will put the management of risk front and centre for buildings of 18 metres and above, and it is important that remediation is addressed using its proactive mechanisms for managing fire and structural safety risks, such as the Safety Case - which does have scope to look at historic defects. Remediation and costs to leaseholders should be dealt with in this context rather than within the Fire Safety Bill, to ensure legislation is coherent with the wider aims and scope of the new regime.
The new building safety regime will systematically address historical structural defects to buildings of 18 metres and above by requiring safety case reviews and reasonable improvements.