Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to protect (a) tenants and (b) homeowners from (i) anti-social behaviour and (ii) noise nuisance problems during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government is committed to tackling and preventing anti-social behaviour (ASB). We know the serious effect that persistent anti-social behaviour can have on both individuals and communities.
That is why we have provided police, local authorities and other local agencies with a range of tools and powers that they can use to respond quickly and effectively to ASB through the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. These powers are unaffected by emergency measures introduced in response to the pandemic and we expect these powers to continue to be used during the period affected by Covid-19.
It is for local areas to decide how best to deploy these powers depending on the specific circumstances, as they are best placed to understand what is driving the behaviour in question, the effect that it is having, and to determine the most appropriate response.
Local councils are responsible for investigating complaints about issues that could be a statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This includes "noise emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance”.
The Government considers that there is sufficient flexibility within the provisions for local authorities to exercise discretion on timing and means of investigation, and therefore do not consider that additional formal measures are necessary during the Covid-19 outbreak.
The Government has introduced a range of measures to protect renters during the pandemic. As part of this, we have ensured that landlords can still continue to take action against anti-social behaviour, to assist tenants and local communities. We have returned notice periods for anti-social behaviour cases to their pre Covid-19 levels, so that these cases can progress quickly to court. The judiciary are also prioritising the most serious cases for action in the courts, including those involving anti-social behaviour. Finally, whilst the Government has put in place legislation to ensure bailiffs do not enforce evictions during this stage of the pandemic, there are exemptions for the most serious circumstances that present the most strain on landlords, including anti-social behaviour.
For homeowners, anti-social behaviour should be reported to the police and/or local authority. If anti-social behaviour takes place within the property of a housing association, complaints may be made to the relevant officials.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions his Department has had with local authorities on the development of brownfield sites for housing in the West Midlands.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
This Government strongly encourages re-using suitable brownfield land for development to meet the country's housing need and level up communities. We are committed to making the most of brownfield land as set out in the National Planning Policy Framework.
We are providing nearly £20 billion to underpin our long-term housing strategy, and in the West Midlands, we are specifically supporting housing growth through an ambitious devolution deal, a Land Fund of up to £100 million and £108 million through our £400 million Brownfield Fund.
We continue to engage with the West Midlands to make sure plans are in place to drive the housing and economic recovery the region needs.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the mental health implications for (a) tenants and (b) homeowners who are experiencing severe (i) anti-social behaviour and (ii) noise nuisance problems from their neighbours.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government recognises the debilitating effect that anti-social behaviour has on individual victims and wider communities, particularly those suffering from mental health issues.
We remain committed to supporting everyone’s mental health, and our ambitions in the NHS Long Term Plan to expand and transform mental health services in England that mean we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year in mental health services by 2023/24. This will see an additional 345,000 children and young people, and 370,000 adults, benefitting from specialist mental health care if they need it.
In November we published The Charter for Social Housing Residents Social Housing White Paper which sets out measures to clarify the roles and responsibilities of agencies involved in tackling anti-social behaviour and support the resolution of issues for residents.
The White Paper also sets out that we will establish a review of professional training and development to consider the appropriate qualifications and standards for social housing staff. The review will include consideration of best practice for delivering support on mental health to ensure staff have the appropriate skills and knowledge.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) financial and (b) other steps his Department is taking to support high streets in Coventry during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Luke Hall
Up to 18 December 2020, Coventry City Council has received £5,477,193 of funding for the Local Restrictions Support Grants (LRSG) (Closed and Open) and the Christmas Support Payment, and £7,430,420 under the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG).
As at 18 January 2021, Coventry reported payments to local business under the LRSG (Open and Closed) and the Christmas Support Payment to a value of £2,216,236 and under the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) of £4,957,060.
Coventry City Council have also been allocated £335,000 through the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund (RHSSF) to support the recovery of their high streets and city centre.
More widely, the Levelling Up Fund will directly support communities across the UK. It will make available up to £4.8 billion over four years from 2021-22 to 2024-25. The Fund will invest in local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities - including regenerating town centres and high streets, investing in local transport schemes, and upgrading local culture and heritage assets. The prospectus published at Budget sets out how local areas can access the first round of funding.
Government is also providing support to local leadership through the High Streets Task Force, giving places expert advice to support their high streets and town centres to adapt and thrive. Coventry has been able to benefit from this as one of the pilot areas that have been leading the way in benefiting from expert and tailored support from the High Streets Task Force, before this offer is rolled out across the country later this year.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to provide (a) financial and (b) other support to Coventry Local Authority during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Luke Hall
The Government has allocated over £8 billion directly to councils since the start of the pandemic
In addition, local authorities are expected to receive over £3 billion of support in 2021-22, for both additional expenditure pressures and loss of income
This takes the total support committed to councils in England to tackle the impacts of COVID-19 to over £11 billion. This includes an additional £1.55 billion of grant funding to meet additional service pressures, £670 million of new grant funding to enable them to continue reducing council tax bills for more than 4 million vulnerable households, and an estimated £800 million to compensate local authorities for 75% per cent of irrecoverable losses of council tax and business rates revenues this year
Coventry City Council received over £54 million in additional funding in 2020/21, and will receive at least an additional £11 million in unringfenced funding in 2021/22
Next year, Core Spending Power in England will rise by up to 4.6% in cash terms, from £49.0 billion in 2020-21 to up to £51.3 billion in 2021-22. This real terms increase builds on the largest year on year increase in spending power in a decade last year, and recognises the resources councils need to meet their pressures and maintain critical services. For Coventry City Council, this corresponds to an increase of over £13 million, or 5.1%
We continue to keep the financial position of councils under close review, and have been clear that we will stand behind councils and ensure they have the resources to play their part in the COVID response
We would ask that any local authority that is faced with an unmanageable pressure or is concerned about its future financial position should approach MHCLG for discussion.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to increase the supply of new homes in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Approximately £157 million has been spent to support the delivery of new homes in Coventry over the last 10 years, including in excess of £16 million of funding through the Affordable Homes Programme to deliver over 500 new homes.
This Government, through a range of funding and interventions, continues to make provisions to increase the supply of new homes in Coventry. Homes England are supporting the Eastern Green development in Coventry which will unlock two parcels of land with the capacity to unlock over 2,000 homes, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) converting commercial properties to provide new homes for first time buyers and key workers in Coventry city centre, and the Agency currently has a planning application with Coventry City Council which includes the site at Whitley Pumping Station which could provide up to 200 new homes. It should be noted that data is not held at constituency level.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support homeownership in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
First Homes, our new home ownership scheme, will be prioritised for first-time buyers and will allow them to buy a new home with a discount of at least 30 per cent under market value. In some areas, the discounts could be as high as 50 per cent. This will significantly reduce both deposit and mortgage requirements and open up the dream of home ownership to even more people.
Our new Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme from April 2021 to March 2023 will be targeted at helping first-time buyers to get a foot on the property ladder. In Coventry local authority area, 2,032 households have purchased through Help to Buy: Equity Loan, of which 1,821 have been first-time buyers
As set out in the Conservative manifesto of December 2019, the Government will encourage a market in long-term fixed rate mortgages with low deposits to promote home ownership. We stand ready to work with the sector to explore the possible options to bring these products to market.
The Government is committed to supporting the supply of new homes, delivering around 244,000 last year, the highest in over 30 years.
We are bringing forward an ambitious nearly £20 billion investment, including over £12 billion in Affordable Housing over 5 years, and over £7 billion to both unlock new land through the provision of infrastructure and also diversify the market through our National Home Building Fund. Alongside our reforms to the planning system, this will deliver the new homes the country needs.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support first-time homebuyers in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
First Homes, our new home ownership scheme, will be prioritised for first-time buyers and will allow them to buy a new home with a discount of at least 30 per cent under market value. In some areas, the discounts could be as high as 50 per cent. This will significantly reduce both deposit and mortgage requirements and open up the dream of home ownership to even more people.
Our new Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme from April 2021 to March 2023 will be targeted at helping first-time buyers to get a foot on the property ladder. In Coventry local authority area, 2,032 households have purchased through Help to Buy: Equity Loan, of which 1,821 have been first-time buyers
As set out in the Conservative manifesto of December 2019, the Government will encourage a market in long-term fixed rate mortgages with low deposits to promote home ownership. We stand ready to work with the sector to explore the possible options to bring these products to market.
The Government is committed to supporting the supply of new homes, delivering around 244,000 last year, the highest in over 30 years.
We are bringing forward an ambitious nearly £20 billion investment, including over £12 billion in Affordable Housing over 5 years, and over £7 billion to both unlock new land through the provision of infrastructure and also diversify the market through our National Home Building Fund. Alongside our reforms to the planning system, this will deliver the new homes the country needs.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the total available spend was of each local authority in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Luke Hall
The Government publishes Core Spending Power (CSP) as a measure of the resources available to local authorities to fund service delivery.
This year’s Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS), including a breakdown of CSP for each local authority going back to 2015/16 can be found in the supporting information document here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/core-spending-power-final-local-government-finance-settlement-2021-to-2022
We are committed to putting funding where there is relative need, irrespective of the location. For 2021/22, councils in the most deprived areas of the country (the upper decile of the Index of Multiple Deprivation) receive 16 per cent more in CSP than the least deprived areas.
Core Spending Power was introduced in 2015. Comparisons before that date do not apply, because the system of local government finance changed, councils’ responsibilities changed and because grants have been incorporated into the annual Settlement over time.
CSP shows the funding provided through the Settlement, but councils will have access to a number of other grants provided by Government departments as well as other sources of income not in CSP such as from Sales, Fees, and Charges and commercial income.
Please find relevant links to previous LGFSs below:
Year | Link |
2014/15 | |
2013/14 | |
2012/13 | |
2011/12 |
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to reduce the number of homeless rough sleepers in (a) Coventry and (b) England in (i) each of the last 10 years and (ii) during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
This Government has taken unprecedented steps to protect rough sleepers during the pandemic. This work has not stopped, and through Everyone In, by November 2020 we had supported around 33,000 people with nearly 10,000 in emergency accommodation and over 23,000 already moved on into longer-term accommodation.
This additional support builds on the package of winter support announced last year. This includes a £10 million Cold Weather Fund for all local authorities to bring forward COVID-secure accommodation this winter and to keep vulnerable people safe. This sits alongside the Protect programme, which provides targeted support to local authorities with higher numbers of rough sleepers to meet the specific challenges they face.
We have also been in close contact with councils to develop plans for the coming months, supported by the Next Steps Accommodation Programme, which aims to ensure that as few people as possible return to the streets. This includes bringing forward more than 3,000 new homes this year for rough sleepers, backed by £150 million,.
Given the new variant of COVID-19, and the latest national lockdown, we are redoubling our efforts to ensure that people who sleep rough are kept as safe as possible and that we do everything we can to protect the NHS. This is backed by £10 million to protect rough sleepers and ensure their wider health needs are addressed.
We have asked all local authorities to ensure that even more rough sleepers are safely accommodated and will be asking that this opportunity is actively used to make sure that all rough sleepers are registered with a GP where they are not already and are factored into local area vaccination plans, in line with JCVI prioritisation for COVID vaccinations. This will help ensure that the wider health needs of people who sleep rough are addressed, supporting them now and for the future.
Coventry has received £1,354,795 to support rough sleepers including those accommodated during the pandemic during cold weather. This includes funding from the Rough Sleeping Initiative, funding for interim support and accommodation for those supported during the pandemic and cold weather funding.
Coventry also received £1,039,542 for wider homelessness work, with £300,987 Homelessness Reduction Grant and £738,555 Flexible Homelessness Support Grant allocated to fund homelessness services.
In 2020/21, Coventry received £2,307,543 Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme (RSAP) funding to provide an additional 32 units of long-term accommodation for rough sleepers and those at risk of rough sleeping. Coventry were also part of a partnership bid submitted by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to provide a further 25 units of long-term accommodation of which 5 will be delivered in Coventry.
WMCA are also part of our Housing First pilots and the funding allocation across the combined authority is up to £9.6 million over three years between 2018/19 to 2021/22.