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 assessment he has made of trends in home ownership for people on low incomes in (a) England, (b) the West Midlands, (c) Coventry and (d) Coventry North East constituency over the last five years.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The English Housing Survey is a continuous national survey that reports on housing trends at the national and regional level. Published tables, including the annual Headline reports, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/english-housing-survey.
The English Housing Survey is not designed to provide data at a sub-regional 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 assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the number of households in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England that have fallen into Council Tax arrears.
Answered by Luke Hall
The Department does not collect data on the number of households that have fallen into council tax arrears. The Government has made available a £500 million Hardship Fund to councils in England to provide support to economically vulnerable households, including through further reductions in council tax to recipients of working age local council tax support.
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 estimate he has made of the number of households that have fallen into rent arrears with (a) private landlords and (b) social housing providers as a result of the covid-19 outbreak, in (i) Coventry North East constituency, (ii) Coventry, (iii) the West Midlands and (iv) England; and what steps his Department is taking to protect renters during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has put in place an unprecedented financial package, which is supporting renters with their housing costs. This includes support for businesses to pay staff salaries through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which has been extended until March 2021. We have also boosted the welfare system, including increasing Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit by up to £1,040 for the year and increasing Local Housing Allowance rates so that they cover the lowest 30 per cent of market rents. For those who require additional support, Discretionary Housing Payments are available. As announced at the spending round for 2020/21 there is £180 million for local authorities to distribute in Discretionary Housing Payments for supporting renters with housing costs in the private and social rented sectors.
Under the Coronavirus Act 2020, landlords are required to give tenants 6 months’ notice except in the most serious circumstances such as anti-social behaviour, fraud and arrears of more than 6 months. Housing possession cases were suspended in the courts from 27 March until 20 September. Landlords are now once again able to progress their claims, and the most serious cases are being prioritised by the courts. To further protect tenants, the Government has changed the law to ensure bailiffs do not enforce evictions in England until 11 January 2021, except in the most serious circumstances such as illegal occupation, anti-social behaviour or rent arrears of more than 9 months accrued before 23 March.
The Department does not currently hold information on the number of households within the private and social rented sectors that have fallen into rent arrears in Coventry North East constituency, Coventry, the West Midlands and England as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The Regulator of Social Housing’s quarterly survey report for July to September 2020 (which is based on regulatory returns from private registered providers and private registered provider groups that own or manage more than 1,000 homes) shows that mean current tenant arrears stood at 3.98 per cent at the end of September. The equivalent figure in the same quarter of 2019/20 was 3.71 per cent. This information is for private registered providers in England and does not include local authorities. The report is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/quarterly-survey-of-private-registered-providers
We are carrying out a data collection to gather information on the impact COVID-19 is having on local authority finances. Data from these returns indicate that Housing Revenue Account residential rent arrears for local authorities for April to October 2020 is estimated at £101.265 million.
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, how many new home builds have been (a) started and (b) completed in (i) Coventry North East constituency and (ii) Coventry in each year since 2010.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Estimates of building control reported new build dwelling starts and completions for Coventry in each year to March 2020 are shown in Live Table 253 at the following link.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building
These estimates cover new build dwellings only and should be regarded as a leading indicator of overall housing supply. The Department also publishes an annual release entitled ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’, which is the primary and most comprehensive measure of housing supply
Data by parliamentary constituency are not centrally collected or held by the Department. Coventry Council are best placed to advise on local new build data collection in Coventry.
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, how many and what proportion of households did not have functioning smoke alarms in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Each year MHCLG publishes data on the number and proportion of households in England with a working smoke alarm. Data up to and including 2018-19 are available in Annex Table 2.16 here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/859758/2018-19_Section_2_Housing_Stock_Annex_Tables.xlsx
The English Housing Survey also collects data on the prevalence of working smoke alarms in the West Midlands, see below for each of the last five years:
Households in the West Midlands with at least one working smoke alarm | |||||
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| 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 |
percentage of homes with working smoke alarm West Midlands | 87.9 | 91.7 | 89.4 | 88.6 | 89.8 |
number of homes with working smoke alarm West Midlands (000s) | 2,041 | 2,148 | 2,137 | 2,125 | 2,199 |
The Department does not collect data on the number and proportion of households in Coventry North East constituency or Coventry with or without working smoke alarms.
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, how many social housing units have been built in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The number of new build affordable housing by tenure and year can be found in live table 1009, which is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply .
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, how much funding his Department has allocated to support the delivery new homes in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
This Government is committed to delivering homes where they are most needed. We have delivered over 1.5 million new homes between 2010 and 2019, including over 450,000 affordable homes, and delivered over 241,000 additional homes in the latest year – the highest level in over 30 years. Over the last ten years, approximately £157 million has been spent to support the delivery of new homes in Coventry, while over £2.4 billion has been spent in the West Midlands over the same period. £44 billion of new financial support since 2018 (over 5 years) will deliver 300,000 homes every year by the mid-2020s. Further details on country and regional spend can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/country-and-regional-analysis .
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, how many homes have been built on land that was previously (a) green belt and (b) brownfield in each of the last five years.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The department publishes statistics on the estimated percentages of new residential addresses created on Green Belt land, and those created on previously-developed land.
The most recent available figures are for 2013-14 to 2017-18 and are given in: (a) Live Table P310 for Green Belt land; and (b) Live Table P300 for previously-developed land. These are available on the department’s website at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-land-use-change-statistics.
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, how much funding his Department allocated to Coventry in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Luke Hall
Details of funding allocations provided to Coventry City Council for the past ten years, including through the annual local government finance settlement, can be found on the gov.uk website.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/854428/Core_Spending_Power_Supporting_Information_2020_to_2021.xlsx
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 assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the rate of house building.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The COVID-19 outbreak has had a significant effect on the housing market and the Government has taken unprecedented measures to help those facing challenges. To support housebuilders the Government has taken steps including the Stamp Duty holiday and increasing site opening hours to facilitate activity. In addition we have set out an ambitious package of measures to ensure we build the right homes in the right places and level up opportunities across the country. This package includes, at £12.2 billion,?the highest single funding commitment to affordable housing in a decade;?a once in a generation reform to the planning system, and plans for a £10 billion Single Housing Infrastructure Fund to tackle barriers to housebuilding.
Recent evidence shows housebuilding activity is picking up. For example Knight Frank, the estate agency, highlighted that land market transactions picked up in Q3, with housebuilders returning to the market after many withdrew in Q2. Some have publicly confirmed resilient sales levels and completion rates despite the pandemic, noting an increase in demand over the summer as the market reopened. Similarly the Construction PMI for housebuilding was 62.4 in October, above the 50 no-change mark which indicates that output expanded. Survey respondents highlighted pent up demand and a boost from improving housing market conditions. We continue to monitor the housing market and the effect on it over the pandemic.