Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many local planning authorities have not yet (a) agreed and (b) adopted a local plan.
Answered by Lord Barwell
As of 30 November 2016, 37 (11%) of 338 local planning authorities had not published a local plan since 2004 and 90(27%) were yet to adopt one.
We expect all authorities to have a plan in place and to keep their plan up to date. We have put that requirement beyond doubt by legislating for it in the Neighbourhood Planning Bill. Information provided to my department from local planning authorities and the Planning Inspectorate indicates that by the end of 2017, one authority may not have published a plan and 66 may not have adopted a local plan.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support the construction industry in delivering more modern and high-quality prefabricated housing units.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Government wants a housing market where all firms embrace innovation to become more productive and deliver a better product to the consumer. Using modern methods of construction (MMC) has the potential to get homes built faster and to higher quality standards.
We are encouraging MMC through our housing and planning programmes including Affordable Homes 2016-21, Build to Rent and Housing Zones, and through our National Planning Practice Guidance.
We are also providing funding. In October, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government launched the Home Building Fund, which aims to provide further support to builders using MMC, in addition to custom builders, small and medium-sized builders, and new entrants to the market. Full details are published at www.gov.uk/homebuildingfund
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support first-time home buyers in Yorkshire and the Humber.
Answered by Lord Barwell
Help to Buy: Equity Loan is available across England, offering an equity loan of up to 20% and enabling people to buy a home with a deposit as low as 5%. From scheme outset in April 2013 to end June 2016, over 91,000 households across England purchased a home through the scheme, of which 81% were first-time buyers. In Yorkshire and the Humber, 8,921 households have purchased a home through the scheme, to end June 2016. In the 2016 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor confirmed continued support for home ownership through the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme.
Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee has been available across the United Kingdom since October 2013 and is due to close to new loans at the end of December 2016. It enables people to purchase a home with an 80-95% mortgage. Across the United Kingdom, over 86,000 households have purchased a home through the scheme to end June 2016, with 79% of sales to first-time buyers. In Yorkshire and the Humber, 8,177 households have purchased a home through the scheme, to end June 2016.
Help to Buy: ISA is available across the United Kingdom and enables people to save toward their first home. The government offers a 25% bonus on savings, up to a maximum of £3,000 bonus. Over 15,000 Help to Buy: ISA bonuses have been claimed to the end of June 2016, which has supported more than 11,000 home purchases. To end June 2016, the scheme has supported 1,210 households in Yorkshire and the Humber in buying their own home.
We are spending £9.4 billion to deliver over 400,000 affordable housing starts across England by 2021 (2020-21). We published the prospectus for the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes 2016-21 programme on 13 April and bidding closed on 2 September. The Homes and Communities Agency is currently assessing bids before we announce allocations in December. Assessments are being made on the basis of the criteria set out in the national prospectus rather than any pre-set regional allocations. More detail on the bidding process for new bids through continuous market engagement will be published shortly.
We are committed to building starter homes with a minimum 20% discount for first time buyers between the ages of 23 and 40 to help them into home ownership. We will set out our future plans in the forthcoming Housing White Paper. The Homes and Communities Agency is working with Councils in Yorkshire and the Humber to identify specific sites that could be brought forward for starter homes as part of our £1.2 billion fund to bring forward starter homes on brownfield land.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many small businesses in (a) Calderdale and (b) West Yorkshire have claimed small business rate relief in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Local authority estimates held by the department show that as of 31 December 2014, 3,542 properties were in receipt of small business rate relief in Calderdale. In West Yorkshire, 30,830 properties were in receipt of small business rate relief at the same date. West Yorkshire is comprised of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield, based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, level 2 definition.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the annual cost to local authorities of translating documents into different languages and employing interpreters.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Information on the costs incurred by local authorities in relation to translating documents and employing interpreters is not collected by the Department.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department issues to local authorities on reviewing the cost of democratic arrangements to ensure that they promote good governance and provide value for money.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Local Government Transparency Code 2015 requires councils to publish information about how they use their assets, spend money and make decisions. This increases local democratic accountability and makes it easier for local people to contribute to local decision making. Additionally, local authorities are required, through Section 3 of the Local Government Act 1999, to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in how their functions are exercised, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department issues to local authorities on budget setting processes to ensure (a) value for money for residents and (b) the delivery of core frontline services.
Answered by Marcus Jones
All local authorities are required by law to set a balanced budget each year, and to appoint an officer who has responsibility to report on the reasonableness of assumptions underpinning each budget. Local authority functions are set out in numerous Acts of Parliament and many of these functions have associated legal duties. Local authorities are democratically elected organisations, and as such are responsible for decisions on how to achieve value for money in line with local circumstances and priorities.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support current and ex-service personnel to find a home.
Answered by Lord Barwell
We are determined to ensure that current and former members of the Armed Forces gain the housing they deserve, recognising the sacrifices they have made for the country in line with the commitment of the Covenant.
We therefore changed the law by regulation in 2012 to ensure that seriously injured serving personnel and former members of the Armed Forces with urgent housing needs are always given ‘additional preference’ (high priority) for social housing; and councils are prevented from applying local connection requirements to disqualify members of the Armed Forces and those within 5 years of leaving the Services from their waiting list.
Our 2012 statutory social allocations guidance goes further and sets out how councils’ allocation schemes can give priority to all Service families, including through the use of local preference criteria and local lettings policies.
We also introduced measures to make it easier for those with aspirations of home ownership to own their own home. This includes giving former Service personnel and their surviving partners priority for government funded shared ownership schemes for 12 months after service which has now been extended to 24 months. They are also able to access Government-funded home ownership schemes including Help to Buy.
We are also removing the age restriction for eligibility for starter homes which allows homes to be sold at a 20% discount to market value for eligible first time buyers, for injured military services personnel and bereaved spouses.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the ability of local authorities to support business growth and economic development within their areas ahead of them fully retaining business rates.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Government is committed to reforming the local government finance system to make local authorities more self-sufficient, including by allowing them to retain locally-raised business rates. This will ensure that authorities benefit from business rates growth providing them with an important incentive to support and develop their local economies. The reforms including the nature of the incentives to boost growth are subject to an ongoing consultation.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much central government funding has been provided to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority in each year since the combined authority was established.
Answered by Andrew Percy
The funding shown below has been provided directly by the government to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority since it was established on 1 st April 2014.
Combined Authority | Financial year | Overall total (£m) |
West Yorkshire Combined Authority | 2014/15 | 72.3 |
2015/16 | 120.0 | |
2016/17 | 182.6 |