Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on the English Devolution and Local Recovery White Paper.
Answered by Luke Hall
Levelling up all areas of the country remains at the centre of Government’s agenda. Later this year we will publish a Levelling Up White Paper setting out how bold new policy interventions will improve livelihoods across the country as we recover from the pandemic. Our plans for strengthening local leadership will now be included in the Levelling Up White Paper.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support he is providing to each local authority in Sheffield City Region as part of the Government’s levelling-up agenda.
Answered by Luke Hall
Levelling up all areas of the country remains at the centre of the Government’s agenda. Mayoral devolution has strengthened local leadership and institutions, devolving key powers over transport, planning, skills and funding away from Whitehall so that they are exercised at the right level to make a difference for local communities.
Through an ambitious programme of 9 devolution deals, £7.49 billon worth of investment funding is being unlocked over 30 years to the directly elected combined authority mayors, empowering mayors to level up their local areas.
The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, including regenerating town centres and high streets, upgrading local transport, and investing in cultural and heritage assets.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support he is providing to each Mayoral Combined Authority as part of the Government’s levelling-up agenda.
Answered by Luke Hall
Levelling up all areas of the country remains at the centre of the Government’s agenda. Mayoral devolution has strengthened local leadership and institutions, devolving key powers over transport, planning, skills and funding away from Whitehall so that they are exercised at the right level to make a difference for local communities.
Through an ambitious programme of 9 devolution deals, £7.49 billon worth of investment funding is being unlocked over 30 years to the directly elected combined authority mayors, empowering mayors to level up their local areas.
The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, including regenerating town centres and high streets, upgrading local transport, and investing in cultural and heritage assets.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if his Department will provide support to Help to Buy scheme customers of Target Housing who have been provided with incorrect templates by that organisation when seeking to apply for a (a) deed of postponement and (b) deed of release.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Homes England have standard templates for Deed of Release (DOR) and Deed of Postponement (DOP). These are based on Land Registry requirements and incorporate relevant Homes England clauses and protections that relate to the equity loan. These are standard forms and ensure consistency and protection of public funds by being in a standard acceptable form.
Target Servicing Limited (Target), who administer the equity loan on behalf of Homes England, are provided these templates in the form of a Solicitors’ Pack. Target issues the Solicitors’ Pack to the customers’ conveyancing solicitor and this provides clear guidance about how to complete the appropriate template and how to follow the equity loan process.
This is a standard pack provided to every customer’s solicitor for the purposes of carrying out a DOP or DOR and each template ensures Homes England has the information required to complete an application. Lenders may attempt to introduce alternative templates that cannot be accepted as these deviate from Homes England standard policy and practice. In these circumstances, Target, working with the solicitor, request the correct Homes England template to be completed so the transaction can advance. It is important to stress that UK Finance were engaged in respect of Homes England’s standard template of Deed of Postponement and lenders are aware of Homes England’s requirements
Where customers are dissatisfied with the service they receive from Target, they can raise a complaint directly with them. If customers are not happy with the resolution, complaints can be escalated to Homes England customer complaints team as per the complaints policy.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
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 potential effect of not including (a) Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and (b) Sheffield City Council in the priority category 1 of the Levelling Up Fund on the economy of each of those areas.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
As set out in the prospectus published at Budget, the index used for the Levelling Up Fund places areas into category one, two or three based on the local area’s need for economic recovery and growth, improved transport connectivity, and regeneration. We will shortly publish further detail on the methodology used to calculate the index.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
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 publish the methodology used to calculate the local authority priority categories for the Levelling Up Fund.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
As set out in the prospectus published at Budget, the index used for the Levelling Up Fund places areas into category one, two or three based on the local area’s need for economic recovery and growth, improved transport connectivity, and regeneration. We will shortly publish further detail on the methodology used to calculate the index.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
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 publish details of the method used by his Department to select the successful areas for the (a) Towns Fund and (b) UK Community Renewal Fund.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
In selecting towns for the Towns Fund, Ministers considered levels of deprivation alongside other factors including skills, employment levels and exposure to economic shocks. The Government has published details of the selection process here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/towns-fund-selection-summary-of-accounting-officer-advice/towns-fund-selection-process-summary-of-accounting-officer-ao-advice
With regards to the UK Community Renewal Fund, as set out in the prospectus published on 3 March, we have identified 100 priority places based on an index of economic resilience across Great Britain which measures productivity, household income, unemployment, skills and population density. We are committed to transparency and a methodological note will be published explaining how the index of economic resilience was developed.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
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 effectiveness of support available for customers using the Help to Buy Scheme when seeking to apply for a (a) deed of postponement and (b) deed of release.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Equity Loan Administrator supports the customer through the application process, and the customer’s conveyancer also explains the legal nature of the transaction and supports the customer through the legal process. Homes England measures the effectiveness of the administrator via the contract management process, which includes performance packs, key performance indicators and meetings. In addition, customer satisfaction is assessed through the customer complaints data, to examine the cause of any problems, and information is collected by an external agency which gathers real time customer feedback about their experiences.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to enable the extension of virtual participation for (a) local authorities and (b) mayoral combined authorities beyond the current cut-off date.
Answered by Luke Hall
The Government keeps all policy under review. To extend the facility for all local authorities to continue to meet remotely or in hybrid form after 7 May 2021 would require primary legislation. We have received representations from local authorities and sector representative organisations making the case for the continuation of remote meetings beyond 7 May 2021 and we are carefully considering next steps in this area, including representations to facilitate remote or hybrid meetings permanently.