Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will place information in the Library relating to the Government's assessment of Shropshire Council's unsuccessful Levelling Up Fund bid.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund invests in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK.
All applications to the Fund’s first round were fairly and robustly assessed against the criteria published in the Levelling Up Fund Prospectus and Technical Note. An explanatory note on decision-making was published on the same day as successful round 1 bids were announced.
My officials arranged a meeting with Shropshire Council on 6 December 2021, to provide feedback on the strengths of the bids and areas we felt they could be improved. I hope the Council found this meeting helpful to support potential applications into future funding rounds.
Further funding opportunities will be available to places such as Shropshire through the second round of the Fund, which will open in Spring 2022.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what Government funding is available to support local authorities and other agencies in (a) assisting and (b) providing housing for homeless people.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to ending rough sleeping within this Parliament and we are spending more than £800 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in 2021/22 alone
This includes £375 million through the Homelessness Prevention Grant to help local authorities to prevent homelessness and provide temporary accommodation, which represents a £112 million increase on the previous year's funding. This includes an exceptional £65 million provided to local authorities to help vulnerable households with rent arrears, reducing the risk of them being evicted and becoming homeless.
The Rough Sleeping Initiative has provided over £390 million to local authorities since 2018, to reduce the levels of rough sleeping across England. In 2021/22 the Government has provided over £202 million, which is a more than 80% increase from the £112 million provided last year and will provide up to 14,500 bed spaces and 2,700 support staff across England. The Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme , backed by £435 million, will provide 6,000 move-on homes and accompanying support services to those who are rough sleeping or who have a history of sleeping rough, by 2024.
To build on this progress the Government has committed over £2 billion to tackling homelessness and rough sleeping over the next 3 years, with multi-year funding enabling local partners to better plan services.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what Government funding is available to support local authorities and other agencies in preventing anti-social behaviour.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The police, local authorities and other local agencies have a range of flexible tools and powers that they can use to respond quickly and effectively to antisocial behaviour through the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. Last year the Beating Crime Plan laid out the Government's plan for tackling crime and ASB and committed to working with local agencies and partners to drive down ASB using the full range of powers and tools in the Act. It is for local areas to decide how best to deploy these powers depending on the specific circumstances.
The Safer Streets Fund has now allocated £70 million through three funds, the main purpose of which is to reduce neighbourhood and acquisitive crimes, but many of the projects will also help to improve public safety and tackle antisocial behaviour.
Local authorities are best placed to know the priorities in their own areas and have discretion to target funding according to local need.
The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022-23 makes available an additional £3.5 billion to councils, including funding for adult social care reform. This is an increase in local authority funding for 2022-23 of over 4% in real terms, which will ensure councils across the country have the resources they need to deliver key services. In total, we expect Core Spending Power to rise from £50.4 billion in 2021-22 to up to £53.9 billion in 2022-23.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what Government funding is available to support local authorities in providing joined up services to support rough sleepers.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government has committed to spending over £2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the next 3 years, with multi-year funding enabling local authorities and their partners to with work together to better plan services and maximise efficiencies.
This includes the Rough Sleeping Initiative which provided an investment of £202 million this year to local authorities to enable them to collaborate and creatively work with their various partners to provide services to support people off the street and move people on from emergency accommodation. There is also the £435 million Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme which provides funding to local authorities and their partners to deliver 6,000 move-on homes and accompanying support services to those who are rough sleeping or who have a history of sleeping rough.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to ensure the effectiveness of Shropshire's access to future rounds of levelling up funding.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Government is committed to levelling up all areas of the UK. Telford in Shropshire is one of 101 towns with which we have agreed a Town Deal - worth £22.3 million, which included revenue funding for project development and delivery. We expect to launch the next round of the Levelling Up Fund this Spring and further details of that, and the forthcoming UK Shared Prosperity Fund, will be announced soon. The Marches received £14 million in funding through the Getting Building Fund, this included £5 million to remodel Pride Hill shopping centre in Shrewsbury. We expect to launch the next round of the Levelling Up Fund this Spring and further details of that, and the forthcoming UK Shared Prosperity Fund, will be announced soon.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans his Department has to provide levelling up funds in the form of revenue to counties such as Shropshire.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Government is committed to levelling up all areas of the UK. Telford in Shropshire is one of 101 towns with which we have agreed a Town Deal - worth £22.3 million, which included revenue funding for project development and delivery. We expect to launch the next round of the Levelling Up Fund this Spring and further details of that, and the forthcoming UK Shared Prosperity Fund, will be announced soon. The Marches received £14 million in funding through the Getting Building Fund, this included £5 million to remodel Pride Hill shopping centre in Shrewsbury. We expect to launch the next round of the Levelling Up Fund this Spring and further details of that, and the forthcoming UK Shared Prosperity Fund, will be announced soon.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make it his policy to announce a three year funding settlement to support the effectiveness of local authorities' ability to plan.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises how important multi-year certainty is to local authorities, and we aim to provide that whenever possible. The settlement for 2022-23 provides the resources and stability councils need, following the impact of pandemic.
The Government is committed to ensuring that funding allocations for councils are based on an up-to-date assessment of their needs and resources. Over the coming months, we will therefore work closely with the sector and other stakeholders and look at the challenges and opportunities facing the sector before consulting on any potential changes.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking through the Fair Funding Review to address structural deficits in Shropshire Council's funding for services.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government is committed to ensuring that funding allocations for councils are based on an up-to-date assessment of their needs and resources, including Shropshire Council.
We understand councils want clarity on local government funding reform. For this reason, we committed at the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement in December to work closely with our stakeholders over the coming months to look at the challenges and opportunities facing the sector, before consulting on any potential changes.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when the Fair Funding Review will recommence.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government is committed to ensuring that funding allocations for councils are based on an up-to-date assessment of their needs and resources, including Shropshire Council.
We understand councils want clarity on local government funding reform. For this reason, we committed at the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement in December to work closely with our stakeholders over the coming months to look at the challenges and opportunities facing the sector, before consulting on any potential changes.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to address delays in the Fair Funding Review and the implementation of that review.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government is committed to ensuring that funding allocations for councils are based on an up-to-date assessment of their needs and resources, including Shropshire Council.
We understand councils want clarity on local government funding reform. For this reason, we committed at the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement in December to work closely with our stakeholders over the coming months to look at the challenges and opportunities facing the sector, before consulting on any potential changes.