Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the efficacy of the British Standard 8414 large-scale fire tests.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The BS 8414 test was incorporated into building regulations guidance in 2006, following a comprehensive review of that part of the regulations and a public consultation. The Independent Expert Panel considers that the test is appropriate for assessing the potential for a cladding system to provide a medium for fire spread.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on how many residents of the Grenfell Walkways have been rehoused as at 26 January 2018.
Answered by Dominic Raab
As of 29 January, figures from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea show that 40 households from Barandon, Hurstway and Testerton Walks (collectively known as ‘the Walkways’) who moved into emergency accommodation as a result of the fire, have now been housed in interim accommodation.
The Council set out a draft permanent rehousing policy that applies to residents of the Walkways who do not wish to return to their homes; the public consultation on this policy ended on 5 January and the Council will take residents’ views into account when they confirm a final policy.
We are working closely with the Council to ensure residents are able to return to their homes where possible. The Government has allocated £15 million of funds in the recent budget, which will be matched by the Council, to invest into the Lancaster West Estate to make it a model for social housing and a wonderful, vibrant place to live.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the ability of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to effectively manage the casework involved in rehousing Grenfell Tower residents.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) has committed to provide survivors from Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk with a permanent new home in social housing within one year of the fire.
Following the fire, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government set up the independent Grenfell Recovery Taskforce to provide assurance that RBKC has the capacity and capability to deliver an effective long term recovery plan for its residents, taking into account their views.
In its first report in November 2017, the Taskforce identified four key areas in which the Council need to step up: pace, innovation, skills and empathy. The Taskforce is due to report to the Secretary of State at the end of February on RBKC’s progress in implementing those recommendations and he will provide an update to the House.
It is important that the rehousing proceeds at a pace which respects the needs, wants and situations of survivors and I expect the Council to do whatever is necessary to ensure households can move into settled homes as swiftly as possible. Both my Department and the independent Taskforce will continue to monitor the situation carefully. Ministers continue to meet regularly with RBKC Councillors, and officials from my Department also meet regularly with RBKC officials to ensure the Council can meet its commitment.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of removing the rent cap for tenants of the Grenfell Walkways who have not yet been rehoused on the ability of those tenants to afford their interim accommodation.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The policy for rehousing residents affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower remains a matter for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC).
Tenants who lived in the Walkway blocks who have moved into alternative private rented accommodation will have their rent and service charges capped at the same level they paid for their home in the Walkways until at least the end of June 2018.
RBKC has set out a draft permanent rehousing policy that applies to residents of the Walkways who do not wish to return to their homes. The public consultation on this policy ended on 5 January 2018 and the Council will take residents’ views into account when they confirm a final policy.
We are working closely with RBKC to ensure residents are able to return to their homes where possible. We have allocated £15 million of funds in the recent Budget, which will be matched by RBKC, to invest into the Lancaster West Estate to make it a model for social housing and a wonderful, vibrant place to live.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of Government policies on levels of homelessness over the last seven years.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
My Department publishes regular statistics on rough sleeping, statutory homelessness and homelessness prevention and relief in England. These are published at a local authority level. The latest statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics
England has a strong homelessness safety net, providing protection to the most vulnerable in our society.
Successful homelessness prevention and relief has risen by 30 per cent between 2009/10 and 2016/17.
But the Government remains clear that one person without a home is one too many. We are committed to do more to prevent more people becoming homeless in the first place.
That’s why we are implementing the most ambitious legislative reform in decades, the Homelessness Reduction Act, in April 2018, which will ensure that more people get the help they need earlier to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.
We are also remodelling statutory homelessness data collection alongside the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act to give us better insights into the causes of homelessness and the support people need.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what funding his Department is providing for essential fire safety work in tower blocks identified as unsafe due to flammable cladding.
Answered by Dominic Raab
Local authorities are responsible for funding the costs of fire safety work in their own buildings. However, the Government will consider financial flexibilities to enable local authorities to undertake essential fire safety work to make buildings safe. If a local authority building owner considers a building to be unsafe, they will need to determine what measures are essential to make a building safe. This will need to be done as part of a whole fire safety strategy for each individual building, taking into account expert advice, any directions or advice from the local fire and rescue service and fire safety measures present.
Councils should contact my department if they have concerns about funding firesafety works in their buildings.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many people live in tower blocks which have been declared unsafe after failing fire safety safety tests.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The focus of the Building Safety Programme has been to identify residential buildings in England over 18 metres with aluminium composite material cladding that may present a fire hazard. We do not hold information on the numbers of residents in these buildings.
However, the Government does publish monthly data releases on the progress of the Building Safety Programme which are available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/building-safety-programme#data-on-the-building-safety-progamme
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many of the former residents of Grenfell Tower have been rehoused in permanent accommodation as of 23 January 2018.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The latest figures from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), as of 25 January 2018, show that 95 households from Grenfell Tower or Walk have accepted an offer of permanent accommodation, and that of this number, 54 households have moved into permanent accommodation. Figures also show that 96 households from Grenfell Tower or Walk remain in emergency accommodation, which includes those living in hotels, serviced apartments and some who are living with friends and family. The Council has assured me that no residents from Grenfell Tower or Walk are living in bed and breakfast accommodation.
Whilst permanent homes are being acquired and made ready for residents, the Council is working closely with residents to help them move into good quality, local interim homes. The Council has committed that the interim homes offered to residents are self-contained, fully furnished, big enough for each family and are not in a high rise building. The Council is also providing advice and help to residents in setting up their new temporary home. A total of 58 households from Grenfell Tower or Walk have moved into interim accommodation.
The Council has acquired hundreds of permanent homes for the survivors of Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk to give people as much choice as possible. But while no-one should be rushed into making such an important decision about where they are going to live, for some the pace has been too slow.
I expect the Council to do whatever is necessary to ensure households can move into settled homes as swiftly as possible, but to do so sensitively and taking into account individual needs.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many former residents of Grenfell Tower are living in bed and breakfasts, interim and temporary accommodation.
Answered by Dominic Raab
I refer the Rt Hon Member for Tottenham to the answer I gave today to Question UIN 124562.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many housing planning applications have been called in by his Department in each year since 2010.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The table below sets out the number of planning applications for housing that were called in by the Secretary of State.
These figures include planning applications for mixed use development schemes that include an element of housing, in addition to development schemes for residents only.
Year | Number of applications called in | |
2008 | 12 | |
2009 | 14 | |
2010 | 4 | |
2011 | 1 | |
2012 | 0 | |
2013 | 5 | |
2014 | 8 | |
2015 | 6 | |
2016 | 9 | |
| ||