Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much funding the Government provided to the Grenfell Tower residents discretionary fund; and how much has been provided in assistance to each family.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Government’s highest priority is making sure that survivors and communities receive all the support they need. To date, the Government has committed over £20 million in support of those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire including:
Help for survivors through the £5 million Grenfell Tower Residents’ Discretionary Fund.
A commitment to funding hotel bills for up to the first year for households who lost their homes in Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk, and towards funding rent, service charges and core utility bills for those households for the rent free period.
The Government has additionally allocated just over £2.3 million to support local voluntary organisations: the Community Core Cost Fund supported charities and other groups helping those affected by the fire and went towards things such as extra equipment, food, supplies and extra staff; the Community Anchor Fund supported those organisations that support volunteers and smaller groups; facilitate the development of community voices; and advocate on behalf of the community and the Children and Young People’s Fund which provides services to young people and families.
At the November Budget the Government announced further £28 million to enable the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to enable them to help support the victims and communities. This will go towards providing ongoing mental and emotional support, community spaces for those affected and investment in the Lancaster West estate.
Additionally, a total of over £21 million has been raised in charitable donations by the public of which £13.2 million has been distributed so far, the rest of these donations are being managed by the Charity Commission which is working with various charities.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what funds have been contributed to the Grenfell Tower fire emergency fund; and how much of that sum has been distributed to survivors.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Government’s highest priority is making sure that survivors and communities receive all the support they need. To date, the Government has committed over £20 million in support of those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire including:
Help for survivors through the £5 million Grenfell Tower Residents’ Discretionary Fund.
A commitment to funding hotel bills for up to the first year for households who lost their homes in Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk, and towards funding rent, service charges and core utility bills for those households for the rent free period.
The Government has additionally allocated just over £2.3 million to support local voluntary organisations: the Community Core Cost Fund supported charities and other groups helping those affected by the fire and went towards things such as extra equipment, food, supplies and extra staff; the Community Anchor Fund supported those organisations that support volunteers and smaller groups; facilitate the development of community voices; and advocate on behalf of the community and the Children and Young People’s Fund which provides services to young people and families.
At the November Budget the Government announced further £28 million to enable the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to enable them to help support the victims and communities. This will go towards providing ongoing mental and emotional support, community spaces for those affected and investment in the Lancaster West estate.
Additionally, a total of over £21 million has been raised in charitable donations by the public of which £13.2 million has been distributed so far, the rest of these donations are being managed by the Charity Commission which is working with various charities.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
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 has taken to speed up the process of rehousing Grenfell Tower fire survivors.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) is leading on re-housing the survivors of the fire in Grenfell Tower, and my Department is both supporting and challenging the Council to meet published commitments.
My Department has supported the Council to develop a broad new package of housing support to help the former residents of Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk start to rebuild their lives. Residents will not be expected to pay rent or service charges until 1 July 2019. The same offer will be extended to Council Tax, as well as the core utilities (gas, electricity and water).
My Department and RBKC are working together to support residents to move into self-contained interim accommodation or permanent housing by providing a weekly transition allowance for the first three months. This will then be followed by a further three months support. To ensure that the work is carried out to an agreed standard and in a timely manner, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government chairs the Ministerial Recovery Group, which provides scrutiny of the support provided to the Grenfell survivors by the Council and from across Government.
The Secretary of State also received independent assurance on the wider recovery work of the Council from the independent Grenfell Recovery Taskforce. Following the fire, the Secretary of State set up the 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. The Taskforce made a number of recommendations in its first report, and they are closely monitoring RBKC’s progress against these recommendations. The Secretary of State has asked the Taskforce to ensure proper action is taken and to report again in the New Year, which will again be shared with the House. A copy of their first report is available in full in the Library of the House and at the following link:
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to his oral contribution of 5 September 2017, Official Report, column 78, what steps his Department has taken to establish a family bereavement centre for families affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Family and Friends Assistance Centre is a centre for bereaved families providing them with access to professional support from a multi-disciplinary team and space to spend time together. The centre has been operational since the immediate days following the fire, overseen initially by the Grenfell Response Team and then the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council. Confidential rooms provide a comfortable environment with staff on hand to provide support and advice.
The Centre recently moved to new long-term premises and services include emotional support and counselling; NHS Post Traumatic Stress Disorder support; financial advice by the Red Cross and support from specialist keyworkers, Family Liaison Officers and Victim Support. The Senior Investigatory Officer from the Metropolitan Police Service also attends the Centre to provide a link to the ongoing police investigation.
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry will be engaging with bereaved families at the Centre, explaining processes and answering queries.
At the Autumn Budget the Government announced £28 Million to enable the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council to support the victims and communities. This includes £3 million towards the operating costs of the Friends and Family Assistance Centre for the next three years
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many families affected by the Grenfell Tower fire have a key worker; and how many families each such key worker is responsible for.
Answered by Lord Sharma
As of the 21 November there are 155 keyworkers providing support to 508 families affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what funds his Department has provided to local authorities and housing associations to support estate regeneration since June 2017.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Estate Regeneration Programme is currently supporting and working with over 100 estates across the country.
The programme has been allocated £722 million of loans and grants to accelerate schemes at the early stages of regeneration, build access to commercial skills and provide long term finance for estate regeneration.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2017 to Question 106692, how many children who lived in Grenfell Tower are living in hotel accommodation as of 6 November 2017.
Answered by Lord Sharma
On 7 November, data provided to my Department by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea showed there were 55 children who previously lived in Grenfell Tower or Grenfell Walk, living in emergency accommodation. Emergency accommodation includes hotels, serviced apartments and living with family or friends.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is working to ensure all families affected by the Grenfell tragedy can move into interim or settled accommodation at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many (a) households and (b) children who previously lived in Grenfell Tower were still living in hotels or bed and breakfast accommodation as of 1 November 2017.
Answered by Lord Sharma
On 7 November, data provided to my Department by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea showed there were 55 children who previously lived in Grenfell Tower or Grenfell Walk, living in emergency accommodation. Emergency accommodation includes hotels, serviced apartments and living with family or friends.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is working to ensure all families affected by the Grenfell tragedy can move into interim or settled accommodation at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
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 adequacy of resources available to local authorities to fulfil the additional duties placed on them under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Homelessness Reduction Act requires local authorities to carry out additional duties to prevent and relieve homelessness and to intervene earlier to prevent homelessness.
The Government committed to fund the Act in line with the longstanding ‘new burdens’ doctrine. We announced funding of £61 million in January 2017 and, following further discussions with local authorities on the new duties, have provided an additional £11.7 million. This takes the total amount of new burdens funding to £72.7 million.
A new burdens assessment has been completed and can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/homelessness-reduction-act-new-burdens-funding
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
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 proportion of temporary accommodation declared unfit for human habitation; and what estimate he has made of the number of children living in such temporary accommodation in each of the last three years.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Local authorities have a duty to ensure that any accommodation provided for a homeless household under the homelessness legislation must be suitable.
Local authorities also have strong and effective powers to deal with poor quality unsafe accommodation. The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), assesses the health and safety risks in all residential properties. If a property is found to contain serious (category 1) hazards, the local authority has a duty to take the most appropriate action. We expect local authorities to use these powers which provide an important safety net, ensuring that homes are safe and decent.
DCLG publishes regular statistics, which includes the number of children in temporary accommodation. The latest statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics.