Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when his Department plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Glasgow East to the Minister for Afghan Resettlement, emailed on 1 February and 8 March 2022, reference DL10440.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The letter has been transferred to the Home Office to provide a response to the Hon Member.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to promote access to support with mortgage interest, ground rent and service charges by claiming pension credit.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
I refer the Hon Member to the answer to Question UIN 120883 on 15 February 2022.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to promote access to support with rent in the form of housing benefit by claiming pension credit.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
I refer the Hon Member to the answer to Question UIN 120883 on 15 February 2022.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to promote access to support with council tax by claiming pension credit.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
I refer the Hon Member to the answer to Question UIN 120883 on 15 February 2022.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on reviewing her Department's condition that a claimant will normally be willing to travel 90 minutes each way to work, to help ensure that it meets the aim in the foreword of the Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper, that people deserve to live in a country where life is not a postcode lottery, where by staying local you can go far.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Government is helping individuals across the nation to take full advantage of job opportunities within their local areas and the Department for Work and Pension is well placed to support the Levelling Up agenda.
Typically, a claimant who is expected to be available and looking for work will be required to look for work that is within daily travelling time of their home. There is a maximum limit set at 90 minutes travel time for this. Work coaches have the flexibility to tailor this taking into consideration a claimant’s circumstances, for example, location of childcare, schools, available work and public transport links.
The Flexible Support Fund is available to help with the cost of attending interviews and can support travel costs for up to three months of the claimant starting work.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the contribution of 5 October 2020 of the Minister of State for Regional Growth and Local Government, Official Report, Column 599, when he plans to publish the Devolution and Local Renewal White Paper; and whether that White Paper will apply to Scotland.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Levelling up all areas of the country remains at the centre of the Government’s agenda. We want to devolve and decentralise to give more power to local communities, providing an opportunity for all places to level up. That is why we intend to bring forward the English Devolution and Local Recovery White Paper in due course, detailing how the UK Government will partner with places across the UK to build a sustainable economic recovery.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will extend the moratorium on evictions in England beyond 11 January 2021 during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has extended existing legislation to ensure bailiffs in England do not serve eviction notices, or carry out evictions except in the most serious circumstances, such as anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse perpetrators in the social sector. This legislation will be in place for at least six weeks before being reviewed with consideration taken to the latest public health data. This will mean in practical terms that no evictions will be enforced until March.
To further protect renters, landlords are required to provide 6-months' notice of their intention to seek possession through the courts, except in the most serious cases such as anti-social behaviour, fraud and egregious rent arrears. This means that tenants served notice today will not have to leave until July.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
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 on levels of homelessness of ending the moratorium on evictions in England on 11 January 2021.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is clear that no one should be without a roof over their head. That is why we are spending over £700 million this year and will be spending over £750 million next year to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, further demonstrating the Government’s commitment to end rough sleeping.
Renters will continue to be protected from eviction during this new national lockdown period. The Government has extended existing legislation to ensure bailiffs do not serve eviction notices or carry out evictions, except in the most serious circumstances, such as anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse in the social sector. This legislation will be in place for at least six weeks, after which it will be reviewed and consideration taken to the latest public health data. Landlords are also required to provide six months' notice except in the most serious cases such as anti-social behaviour, fraud and egregious rent arrears meaning tenants served notice now will not have to leave until July.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much in cash terms has been spent from the Towns Fund to date.
Answered by Simon Clarke
In December, we paid out £16.4 million in capacity funding to local authorities from the initial 100 towns selected to agree Town Deals. This was to support the development of a Town Deal Board and Town Investment Plan for each of the shortlisted towns in their area.
To date we have also allocated £14.5 million in Future High Streets Fund revenue funding to places to develop detailed business cases for their proposals.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will provide a breakdown of any capital funding which has been allocated to local authorities from the Towns Fund.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Local authorities have not yet received any capital funding from the Towns Fund. Now that we have published the Towns Fund further guidance, I am looking forward to Towns coming forward with their transformative proposals through their Town Investment Plans