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Written Question
Housing: Repairs and Maintenance
Tuesday 23rd July 2019

Asked by: Eddie Hughes (Conservative - Walsall North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will meet the Chancellor to discuss the potential cost benefits of reducing VAT on the (a) building products and (b) low-carbon technologies used to retrofit homes to improve indoor air quality, energy efficiency and the health of occupants.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

I regularly meet with Cabinet colleagues to discuss a range of issues, including the Government’s carbon reduction policies.


Written Question
Carbon Monoxide: Alarms
Monday 1st July 2019

Asked by: Eddie Hughes (Conservative - Walsall North)

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 Written Statement of 30 April 2018, HCWS657 on Carbon Monoxide Detection and Safety, when the review of the requirements and the evidence base for improving carbon monoxide detection and safety will be concluded; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

The Government carried out a review of carbon monoxide alarm requirements in 2018. The findings of this review are being considered alongside responses to the Social Housing Green Paper. We will set out the findings of the review and next steps in the Government response to the Green Paper in September 2019.


Written Question
Shared Ownership
Monday 1st July 2019

Asked by: Eddie Hughes (Conservative - Walsall North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the Starter Homes programme on levels of shared ownership.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

Since 2010, we have delivered over 430,000 additional affordable homes to rent and buy. Starter Homes, as defined in Chapter 1 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016, require secondary legislation to further define the product before they are brought to the market. As the Government's Starter Homes programme is not yet in operation, it will have had no effect on the levels of Shared Ownership. In fact, Shared Ownership completions were over 11,000 in 2018 and have increased every year since we started collecting this data


We have been engaging with the industry to ensure the regulations to define Starter Homes are sound and that the product works for all concerned. We intend to lay these regulations before the House later this year.


Written Question
Shared Ownership: Greater London
Monday 1st July 2019

Asked by: Eddie Hughes (Conservative - Walsall North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that shared home ownership is affordable in London.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

We believe that Shared Ownership has an important role to play, as part of a diverse and thriving housing market, in helping those who aspire to home ownership but may be otherwise unable to afford it. The combination of rent and mortgage will often be lower than the cost of outright purchase and in many areas lower than the cost of private renting.

We have made changes to Guidance for grant funded Shared Ownership, including raising the income cap on Shared Ownership in England from £60,000 to £80,000 and up to £90,000 in London - allowing 175,000 more households to have access Shared Ownership.

Between 2015 and 2018 - 6,041 shared ownership homes were completed in London.

The Mayor has overall responsibility for housing policy and delivery in London, but we are all agreed that London needs to build many more homes to meet its need. That is why we have agreed that London will receive £4.8 billion of the Affordable Homes Programme funding (including £1.67 billion announced at Spring Statement 2018) to deliver at least 116,000 affordable housing starts by March 2022.


Written Question
Derelict Land: Walsall
Monday 1st July 2019

Asked by: Eddie Hughes (Conservative - Walsall North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing in Walsall a pilot scheme to streamline the process of bringing unused brownfield sites back into public use.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

Walsall has provided an excellent example of land remediation, involving many partners in enterprise, so that a large derelict and contaminated site can be brought back into employment use. Our revised National Planning Policy Framework expects local authorities to give substantial weight to the value of re-using suitable brownfield land, and to prioritise its redevelopment wherever possible. The Government has a toolkit of support for this work, including loan funding for site preparation, infrastructure and land assembly; tax relief for land remediation; and Permission in Principle to speed housing-led development at sites on local Registers of brownfield land. Where appropriate, local authorities should seek the interest and support of development partners such as Homes England.

Each brownfield site is different and often requires a tailored solution. It is therefore right that local solutions are also explored to find the best approach to brownfield redevelopment for that area, utilising local and national procedures, planning and practice.


Written Question
Shared Ownership
Monday 1st July 2019

Asked by: Eddie Hughes (Conservative - Walsall North)

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 what consumer protections are required as private providers enter the shared ownership market.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

The vast majority of private shared ownership providers are Registered Providers, regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing. In England, all registered providers of social housing must comply with the regulatory standards set by the independent Regulator of Social Housing.

Shared ownership leaseholders with private landlords who are not Registered Providers will have the same rights as other private leaseholders.

By law, residential managing agents are required to belong to one of the following two redress schemes: The Property Redress Scheme and The Property Ombudsman. Further information can be found at www.gov.uk/government/publications/lettings-agents-and-property-managers-redress-schemes.

Outside of this framework, Government is also committed to exemplary consumer protection across all areas of the housing market. We have established the Regulation of Property Agents Working Group – chaired by Lord Best – to advise on a new regulatory structure for property agents (including letting, managing and sales agents) with an independent regulator and a mandatory code of practice. We expect the group to make their recommendations in July.

As new private sector products are developed we will keep the regulatory framework under review to ensure that consumer protections are maintained and enhanced.

We also know more needs to be done to strengthen consumer redress for purchasers of new build homes, which is why we have announced our intention for there to be a New Homes Ombudsman to protect the rights of all homebuyers and hold developers to account.


Written Question
Derelict Land
Monday 1st July 2019

Asked by: Eddie Hughes (Conservative - Walsall North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to make it easier and quicker for (a) local and (b) combined authorities to take ownership of unused brownfield sites through compulsory purchase with adequate compensation for owners to bring them back into economic use for (i) homes and (ii) employment and remove derelict properties from local communities.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

Local and combined authorities already have broad compulsory purchase powers, which can be used to bring brownfield land back into use. We have recently introduced wide-ranging reforms to make the Compulsory Purchase Order process clearer, fairer and faster. Our reforms in the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 and Housing and Planning Act 2016 include clarification of the ‘no scheme principle’ which underpins compensation for compulsory purchase, making it easier and quicker to establish the fair market value of sites. We are keen to let these important reforms bed-in, but will keep the operation of the system under review.


Written Question
Affordable Housing and Social Rented Housing
Thursday 20th June 2019

Asked by: Eddie Hughes (Conservative - Walsall North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the price of land on affordable housing provision; and what steps he will take to reduce the cost of land to support social home builders.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

My Department has recently introduced planning reforms to make it clear that under no circumstances will the price paid for land be a relevant justification for failing to meet affordable housing requirements. Between 2015-16 and 2017-18, we delivered over 122,000 affordable homes, of which over 53,000 units were delivered through section 106 agreements - not including housing delivered through London Affordable Rent or where tenure was unknown.


Written Question
Carbon Monoxide: Alarms
Monday 28th January 2019

Asked by: Eddie Hughes (Conservative - Walsall North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

What progress his Department has made in its review of the rules that require carbon monoxide alarms to be fitted in homes across England.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

We are making good progress with the review of carbon monoxide alarms. This has included constructive engagement with industry to gather new evidence and information. We are now considering this updated evidence and will set out the Government response in due course.


Written Question
Local Government: Property
Thursday 16th November 2017

Asked by: Eddie Hughes (Conservative - Walsall North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect on the financial stability of local councils of purchasing commercial properties with high loan-to-value loans.

Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)

Local authorities have the freedom to borrow and invest, without government consent, provided that their borrowing is affordable. It is for each local authority to assess the risk to its financial sustainability of any borrowing or investment activity.

My Department has recently published a consultation on proposals to update the Statutory Guidance on Local Authority Investments with the aim of improving local risk management and transparency of decision making.

The consultation proposes introducing a new requirement for every local authority to present quantitative indicators that will allow assessment of total exposure from borrowing and investment decisions.