Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
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 how the High Streets Task Force will benefit towns in (a) Congleton constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Government is providing support to local leadership with a High Streets Task Force, giving high streets and town centres expert advice to adapt and thrive. Over five years this is providing hands-on support to local areas in England to develop data-driven innovative strategies and connect local areas to relevant experts. The Task Force, hosted by a consortium led by the Institute of Place Management, is also providing training and help to improve coordination between different groups working to improve their high streets.
In July 2020, the Task Force launched its range of support for high streets in England affected by Covid-19. Support is open to all high streets and town centres that wish to use it, including in Congleton. This includes access to a range of online training, data dashboards and guidance, which will be available on the Task Force’s website. This covers advice and information on local recovery planning, coordination, public space and place marketing. For more information on the Task Force and to kept up to date on its work, local places can register their interest at https://www.highstreetstaskforce.org.uk/.
The Task Force will also be providing specific expert support and training to a number of places over the course of its five-year contract. Some of this support will be prioritised according to need.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
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 how the Kickstarting Tourism Package has (a) benefited to date) and (b) will benefit Congleton consituency.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Kick-Starting Tourism Package provides £10 million of ERDF funding as part of the government’s drive to boost the recovery of the economy and provide small and medium sized enterprises in tourist destinations help to adapt their businesses following the coronavirus pandemic.
Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub, which forms part of the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership has been allocated £223,873 for the area, which encompasses the Congleton constituency. It is working with the business community to target and allocate funding in line with local priorities. ?
Applications are expected to be sought imminently, but no funding awards have yet been made by Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub. No information is yet available on the geographic composition of awards.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his department has taken to ensure that people who have fallen behind with council tax payments are supported to repay rather than becoming liable to pay the full years bill upfront.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Local authorities are responsible for the collection of council tax. Anyone who is concerned about falling behind with their council tax payments should contact their council as soon as possible to discuss the support available. Guidance issued by my Department makes clear that councils should be willing to take account of individuals’ circumstances, and agree affordable and sustainable payment plans to ensure debts are paid off in a reasonable time. The Council will also be able to advise on eligibility for a reduced bill, for example through its local council tax support scheme and any additional help under the £500 million council tax hardship fund. This is part of the Government's response to COVID-19 and enables councils to provide further reductions in bills for economically vulnerable households.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
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 Government's News story of 2 May 2020, Top-up to local business grant funds scheme, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of permitting unused monies paid to local authorities under the initial Government business support grant funds scheme to be used in the discretionary top-up scheme.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Government has confirmed to local authorities that the additional costs of the Discretionary Grants Fund will firstly be met in whole or in part from unused monies allocated to them for the Small Business and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Funds. Only where local authorities have disbursed more that 95 per cent of their original funding allocation will their funding will be topped up to ensure that they can provide the full value of the Discretionary Grants Fund.
We recognise that some local authorities may still have residual initial funding available, even accounting for the Discretionary Grants Fund expenditure. Officials continue to stay in close contact with local authorities?to understand how the schemes are performing and advising ministers on any additional support?which could be offered to help businesses and support local economies. No decisions have yet been taken, but the level of demand will continue to be monitored.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much and what proportion of funding for relationships support provided through the troubled families programme has been ring-fenced for marriage support.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Troubled Families Programme is designed to support families with complex problems, including promoting family stability and reducing parental conflict. Funding for the programme is not ring-fenced and we do not collect information about spending on specific services such as marriage support. This funding flexibility allows upper tier local authorities and their partners to decide how best to deliver the programme in their own area, according to local need and priorities. Up to £920 million has been made available for the programme from 2015-2020. In addition, my department has worked closely with DWP to make sure delivery of the programme is coordinated with the Reducing Parental Conflict Programme, for which up to £39 million has been made available.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
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 the effectiveness of the Local Government Ombudsman.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government acts as the sponsor Department for the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO)
Governance arrangements are set out in a publicly-available Framework Document (https://www.lgo.org.uk/information-centre/about-us/others-we-work-with) and include quarterly Accounting Officer meetings, chaired by the Department’s Senior Sponsor and attended by the LGSCO’s Chief Executive, that cover performance, risk, finance and other key issues
The Ombudsman is independent of Government in all matters relating to the investigation, determination, reporting and remedy of complaints.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What steps his Department is taking to tackle unfair practices in the leasehold system.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government is very clear that unjust practices in leasehold must come to an end. We have committed to banning new leasehold houses and restricting ground rents on future leases to a peppercorn. We launched our consultation on the details of these proposals on 15 October.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recourse to complaint freeholders have who pay into a common management scheme that is badly managed.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Freeholders have recourse to a number of procedures to help settle a complaint. An initial complaint can be made through their common management scheme's complaints procedure. If necessary, complaints can be escalated through one of the following ombudsman schemes: Ombudsman Services: Property, Property Redress Scheme, and The Property Ombudsman. Ultimately, a complaint can be settled through the courts.
As part of the response to the consultation 'Tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market' the Government committed to legislate to ensure that freeholders who pay charges for the maintenance of communal areas and facilities on a private or mixed use estate can access equivalent rights as leaseholders to challenge their reasonableness. We will bring forward the necessary legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
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 address effect of the shortage of planning inspectors on the progress of road developments in Cheshire East.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The shortage of planning inspectors is being dealt with by a substantial and on-going recruitment programme. The Planning Inspectorate is working to increase the number of specialist inspectors with training and mentoring support, against a demanding background of increasing levels of work in nearly all areas of the business.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recourse to action residents have in relation to builders who having part-developed a freehold site appoint a management company that unsatisfactorily administers the common parts of that site; and whether there is an equivalent of the Leasehold Advisory Service from which freeholders can seek help.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for leaseholders and freeholders and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service.
There are a number of ways to take action against a poor managing agent. Freeholders can make a formal complaint through their managing agent’s own complaints procedure. A complaint can also be made to one of the Government-recognised redress scheme. By law all property agents are required to belong to one of the following three redress schemes: Ombudsman Services Property, Property Redress Scheme and The Property Ombudsman.
To provide additional protections, on 21 December 2017, we set out a package of measures to tackle abuses and unfair practices in the leasehold market. This includes legislation to ensure that freeholders who pay charges for the maintenance of communal areas and facilities on a private or mixed use estate, can access equivalent rights as leaseholders to challenge the reasonableness of service charges.
On 1 April, we published the response to our recent call for evidence on protecting consumers in the letting and managing agent market. Proposals include establishing a working group to consider how fees such as service charges should be presented to consumers and to explore the best means to challenge fees which are unjustified.