Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using long-term empty properties to provide affordable homes in the North West.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Local authorities already have powers and strong incentives to tackle empty homes. Through the New Homes Bonus, they receive the same level of reward for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the (a) Rough Sleepers Accommodation Programme, (b) Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme and (c) Local Authority Housing Fund.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
DLUHC have just awarded a three-year contract to the Centre for Homelessness Impact to evaluate the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping system, including accommodation programmes such as the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme.
As of October 2023, our Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme had delivered over 5,300 homes for rough sleepers across England. We remain confident that the overall target of 6,000 homes will be achieved.
The £200 million Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme was announced in September 2022 aiming to deliver homes for adults experiencing severe multiple disadvantage and specialist accommodation for young people (under 25) who are at risk of, or already experiencing, rough sleeping in the areas of highest need.
Following the conclusion of the first two rounds of the Local Authority Housing Fund in 2024, DLUHC will conduct an evaluation of the fund.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to record the number of people unable to vote at polling places due to not having a valid ID.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
As set out in Schedule 1 of the Elections Act 2022, such data will be collected at the upcoming scheduled local elections in May 2023, and the next two UK parliamentary general elections, in order to inform the reports the Government will publish on the impact of this policy after each of those elections.
I also refer the Hon. Member to the response to the UQ I gave on the floor of the House on 21 February 2023.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on reducing smoking rates in areas of high usage.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Ministers and officials from my department have regular discussions with counterparts in DHSC on a range of issues. As has been the case under successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.