Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether any social events took place between three or more people within his Departmental buildings between (a) 5 November 2020 and 1 December 2020 and (b) 16 December 2020 and 22 February 2021.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
This information is not collected. At the time, staff were expected to work from home and undertake meetings remotely, wherever possible.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of how the planning process can support the creation of properly ventilated indoor environments.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
There are strong protections in place in national planning policy to safeguard people from unacceptable risks from air pollution. These will be material considerations for a local council when determining a planning application, as will the planning concerns of the local community.
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that planning policies and decisions should aim to promote healthy places, including by identifying opportunities to improve air quality. The planning guidance which supports the National Planning Policy Framework sets out further detail on how new development should take account of risks relating to air quality, including by using appropriate means of filtration and ventilation.
It is through the Part F of the Building Regulations that we set the minimum ventilation standards for new buildings or when work is done to an existing building. In the Government's Clean Air Strategy 2019, we committed to consulting on changes to standards in Part F (ventilation) of the Building Regulations. These consultations took place in the form of the Future Homes Standard and Future Buildings Standard consultations. We have reviewed the ventilation standards of the Building Regulations for new homes using the latest scientific evidence from Public Health England (PHE), details of which can be found in the Future Homes Standard consultation response.
We also consulted on ventilation standards for non-domestic buildings and for existing homes, the details of which can be found in the Future Buildings Standard consultation. The Future Buildings Standard consultation was launched on 19 January 2021 and closed on 13 April 2021. We will carefully consider the responses we receive in advance of regulating later this year.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make healthy housing a central feature of the future planning system.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Planning Reform provides a once in a generation opportunity to place renewed emphasis on how the planning system can contribute to delivering the healthy homes and neighbourhoods this country needs. The importance of this has been clear during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the role that our homes and neighbourhoods play in health and wellbeing
We are taking measures to deliver healthy homes through the current planning system. We have published the National Design Guide which recognises the need for new homes to be functional, healthy and sustainable. The forthcoming National Model Design Code will help local authorities embed this through their own local design codes
The Planning for the Future White Paper consultation closed on 29 October 2020 and we are currently considering the responses received. The Government will publish a response which will set out decisions taken and proposed implementation.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that the quality of permitted development conversions to residential is on a par with the quality of homes delivered through planning permission.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
To ensure that all homes delivered under permitted development rights in England are quality homes we have recently introduced legislation to require adequate natural light in all habitable rooms and that, in future, all new homes delivered through the rights must meet the nationally described space standards.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that environmental impact assessments for new housing developments include analysis of (a) air quality and (b) noise pollution.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
New housing developments which are likely to have significant effects on the environment require an environmental impact assessment (EIA). An EIA must identify, describe and assess the likely significant impacts on a variety of factors, including on human health and air quality.
This will, where relevant, include an assessment of air and noise pollution, as well as a description of their effects. The EIA is then open to consultation with experts and the public. The information the assessment contains and the views expressed through consultation must be taken into account in the decision to grant permission for any development.
As part of our commitment to streamline and improve the planning system, we have committed to review the environmental assessment process, with the aims of making it faster and easier to navigate, whilst upholding environmental protections and where possible going further to take advantages of opportunities for environmental improvement.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
What progress his Department has made on the forthcoming devolution and local recovery White Paper.
Answered by Luke Hall
We intend to bring forward the English Devolution and Local Recovery White Paper in due course, which will set out Government’s regional economic strategy to move us from recovery into levelling up and our vision for expanding devolution across England.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish a review of fire-safety requirements of domestic and non-domestic properties and their interaction with the (a) Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 and (b) Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has now published the Draft Building Safety Bill – the next step in making the most significant change to building legislation in nearly 40 years. In addition to this, the Government?has?introduced?the Fire Safety Bill which?will clarify?that the Fire Safety Order applies to external walls and individual flat entrance?doors?in all multi-occupied residential buildings. Alongside the Building Safety Bill, the Home Office has launched a public consultation on the FSO which it will publish in due course. In July 2019, the Government announced that it will be developing a new approach to the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations to address the different sources and chemical risks posed by fire to upholstered furniture and furnishings in domestic properties.