Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support Durham County Council to deliver a Housing First approach to address long term homelessness.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government recognises that local authorities are best placed to make decisions on what local services they provide based on local priorities and circumstances, including designing and delivering Housing First projects where appropriate. We are investing over £2 billion over three years in tackling homelessness and rough sleeping. Funding allocated to Durham for locally led initiatives includes over £680,000 in funding directly to the Durham Unitary Authority through the Rough Sleeping Initiative 2022-25, a further just under £3.8 million as part of a Durham-led joint funding award across the North-East, over £3 million (originally allocated) to County Durham through the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme, and over £4 million through the Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme.
We have also published a Mobilising Housing First toolkit to support local areas seeking to develop Housing First projects, which is available here: Housing First Pilot: national evaluation reports - GOV.UK
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance his Department issues to local authorities on their powers to control the conversion of families homes into houses in multiple occupation.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Planning permission is always required for the material change of use to a large House in Multiple Occupation for more than six people.
Separately a licence is required for a House in Multiple Occupation in which five or more people from two or more households sharing facilities. Local areas can also introduce additional licensing schemes which required Houses in Multiple Occupation with three or more people from two or more households to be licensed. Guidance is provided here.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will bring forward legislation to ban estate maintenance charges for new build freehold homes.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government wants to make estate management companies more accountable to homeowners for how their money is spent. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will make sure that homeowners who pay estate management charges have the right to challenge their reasonableness and to go to the tribunal to appoint a substitute manager to manage the provision of services.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 21 December 2023 to Question 7031 on Levelling Up Fund: Easington, whether his Department collects information on the (a) effectiveness of and (b) impact of levelling up funding on a constituency basis.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Funding for levelling up is generally delivered through local authorities, with outcome data therefore collected at a local authority level.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2023 to Question 6182 on Levelling Up Fund: County Durham, if he will make an assessment of the (a) effectiveness of and (b) impact of levelling up funding on Easington constituency.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The UK Government is investing £13.9 billion in Levelling Up projects to improve everyday life for people across the UK. Through interventions such as the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the Community Renewal Fund, amongst others, the Government is supporting local communities to transform the places where they live.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information the Government holds on how many people have died while homeless in each of the last five years.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes annual statistics on the estimated number of deaths of people experiencing homelessness in England and Wales which can be found here Deaths of homeless people in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk).
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2023 to Question 5542 on Levelling Up Fund: County Durham, what proportion of the funding identified in his response was allocated to Easington Constituency.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
County Durham has benefited from a range of funds totalling almost £100 million that will bring significant benefits to the whole area, including the constituency of Easington. The funds referenced in my answer on 11 December are allocated to local institutions at different geographies including the County Durham authority area and wider, depending on the nature of the fund. This funding mix allows local organisations to determine the areas and priorities to direct investment towards their key priorities
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2023 to Question 4394 answered 4 December 2023 on Evictions, what data his Department holds centrally on housing evictions.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The department monitors the volume of repossessions by county court bailiffs in landlord cases using quarterly statistics published by the Ministry of Justice. The statistics also include volumes of accelerated possession claims brought to the courts where the landlord has served a section 21 notice.
The statistics can be accessed here.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to monitor the number of private tenants evicted under Section 21 notices.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The department monitors the volume of repossessions by county court bailiffs in landlord cases using quarterly statistics published by the Ministry of Justice. The statistics also include volumes of accelerated possession claims brought to the courts where the landlord has served a section 21 notice.
The statistics can be accessed here.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reason County Durham was not selected as a Priority Place for Levelling Up Fund Round 3.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
For Round 3, funding was targeted to places assessed in need through the Levelling Up Needs metrics, which take into account skills, pay, productivity and health. These metrics draw on the extensive evidence base of what matters for levelling up, as set out in the Levelling Up White Paper, and represent our most up to date assessment of levelling up need. Further details of the selection methodology for Round 3 are set out in the published LUF R3 Explanatory and Methodology Note on Gov.uk.
County Durham has been awarded funding from multiple levelling up funds, including £146,000 from the Community Ownership Fund; £20 million from the Long-Term Plan for Towns; £836,000 from the Community Renewal Fund; £19 million from the Future High Streets Fund; £33 million from the Town Deal; £85,000 from the Levelling Up Parks Fund; and £30.8 million from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. They were also awarded £20 million from round 1 of the Levelling Up Fund for the Bishop Auckland project, and £1.9 million in round 2 as part of the Transport Decarbonisation in the North East project.