Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to publish the Code of Practice required to bring the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 into force.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Further to the answer given to Question UIN 15378 on 20 February 2024, following the call for evidence, we intend to publish a consultation on the caps on parking charges and debt recovery fees this year. The government is committed to reissuing the Code as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the number of households in the East Riding of Yorkshire that are located on estate roads that have not been adopted by their local authority as of 1 January 2024.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The requested information is not held by the department.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will require local authorities to give greater weight to the risk of local flooding before granting of planning permission for (a) housebuilding and (b) other future developments.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is clear that all sources of flood risk need to be considered, including future flood risk, to ensure that any new development is safe for its lifetime without increasing the risk of flooding elsewhere. The Framework sets out strict tests on flood risk which are in place to protect people and property. Where they are not met, it is clear that local authorities should not be permitting new development.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to publish consultation submissions to the private parking charges and debt recovery fees call for evidence.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Call for Evidence closed on 8 October and officials are now working through the submissions. The intention is to publish the Impact Assessment together with a consultation on options for handling parking charges and debt recovery fees, to make sure that the consultation is as well informed as it can be.
The Government will publish a response to the Call for Evidence in due course.
I thank him for his continued support on this issue and for his work in steering the legislation through the house. We will implement it in full at the earliest possible moment.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will outline his planned timetable for the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 impact assessment, in the context of the closure of the private parking code of practice call for evidence on 8 October 2023.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Call for Evidence closed on 8 October and officials are now working through the submissions. The intention is to publish the Impact Assessment together with a consultation on options for handling parking charges and debt recovery fees, to make sure that the consultation is as well informed as it can be.
The Government will publish a response to the Call for Evidence in due course.
I thank him for his continued support on this issue and for his work in steering the legislation through the house. We will implement it in full at the earliest possible moment.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will hold discussions with local authorities on the potential merits of their continuing to accept cash payments from members of the public using local authority car parks; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
All local authorities have existing statutory duties to ensure that they do not discriminate in their decision making against older people or those with vulnerabilities. The Secretary of State recently wrote to all local authorities in England setting out his expectations that parking services for which councils are responsible remain accessible.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make a comparative assessment of the average time taken by the Land Registry to process a property transfer as of 5 July (a) 2023, (b) 2022 and (c) 2018; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
HM Land Registry's (HMLR's) top priority is improving application processing times and I refer my Right Honourable friend to paragraph three of the answer I gave to Question UIN 187953 on 14 June 2023 for further information.
HMLR publishes information on GOV.UK about its latest processing times here. Applications to transfer a property fall within the category of 'changes to existing registered titles', sometimes known as register update services. The table below shows the average time taken to process changes to existing titles for the stated time periods:
Time period | Average time taken to process changes to existing registered titles |
July 2018 | 4 days |
July 2022 | 22 days |
June 2023 | 19 days |
(Includes data for all manual register updates. Data for July 2023 is not yet available.)
The time taken to process an application to change an existing title should not impact a property sale because it usually takes place after a transaction has completed. However, if any application becomes urgent, customers can ask for it to be fast tracked for no extra cost. 95% of these applications are completed within 10 days.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has plans to reduce application processing times at the Land Registry.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
HM Land Registry's (HMLR's) top priority is improving application processing times and I refer my Right Honourable friend to paragraph three of the answer I gave to Question UIN 187953 on 14 June 2023 for further information.
HMLR publishes information on GOV.UK about its latest processing times here. Applications to transfer a property fall within the category of 'changes to existing registered titles', sometimes known as register update services. The table below shows the average time taken to process changes to existing titles for the stated time periods:
Time period | Average time taken to process changes to existing registered titles |
July 2018 | 4 days |
July 2022 | 22 days |
June 2023 | 19 days |
(Includes data for all manual register updates. Data for July 2023 is not yet available.)
The time taken to process an application to change an existing title should not impact a property sale because it usually takes place after a transaction has completed. However, if any application becomes urgent, customers can ask for it to be fast tracked for no extra cost. 95% of these applications are completed within 10 days.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the requirement for voter ID on levels of voter (a) fraud and (b) participation at the May 2023 local elections in England.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The independent Electoral Commission recommended voter ID in January 2014, asking that “Voters should be required to show proof of their identity before they can be issued with a ballot paper at polling stations for elections and referendums in Great Britain. The Commission will publish detailed proposals for a proof of identity scheme by the end of 2014 and wants to see this change in place by no later than the 2019 European and English local government elections.” This is publicly available here.
As set out last year by ministers to Parliament, we have “committed to a review that will take place after the May elections. I can confirm our intention that the results of that review should be published no later than November 2023.”
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department provides advice to local authorities on the use of public buildings known to have asbestos.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
All public bodies, including local authorities, are responsible for how they manage asbestos in their buildings and are expected to comply with relevant legal requirements.
The Health and safety Executive publishes a range of guidance about working with asbestos and how to comply with relevant legislation. This is set out under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 with further guidance available on HSE's website HSE: Asbestos - health and safety in the workplace.