Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to apply the agent of change principle to pubs which play live music.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Elements of the agent of change principle already exist within planning policies and guidance. The planning guidance supporting the Framework is clear that the potential effect of a new residential development being located close to an existing business giving rise to noise should be carefully considered. The guidance underlines planning’s contribution to avoiding future complaints and risks to local business like live music venues from resulting enforcement action. To help avoid such situations, local councils are encouraged to consider appropriate mitigation including designing the new development to reduce the impact of noise from the local environment and optimising the sound insulation provided by the building envelope.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to introduce independent checks to ensure that rented properties are genuinely abandoned within the provisions of the Housing and Planning Bill.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The new abandonment procedure will enable landlords to legally regain possession of their property where it has been abandoned, without the need to obtain a possession order. We have introduced a number of safeguards to ensure that tenants are adequately protected against potential misuse of the procedure. These include a requirement that at least 8 weeks or 2 months rent is unpaid and requiring the landlord to serve at least 3 warning notices before they can repossess the property.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of businesses in Leeds who (a) applied and (b) were deemed eligible for the (i) business recovery grant, (ii) business rates relief and (c) Flood Resilience-Resistance grant since flooding over Christmas 2015.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
Leeds City Council has to date received £4.7 million from the Community and Business Relief Scheme with more funding to follow once property numbers are finalised. Central Government will fully fund 100% Business Rates relief for a minimum of 3 months for any flooded business that meets the eligibility criteria. To date, Leeds City Council has received an advance payment of £586,863 for Business Rates relief.
Shortly, we will be asking affected local authorities to provide data on how they have used their funding, but our task currently is to do everything we can to help towns and communities recover from these devastating floods.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress he has made on empowering tenants in the private rented sector to ensure landlords carry out reasonable repairs.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
On 1 February 2016 we issued a new Model Tenancy Agreement and updated our How to Rent Guide which makes clear landlord responsibilities in terms of carrying out repairs. The vast majority of landlords in the private rented sector provide good quality and well managed accommodation. We know that 84% of private renters are satisfied with their accommodation, and stay in their homes for an average of 3 and a half years.
If a tenant feels that the property they are renting is unsafe, and the landlord fails to get the necessary repairs done, they should contact their local authority which has powers, under the Housing Act 2004, to assess the risks and hazards. If a property is found to contain serious (category 1) hazards, the local authority has a duty to take the most appropriate action, which could range from trying to deal with the problems informally at first to prohibiting the use of the whole or part of the dwelling.
The Housing and Planning Bill contains measures to tackle rogue landlords who rent out sub-standard accommodation. Proposals include a database of rogue landlords and property agents, introducing banning orders for serious or repeat offenders, a tougher fit and proper person test, extending Rent Repayment Orders and introducing civil penalties.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department is making on encouraging buy-to-let mortgage lenders to allow longer tenancies in their terms and conditions.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government supports longer tenancies, and promotes them through its Model Tenancy Agreement. We have continued to encourage mortgage lenders to permit family friendly tenancies, and the majority have now changed their policies, and permit tenancies of up to two to three years.
A letter was sent to the Council for Mortgage Lenders on this subject in January 2016, urging them to encourage those lenders who have not changed their policies to do so, and to encourage lenders to promote the benefits of the Model Tenancy Agreement to their landlord customers.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to introduce mandatory electrical safety checks for private rented sector properties.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government is committed to protecting tenants and has therefore agreed to carry out the necessary research to understand what, if any, legislative changes regarding electrical safety checks in the private rented sector should be introduced.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on improving tenants' access to longer-term family friendly tenancies.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government supports longer tenancies, and promotes them through its Model Tenancy Agreement. Some mortgage lenders incorporated clauses in their agreements with landlords preventing them from granting tenancies of longer than a year. We have continued to encourage lenders to permit family friendly tenancies, and consequently the majority have now changed their policies, and permit tenancies of up to two to three years. We are encouraging those remaining lenders, who have not changed their policies, to do so and to promote the use of our Model Tenancy Agreement to their landlord customers.
We also know that tenants value the flexibility that private renting offers and not all want longer tenancies. A recent report by Knight Frank reported that the majority of Private Rented Sector tenants (53%) favour a six month or one year tenancy. The average length of residence, according to the English Housing Survey 2013-14, was three and a half years.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the work of the Asian Restaurant Skills Board.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Asian Restaurant Skills Board is an independent industry-led initiative set up to promote the opportunities that the Asian cuisine industry offers for exciting and rewarding careers, increasing social mobility and celebrating the importance of Asian cuisine in modern Britain. DCLG has worked closely with the Board, helping it to promote the industry through a publicity campaign and raise funding for four degree-level scholarships in Asian Cuisine at the University of West London.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support the Asian Restaurant Skills Board.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Asian Restaurant Skills Board is an independent industry-led initiative set up to promote the opportunities that the Asian cuisine industry offers for exciting and rewarding careers, increasing social mobility and celebrating the importance of Asian cuisine in modern Britain. DCLG has worked closely with the Board, helping it to promote the industry through a publicity campaign and raise funding for four degree-level scholarships in Asian Cuisine at the University of West London.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Prime Minister's announcement of 18 January 2016, Passive tolerance of separate communities must end, how the £20 million fund for English teaching for isolated women will be spent.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Our new £20 million community-based English language training offer will be informed by the findings of Louise Casey's Review into boosting opportunity and integration amongst isolated groups and the learning from the six community projects we have funded as part of our current integration programme. In particular, we will work with Louise Casey to identify the most isolated communities in England to make sure this programme is targeted at those women who need it most.