Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of maintaining the previous lower level of business rates for roof-top solar.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Business rates are based on valuations from the Valuation Office Agency and we do not intervene in their independent assessments. We have put in place a £3.6 billion transitional relief scheme for England to support ratepayers at the 2017 revaluation. The transitional relief scheme has capped annual increases in rate bills due to the revaluation.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the oral contribution by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Treasury Committee on 12 December 2016, in response to Q311, who in his Department is responsible for assessing whether grant applications for Horizon 2020 funding are (a) value for money and (b) in line with Government objectives.
Answered by Andrew Percy
I refer the hon Member to the answer given to her by my rt hon Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to Question UIN 57694:
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on work permits and immigration rules for EU citizens working in the construction and building trades after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Secretary of State meets with the Home Secretary and other stakeholders regularly to discuss a wide range of policy issues.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of planned business rates rises on existing commercial solar rooftop projects where the majority of power is consumed onsite.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Business rates are based on valuations from the Valuation Office Agency and we do not intervene in their independent assessments. We will look closely at the impacts of the forthcoming revaluation and consult on how to make sure the right support is in place for ratepayers to adjust to any changes.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
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 what the proportion of London residential property is owned by foreign nationals of which countries.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Bank of England estimates that foreign buyers represent 3% of total residential property transactions in London (Page 24 of November 2013 Financial Stabilty Report - http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/fsr/2013/fsrfull1311.pdf ).
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to respond to the letter of 11 October 2015 from the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which was passed to his Department.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
I replied to the hon. Member on 4 January.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people have been fined for non-payment of rent and services in social housing in each year since 2011.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
We do not hold this information.
Office of Fair Trading guidance on unfair terms in tenancy agreements explains that they regard the imposition of a fixed daily or monthly charge for overdue rent as being penal rather than compensatory in nature and unfair (paragraph 3.46). Annex A of the guidance explains that the regulations apply to social housing tenancies (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284440/oft356.pdf).
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will estimate the number of properties in the private rented sector which (a) reach and (b) do not reach the Decent Homes standard.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The table below shows the number and proportion of dwellings in the private rented sector which reach the Decent Homes standard over the last five years.
The private rented sector has expanded in size in this period (with almost one million more homes), yet both the absolute and relative number of non-Decent Homes have fallen.
Reaching standard | Not reaching standard | |||
2008 | 1,847,000 | 56% | 1,449,000 | 44% |
2009 | 2,123,000 | 59% | 1,465,000 | 41% |
2010 | 2,325,000 | 63% | 1,381,000 | 37% |
2011 | 2,610,000 | 65% | 1,407,000 | 35% |
2012 | 2,754,000 | 67% | 1,365,000 | 33% |
This Government has taken a series of actions to help improve standards in the private rented sector.
To encourage improved conditions, we have increased consumer awareness and supported longer tenancies with a ‘How to Rent’ guide, a model tenancy agreement, and an industry-led Code of Practice for letting and managing agents. We have introduced regulations to require the remaining 3,000 letting and property management agents to join one of three approved redress schemes from 1 October; made over £4 million available to 23 local authorities to help them tackle localised problems with the small minority in rogue landlords in their area – building on £2.6 million given to 9 local authorities to support enforcement against ‘Beds in Sheds’; and supported measures to tackle retaliatory evictions in private rented sector.
However, we also need to avoid disproportionate red tape which would reduce supply, cut investment and ultimately force up rents. As an illustration, my written answer of 9 February 2015 to Question 222996, noted how rent controls would actually worsen property conditions for tenants by discouraging investment in new and existing rented accommodation.
I would also add that, in the social sector, the number of non-Decent local authority dwellings across England has fallen from 291,600 in 1 April 2010 to 145,900 in April 2014, with a forecast of a further fall to 113,000 by April 2015.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many homes in the private rented sector reach energy-efficiency standard (a) A, (b) B, (c) C, (d) D, (e) E, (f) F and (g) G.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The English Housing Survey 2012-2013 Chapter 1, Annex Table 1.21 provides the following details for properties in the private rented sector and respective Energy Performance of Buildings Energy Rating Bands.
Energy Efficiency Rating Band | Private Rented Properties (thousands) |
A or B | 39 |
C | 777 |
D | 1,901 |
E | 1,010 |
F | 288 |
G | 102 |
Total | 4,119 |
The Government is doing a great deal of work to improve the energy performance of buildings, not just privately rented properties but across all sectors. This work includes:
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the average cost has been of adapting homes for disabled tenants under the disabled facilities grant since 2010.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Department for Communities and Local Government does not collect data on the number of homes adapted through the disabled facilities grant. The Department does collect data on the number of grants completed annually in England. Information on the number of grants completed and the average cost per grant for the years 2009/10 to 2013/14 is provided below.
2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | |
No. of grants completed | 44,102 | 45,383 | 43,986 | 36,874 | 42,586 |
Average Cost per grant | £3,356 | £3,724 | £4,547 | £5,966 | £4,227 |
The above data is provided by local housing authorities in their annual LOGASnet returns. LOGASnet is the Department of Communities and Local Government's web-based data capture and payments system. The data is not audited by DCLG.
Between 2011-12 to 2015-16 the Government will have invested just over one billion pounds into the Disabled Facilities Grant.
Baseline | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 |
£169m | £180m | £180m | £180m | £185m | £220m |
£20m* | £40m* |
*additional funding provided in-year by the Department of Health.