Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to support the provision of a nutritionally balanced plant-based meals on menus for staff in his Department.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
DLUHC offices are managed by the Government Property Agency.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
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 amend (a) building regulations and (b) his Department's guidance to require the provision of sanitary bins in men's public toilets.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Improving the accessibility and use of buildings is already a part of the Government’s agenda on the built environment. A process has been underway since 2020 to update the building regulations and associated guidance contained in Approved Document M. Simultaneously, a call for evidence on toilet provision was undertaken earlier this year and Written Ministerial Statement HCWS172 followed from it.
The Government is committed to undertaking further technical consultations on both of these workstreams in due course. Upon conclusion of those consultations, responses will be considered, and policy announcements will then be made in the appropriate way.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent discussions he has had with animal welfare organisations on reforms to rules around renting to people with pets.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Further to the answer given in response to Question UIN 174324 on 3 April 2023, we will legislate to give tenants in the private rented sector a legal ‘right to request a pet’ that the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse. We know that some landlords are concerned about the potential damage caused by pets, so we will also allow landlords to require insurance covering pet damage. We will legislate in the Renters Reform Bill when parliamentary time allows.
We plan to publish guidance for tenants and landlords on what would constitute an unreasonable refusal of a pet before the new rules come into effect and we will provide detail on how tenants can challenge decisions in due course.
Ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on GOV.UK. Officials in the department continue to engage with external stakeholders whilst developing policies for pets in the private rented sector and have discussed the proposals with animal welfare organisations.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Department's White Paper entitled A Fairer Private Rented Sector, published 16 June 2022, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his polices of pets considered tenancies.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
We will publish a full Impact Assessment of the policies proposed in the White Paper ‘A Fairer Private Rented Sector’ when we bring forward legislation.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that people living with (a) motor neurone disease and (b) other terminal illnesses have timely access to housing adaptations.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Since 2010 Government has invested £4 billion into the Disabled Facilities Grant (2010-11 to 2021-22) to help meet the cost of home adaptations for people of all ages and tenures, including those living with motor neurone disease and other terminal illnesses.
The Government announced £573 million for this grant in each year from 2022-23 to 2024-25, in the recently published Adult Social Care White Paper, People at the Heart of Care. Local authorities also have legal powers to fast-track assistance for home adaptations if agreed locally and published in a local Housing Assistance Policy.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Business Rates Relief Fund, whether his Department made an assessment of the potential value of discounts that would have been awarded to airports in England in the event that airports had been permitted to pursue covid-19-related Material Change of Circumstance appeals with the Valuation Office Agency.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Parliament recently passed legislation to rule out coronavirus as grounds for a ‘material change of circumstances’ appeal of rateable value. It is a core principle of the business rates system that market-wide economic changes affecting property values, such as the pandemic, should only be considered at general revaluations.
Prior to this legislation being introduced, the Valuation Office Agency were at an early stage of considering their response to the material change of circumstances appeals. Although discussions had taken place no valuations had been agreed.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Business Rates Relief Fund, whether his Department made an assessment of how much support airports would potentially have been entitled to before being deemed ineligible for that fund.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Covid-19 Additional Relief Fund was introduced to enable local authorities to provide targeted support to sectors who were affected by the pandemic but ineligible for previous support linked to business rates
For that reason, those airports in England which have received support for their fixed costs, based on the equivalent of their business rates liabilities, through the Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme (AGOSS) are not eligible for this relief
The renewed Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme (AGOSS) that the Chancellor announced at the Autumn Budget provides support for eligible businesses with their fixed costs for a further six months, up to the equivalent of their business rates liabilities for the second half of the 2021-22 financial year, subject to certain conditions and a cap per claimant of £4 million.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the value is of (a) business rates paid by airports in England and (b) support distributed to airports through the Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme in England during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Data on the amount of business rates paid by type of business in England is not collected
The renewed Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme (AGOSS) that the Chancellor announced at the Autumn Budget provides support for eligible businesses with their fixed costs for a further six months, up to the equivalent of their business rates liabilities for the second half of the 2021-22 financial year, subject to certain conditions and a cap per claimant of £4 million. The Scheme has been renewed twice and in total around £175 million has been made available.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the value is of business rates relief provided to (a) the retail sector, (b) the hospitality sector, (c) the leisure sector and (d) airports in England during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The total value of business rates relief provided to the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors in England was £11.1 billion in 2020/21, and is forecasted to be £5.8 billion in 2021/22
The renewed Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme (AGOSS) that the Chancellor announced at the Autumn Budget provides support for eligible businesses with their fixed costs for a further six months, up to the equivalent of their business rates liabilities for the second half of the 2021-22 financial year, subject to certain conditions and a cap per claimant of £4 million.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing pet deposits or pet damage insurance for residential rental accommodation.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Tenant Fees Act 2019 introduced a cap of five weeks' rent for properties with an annual rent below £50,000, and banned most letting fees charged to tenants. The five week cap should be considered the maximum, rather than the default amount charged. This approach should therefore accommodate private renters who wish to keep pets, without the need for a separate pet deposit. The Government has no plans to amend the Tenant Fees Act 2019 at this time.
Both tenants and landlords are able to choose to take out insurance for pet damage, however the Tenant Fees Act prevents landlords requiring tenants to take out insurance.