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Written Question
Sleeping Rough: Crawley
Tuesday 11th September 2018

Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much funding his Department has allocated out of the budget of the Rough Sleeping Strategy to Crawley constituency.

Answered by Nigel Adams

The Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why we have recently published our Rough Sleeping Strategy, which sets out the first steps towards achieving our aim to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and end it altogether by 2027.

We are currently finalising the design of the funding streams announced in the strategy and will announce further details in due course. We have also committed to publishing a delivery plan in the autumn which will set out how we will deliver the ambitious work set out in this strategy.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 30 Apr 2018
Oral Answers to Questions

"T3. I very much welcome my right hon. Friend to his well deserved position as Secretary of State; it is a good appointment. In Crawley, Forge Wood is the newest neighbourhood currently being developed, and it will deliver almost 2,000 houses. However, the infrastructure lag from Persimmon Homes and Taylor …..."
Henry Smith - View Speech

View all Henry Smith (Con - Crawley) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 30 Apr 2018
Windrush

"Similar to the Windrush situation is the plight of the Chagos community, who were exiled from the British Indian Ocean Territory under the Wilson Administration. Will my right hon. Friend agree to meet me to look at my British Indian Ocean Territory (Citizenship) Bill, which is currently before the House, …..."
Henry Smith - View Speech

View all Henry Smith (Con - Crawley) contributions to the debate on: Windrush
Speech in Commons Chamber - Fri 02 Feb 2018
Parking (Code of Practice) Bill

"I congratulate my right hon. Friend on introducing the Bill. In 2011, I introduced a ten-minute rule Bill entitled the Consumer Protection (Private Car Parks) Bill. Alas, I was not successful on that occasion. There have been years of abuse by rogue parking companies, and I wish his Bill every …..."
Henry Smith - View Speech

View all Henry Smith (Con - Crawley) contributions to the debate on: Parking (Code of Practice) Bill
Written Question
Non-domestic Rates: West Sussex
Monday 6th November 2017

Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)

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 announce which local authority areas will be piloted for 100 per cent business rates retention; what representations he has received from councils in West Sussex on that pilot scheme; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Marcus Jones

The local authorities selected to pilot 100 per cent business rates retention for 2018/19 will be announced at or in advance of the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement. Councils in West Sussex have made an application.

Written Question
Permitted Development Rights
Monday 24th July 2017

Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to review the effectiveness of permitted development rights; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Lord Sharma

Permitted Development rights play an important role in freeing up the planning system to enable development to take place more quickly without the need to seek full planning consent. In the recent Housing White Paper we consulted on extending the rights for the conversion of agricultural buildings to residential use to help increase the provision of housing for rural workers and extending the existing agricultural permitted development rights to help farmers adapt more quickly to changing agricultural practices. We are reviewing responses received.

Written Question
Social Rented Housing: South East
Tuesday 29th November 2016

Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will increase the pay to stay income threshold for South East England to that of Greater London.

Answered by Lord Barwell

The Government's position was made clear in my Written Statement of 21 November.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2016-11-21/HCWS274


Written Question
Non-domestic Rates
Thursday 24th November 2016

Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)

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 local authorities on 100 per cent business rate retention; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Marcus Jones

We recently conducted a consultation on our approach to the implementation of 100% Business Rates Retention. There were over 450 responses from local authorities, businesses interests and other organisations. My officials are currently considering these and we will publish a summary of the responses and our proposed way forward in due course. In the meantime, we will continue close collaboration with local government in taking this work forward, including through the Business Rates Retention Steering Group, which is jointly chaired by the Local Government Association and the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The Steering Group was established to consider the mechanisms needed to set up and run the new business rates system, as well as the timetable and implementation of the reforms. It oversees the work of a set of technical working groups, each looking at particular aspects of the reforms. The Group meets on a regular basis and has done so on 6 occasions since April 2016. All papers for meetings are published here: http://www.local.gov.uk/business-rates

Written Question
Local Government: Devolution
Tuesday 24th February 2015

Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to devolve greater responsibilities to democratically elected county councils and county unitary authorities.

Answered by Kris Hopkins

The Government has always believed that local decision-making plays an essential role in building stronger local economies and communities and is open to discussions over possible offers from areas that are interested in greater devolution of powers. This basic principle of localism underpins the Government's approach and is why programmes such as Growth Deals and Growing Places Fund have been made available to all local areas in England through Local Enterprise Partnerships.

I also refer my hon. Friend to the Government's publication, "The implications of devolution for England” (CM 8969) which outlines the views of both Coalition parties on the scope for greater decentralisation in England.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/implications-of-devolution-for-england

Written Question
Small Businesses: Non-domestic Rates
Wednesday 10th December 2014

Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)

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 how many small firms and shops will benefit from reductions in business rates in (a) England and (b) Crawley in 2015-16.

Answered by Kris Hopkins

The Chancellor announced at the 2014 Autumn Statement an extra £650 million of support for 2015-16 bills, bringing the total support of 2013 and 2014 Autumn Statement polices to £1.4 billion. This help includes:

  • doubling small business rate relief for a further year. In England, this means an estimated 385,000 properties will pay no rates at all, while a further 190,000 properties will benefit from tapered relief.

  • a 2% cap on the increase of the small business rates multiplier. This is a continuation of the 2% cap introduced in 2014-15 as part of Autumn Statement 2013 measures;

  • increasing the temporary £1,000 discount for shops, pubs and restaurants with rateable values below £50,000 to £1,500 for 2015-16, benefitting an estimated 300,000 properties in England;

  • extending the existing transitional relief scheme for two years for properties with a rateable value up to and including £50,000.

These policies are in addition to previous Autumn Statement measures that continue into 2015-16, including:

  • a 50 per cent discount for 18 months to new occupants of vacant shops;

  • allowing businesses to keep their small business rate relief for a year where they take on an additional property; and

  • business rates relief for empty new builds.

Central Government also now funds 50% of any local discount granted.

Local authority level data is not yet available for the number of properties that will benefit from Autumn Statement 2014 measures in 2015-16. However, the attached table shows the number of hereditaments in 2014-15 that have benefitted from business rates measures extended in this year’s autumn statement.