Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether Ukrainian refugees placed with host families under the Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme will be able to change host family during the first six months; and whether the payment to the original host family will transfer to the new host family in that event.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Sponsors are committed to hosting guests for a minimum of 6 months. Payments will stop when the sponsorship ends.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reason leaseholders who are landlords are not able to receive support for the rectification of unsafe cladding and other fire safety defects.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We are clear that building owners and industry should make buildings safe without passing on costs to leaseholders, and leaseholders living in their own medium and high-rise buildings should not have to pay to remediate historic cladding defects that are no fault of their own. We have further clarified that we have no intention of excluding leaseholders who have moved out and sublet from protections that will be put in place (including those in shared ownership) for buildings over 11 metres in England. We will explore whether this support should extend to other leaseholders, such as buy-to-let landlords. We are also bringing forth statutory protections in the Building Safety Bill to ensure leaseholders are protected.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reason the Building Safety Fund has agreed to pay for the replacement of zinc cladding on wooden battens on the Express Networks 2 building in Manchester but not on The Gateway building in Leeds which also has zinc on wooden batten cladding.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answers previously given to Questions UIN 64550 on 1 November 2021 and UIN 67061 on 4 November 2021. All zinc cladding systems that have been deemed eligible for funding have been found to be present in combination with combustible insulation that meets the eligibility criteria.
More information on the eligibility criteria for the Building Safety Fund can be found in Prospectus Annex A: Technical Information of the Building Safety Fund Prospectus, available at: www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#prospectus---outlining-eligibility-for-the-fund.
In fact, neither of the buildings mentioned met the eligibility criteria. There is an example of another building in Manchester with an apparently similar cladding system which has received funding, but this is because the cladding system present includes combustible insulation.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many stage 2 funding applications are being held up pending the publication of the revised Building Safety Fund Grant Funding Agreement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The revised Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) for the Building Safety Fund (BSF) will be made available to Applicants shortly. There should be no obstacle to the remediation of unsafe cladding being carried out without further delay.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when the Building Safety Fund revised Grant Funding Agreement will be made available to applicants.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The revised Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) for the Building Safety Fund (BSF) will be made available to Applicants shortly. There should be no obstacle to the remediation of unsafe cladding being carried out without further delay.