Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the revised Joint Spatial Plan for South Gloucestershire allows the building of affordable homes in the Filton and Bradley Stoke area.
Answered by Esther McVey
Wherever possible we want to allow decisions about the future of areas to be taken locally without the involvement of central government.
Because of his quasi-judicial role in the planning system, the Secretary of State is unable to comment on the detail of local plans at examination. The authorities involved in the Joint Spatial Plan for the West of England, including South Gloucestershire, have choices to make about how they want to proceed with their plan given the recommendation from their Planning Inspectors that it should be withdrawn. The policies in any revised plan will be locally determined and will then be assessed by independent Inspectors for their soundness.
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that housing needed for different groups in the community should be assessed and reflected in planning policies, including making sufficient provision for affordable housing.
The government is committed to increasing the supply of social housing and has delivered over 430,000 affordable homes since 2010. We have made £9 billion available through the Affordable Homes Programme to March 2022 to deliver approximately 250,000 new affordable homes of a wide range of tenures, including at least 12,500 for social rent.
On 18 September 2018 we announced an additional £2 billion of long term funding certainty for housing associations. This extra funding will deliver more affordable homes and stimulate the sector’s wider building ambitions, through strategic partnerships.
On 27 June 2019, we opened bidding on £1 billion of this funding through Homes England.
Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that the revised Joint Spatial Plan for South Gloucestershire will not effect the building of affordable homes in the Filton and Bradley Stoke area.
Answered by Esther McVey
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has for speeding up the planning process for large developments whilst ensuring adequate consultation with affected local residents.
Answered by Esther McVey
At Spring Statement, government announced that MHCLG will be publishing an Accelerated Planning Green Paper. The Green Paper will look at how greater capacity and capability within local planning authorities, better performance management and procedural improvements can accelerate the end-to-end planning process for all, while protecting and strengthening the role that communities play in new development that comes forward. The Green Paper will be published later this year.
Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of local authorities using the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 Article 4 powers to restrict the number of Houses in Multiple Occupation in defined areas.
Answered by Esther McVey
Under a national permitted development right, a private house is able to change use to a House in Multiple Occupation for up to six people sharing facilities without the need for a planning application. Change of use to a larger House in Multiple Occupation requires an application for planning permission.
Where there is sufficient evidence that it is necessary to protect local amenity or the wellbeing of a specific area, a local planning authority may withdraw a permitted development right using an Article 4 direction. This would mean any change of use to a House in Multiple Occupation for up to six people sharing facilities would also require an application for planning permission. It will be for the local planning authority to consult on and consider the merits of such an approach, using local evidence on a case by case basis.
Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what levels of apprenticeships are offered by his Department; and how many apprenticeship starts there were at each level in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jake Berry
The Department had 67 apprenticeship starts at the following levels in each of the last three years:
Year & Subject Type | Level 3 | Level 4 | Grand Total |
2015/16 | 4 | 6 | 10 |
Business Administration | 4 | 6 | 10 |
2016/17 | 9 | 26 | 35 |
Business Administration | 0 | 25 | 25 |
Finance | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Management | 9 | 0 | 9 |
2017/18 | 0 | 22 | 22 |
Business Administration | 0 | 20 | 20 |
Finance | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Project Delivery | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Total | 13 | 54 | 67 |
The Department currently employs 43 diverse and talented apprentices working right across the organisation in policy, admin and PA support roles. Most are studying towards a Level 4 qualification in business administration, though we also have apprentices working towards finance and project delivery qualifications. This time next year we will be welcoming the very first batch of policy officer apprentices which is a brand new apprenticeship that MHCLG helped design. We are also expecting to welcome our first Cyber and Digital apprentices next year, and offer a range of apprenticeships to existing staff including the Level 6 Chartered Manager Degree apprenticeship.