Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the white paper entitled Levelling Up the United Kingdom, published on 2 February 2022, whether he is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to include policies on increasing voter registration among disabled citizens in the Disability Action Plan.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is taking steps to support the participation of disabled people in the electoral process.
This includes making registering to vote as easy and accessible as possible. The Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service also complies with accessibility standards set by GDS.
It is the responsibility of individual Electoral Registration Officers and the Electoral Commission to raise awareness of and ensure registration of all eligible people. Recognising those responsibilities, DLUHC works closely with organisations representing disabled people and the electoral sector and helps to facilitate conversations and sharing best practice between local authorities and such bodies.
Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Written Statement of 6 December 2022, HCWS416, on An Update on Levelling Up, whether his Department is taking steps to advise local authorities which are part-way through planning inspectorate examinations on their strategic frameworks and local plans.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Due to my quasi-judicial role in the planning process I cannot comment on a specific local plan. It is the role of the independent Inspector, appointed by the Secretary of State, to test plans against current national policies through examination. The Government is consulting on its proposed approach to updating the National Planning Policy Framework until 2 March 2023. Any subsequent updates to policies and guidance are expected to be introduced later in the Spring, taking into account the responses received. At that stage, it will be for authorities with plans already submitted for examination, together with the Inspector, to determine how to proceed.
Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support leaseholders who were negatively affected by ground rent clauses in property transactions prior to 2010.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government is committed to creating a more transparent housing system that works for everyone. We have brought forward legislation that sets ground rents on newly created leases to zero through the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, which came into force on 30 June 2022.
We understand the difficulties some existing leaseholders face with high and escalating ground rents. This is why we asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate potential mis-selling of homes and unfair terms in the leasehold sector.
The CMA have secured commitments benefiting over 20,000 leaseholders, including commitments to return doubling ground rent terms to original rates. These settlements will help to free thousands more leaseholders from unreasonable ground rent increases. The CMA continue to engage with a number of firms and we urge other developers to follow suit.