Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps to prevent long leases from becoming assured shorthold tenancies.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Renters’ Rights Bill will abolish assured shorthold tenancies, so most private rented sector tenancies will be assured tenancies in future.
The Bill will also exclude leases over 21 years in length from the assured tenancy regime.
This will mean that long leases cannot be considered assured or assured shorthold tenancies once the Bill’s reforms have been brought into force.
This will close the ‘Tenancy Trap’, a problem for some leasehold-homeowners where their properties can be repossessed via the assured tenancy possession ground for rent arrears.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to reconstitute the Islands Forum.
Answered by Jim McMahon
My department is continuing to work closely with other UK Government departments to determine the future of the forum, which we will communicate in due course.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that memorandum of understanding agreements with councils for this year’s Shared Prosperity Funding are in place; and whether the deadline for spend will be extended.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Officials are working at pace to ensure that memorandum of understanding agreements for delivery of UK Shared Prosperity Funding (UKSPF) in 2025-26 are distributed to lead local authorities as soon as possible and before the start of the next financial year.
UKSPF funding for the 2022-25 period must be incurred on activity that takes place on or before 31 March 2025. There is no flexibility to extend this expenditure deadline. Any UKSPF, Multiply or Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) underspends at the end of 2024-25 must be repaid to MHCLG.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether there is any recourse to funding available to people wishing to buy a pub in their village in the context of the closure of the Community Ownership Fund.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Community groups seeking funding to preserve community assets, including community pubs, can continue to use the guidance and tools available through the Community Ownership Fund development support provider on the MyCommunity site.
These tools have been designed to help any organisation seeking to save an asset that is important to them and their local community and will remain available beyond the programme. The development support provider may also be able to help to suggest alternative sources of funding that organisations could look to secure.
This Government remains committed to the communities’ sector and to community empowerment. The Devolution White Paper, which was published on 16 December 2024, set out plans which demonstrate our commitment. There will be further announcements relating to communities this year, including on the community ownership of assets.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of the number of employees who will be impacted by the closure of the Department’s office in Truro; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of this closure on those employees.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
As at the 30 November 2024 there were 15 MHCLG employees based in the Truro office. The Department are consulting staff and Trade Unions on the decision to close the Truro office. This consultation will consider the impact on the individuals affected with a view to putting in place measures to mitigate that impact and enable them to continue to perform their roles effectively.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will introduce the Future Homes and Building Standards as soon as possible.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Future Homes and Buildings Standards consultation was published in December 2023 and closed in March 2024; a government response, including implementation plans, has not yet been issued.
Government fully supports the need for low carbon homes and buildings, fit for a net zero future. We are reviewing proposals and feedback from the Future Homes and Buildings Standards consultation and will publish the government response in due course.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will issue guidance to registered social housing providers which confirms that if a floor covering exists in a property when the tenancy changes over that the default will be to keep it as part of the Decent Homes Standard.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
There is currently no legislation that requires social housing landlords to provide floor coverings and landlords are not required to remove floor coverings when a home is let to new tenants.
The government will consult on a new Decent Homes Standard next year.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will update the Decent Homes Standard to include floor coverings in social rented properties.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
There is currently no legislation that requires social housing landlords to provide floor coverings and landlords are not required to remove floor coverings when a home is let to new tenants.
The government will consult on a new Decent Homes Standard next year.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her planned timetable is for a decision on the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology by local authorities as a parking enforcement tool to tackle non-compliance with parking charges.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology cannot be used by Councils to enforce parking contraventions once a vehicle has left the car park. A notice of a parking charge from a Council must be given by a civil enforcement officer affixing it too the vehicle. The Government has no plans to review this position.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to alter planning regulations to require permission for changes from residential use class to a new short term let use class.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer my Hon Friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 426 on 26 July 2024.