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Written Question
Freehold: Tribunals
Monday 4th March 2024

Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of tribunal processes against freeholders on the wellbeing of leaseholders.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

An impact assessment for the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill has been published at: Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament. The Bill will rebalance the legal costs regime and remove barriers for leaseholders to challenge their landlord.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Wednesday 3rd May 2023

Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of 17 February, 21 March and 14 April 2023 from the Rt hon. Member for Islington North on cladding.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

A response has been issued to the Rt. Hon. Member's correspondence. I apologise for the delay in responding.


Written Question
Housing: Greater London
Wednesday 20th July 2022

Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) council, (b) housing association and (c) private sector dwelling developments that will be completed in 2022 in Greater London, by Borough; and what the equivalent figures were for (i) 2021, (ii) 2020 and (iii) 2019.

Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)

The department does not publish housing completion forecasts in Greater London. The first release of 2022 housing supply indicators of new supply will be published in March 2023.

Estimates of building control reported new build dwelling completions, by tenure of developer, for London in each of the last 3 years, are shown in Live Table 217, at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building.

These cover new build dwellings only and should be regarded as a leading indicator of overall housing supply.

The department also publishes an annual release entitled 'Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England', which is the primary and most comprehensive measure of housing supply: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-net-supply-of-housing.

These cover all housing supply, but data by tenure are not centrally collected.


Written Question
Change of Use
Thursday 26th March 2015

Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what monitoring he has undertaken of the results of Permitted Development Rules that allow for conversion of commercial properties to housing; and what proportion of the new dwellings are for social rent.

Answered by Brandon Lewis

This Government is committed to providing more homes on brownfield land, and our change of use reforms are helping turn under-used or redundant office space into badly-needed accommodation, at no cost to taxpayers. The policy helps increase housing supply, including greater provision of studio and one-bedroom flats for young people. This policy is particularly beneficial in London, given the high demand for housing.

Research published by Knight Frank in May 2014 estimated that nationally, prior approval applications had been secured for over 3.2 million square feet of new housing.

An analysis by Planning magazine in November 2014, surveying London, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield, estimated that a total of 17,425 new homes had been given permission across those specific cities.

Research by Estates Gazette (EGi) in the year from May 2013 identified 303 schemes across London, delivering 8,924 new homes. The hon. Member may wish to note that in Islington alone, there were 26 schemes which were set to deliver 617 new homes.

My Department has been collating formal statistics on office to residential conversions since April 2014. A total of 1,436 prior approval applications were granted from April to December 2014, and a further 1,155 applications were made where prior approval was not necessary. These will deliver a significant volume of housing.

Those who seek to oppose these reforms need to spell out exactly where they think new homes should go instead.

We do not hold information on the tenure of such dwellings.


Written Question
Homelessness: Greater London
Wednesday 14th January 2015

Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the number of families that have been statutorily rehoused by each London borough (a) in that borough and (b) elsewhere in each year since 2010-11.

Answered by Kris Hopkins

Figures on the numbers of households owed a main homelessness duty that have been rehoused into settled accommodation by each London borough from 2012-13 onwards are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness.

These figures will include families. The figures do not specify whether households were rehoused in that borough or elsewhere.


This Government has invested over £500 million since 2010 to tackle all forms of homelessness and rough sleeping. The homelessness legislation in England provides one of the strongest safety nets in the world for families with children and vulnerable people who become homeless through no fault of their own. Local authorities are required to secure suitable accommodation for homeless households within their own district so far as is reasonably practicable. If they secure accommodation in another district they are legally required to notify the local housing authority in whose district the accommodation is situated. We have made it clear that no council should be sending tenants en masse to a different part of the country.

Councils have a responsibility to move homeless households into settled accommodation as quickly as possible. That is why we changed the law so that councils can place families in decent and affordable private rented homes more quickly. This will mean homeless households will not have to wait as long for settled accommodation, spending less time in temporary accommodation. Households now spend on average seven months less in temporary accommodation than at the start of 2010.


Written Question
Private Rented Housing: Greater London
Monday 12th January 2015

Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the number of private rented flats declared unfit for human habitation in each London borough in each year since 2010-11.

Answered by Brandon Lewis

The Housing Fitness Standard was replaced in 2006 by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, which was introduced through the Housing Act 2004. The Department does not collect data on the number of inspections carried out by local authorities under this System.


Written Question
Private Rented Housing: Greater London
Monday 12th January 2015

Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on rent levels in the private rented sector in each London borough in each year since 2010-11.

Answered by Brandon Lewis

The Valuation Office Agency publishes information about median private sector rents by local authority district. The most recent Valuation Office Agency data is for the 12 months to the end of September 2014 and can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/private-rental-market-statistics

The Valuation Office Agency advises that because the composition of this sample changes over time, it is not possible to compare median rents provided in this publication with statistics in previous publications to infer trends in the rental market over time.

The Office for National Statistics also produces an index on private sector rents for London as a whole; its figures show that rents have fallen in real terms in London since 2010.


Written Question
Housing: Construction
Monday 12th January 2015

Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many new dwellings were (a) started and (b) completed in (i) the private rented, (ii) local authority, (iii) owner-occupied and (iv) housing association sectors in each year since 2010-11.

Answered by Brandon Lewis

Statistics on house building starts and completions by tenure in each local authority district are published in the Department's live tables 253 (annual) and 253a (quarterly), which are available at:

http://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building

The ‘private rented’ and 'owner-occupied’ sectors will be included in the private enterprise tenure. Taken together, house building statistics by housing association and local authority tenures provide estimates of total social housing completions, but these figures understate total affordable supply. This is because the house building figures are categorised by the type of developer rather than the intended final tenure, leading to under recording of affordable housing, and a corresponding over recording of private enterprise figures.

More comprehensive statistics on affordable housing completions funded by the Homes and Communities Agency and the Greater London Authority since 2009-10 by local authority district are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/housing-statistics

http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/housing-land/increasing-housing-supply/gla-affordable-housing-statistics

These statistics include both newly built housing and acquisitions but exclude delivery of affordable housing not funded by Homes and Communities Agency or Greater London Authority programmes that are reported in local authority returns to the Department. A fuller picture of all affordable housing completions is published in the Department’s live tables 1006, 1006a, 1007 and 1008, which are available at:

http://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply


Written Question
Welfare Assistance Schemes
Tuesday 9th December 2014

Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of how local authorities have spent funding allocated for Local Welfare Assistance; and what assessment will be used to inform the decision on funding for Local Welfare Provision in 2015-16.

Answered by Kris Hopkins

The consultation on how local welfare provision should be funded in 2015/16 closed on 21 November. Government is analysing the responses alongside the Department for Work and Pensions’ review of current provision The Government will make a decision based on this analysis in time for the provisional local government finance settlement due shortly.


Written Question
Welfare Assistance Schemes
Tuesday 9th December 2014

Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the future of funding for Local Welfare Assistance schemes.

Answered by Kris Hopkins

The consultation on how local welfare provision should be funded in 2015/16 closed on 21 November. Government is analysing the responses alongside the Department for Work and Pensions’ review of current provision The Government will make a decision based on this analysis in time for the provisional local government finance settlement due shortly.