Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support his Department plans to provide to the regeneration project in Palmer Lane in Coventry.
Answered by Jake Berry
My Department is not providing specific support for the Palmer Lane project in Coventry.
However, through the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) the Government has invested over £131 million of Local Growth Funding into Coventry and Warwickshire, which is supporting 16 projects across the region. This is forecast to deliver 7,500 new jobs, 3,400 new homes and bring in a total of £240 million of investment. The Government has additionally announced a new Stronger Towns Fund, a £1.6 billion fund to support towns in England to harness their unique strengths to grow and prosper.
Following our departure from the European Union, we will create the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), a programme of investment to tackle inequalities between communities by raising productivity and which will invest across the foundations of productivity, identified in our Industrial Strategy.
The Coventry and Warwickshire LEP continues to identify projects which can bring additional growth and jobs to the region.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
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 trends in the level of home ownership for under-45 year-olds since 2010.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The proportion of under 45-year-olds owning their own home was 50 per cent in 2010-11. This fell to 42 per cent in 2016-17 and has increased to 45 per cent in 2017-18.
Supported by government schemes including Help to Buy and Right to Buy, the number of first-time buyers rose to over 370,000 in 2018, which is an 86 per cent increase since 2010.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
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 reduce the death rate among homeless people.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Every death of someone sleeping rough on our streets is one too many and we take this matter extremely seriously. The Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy. This sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period. In its first year, the Rough Sleeping Initiative provided over 1,750 new bed spaces and 500 staff.
It should not happen that people die prematurely and on the street because they are homeless. Whilst we recognise that suitable housing is a key part of the solution, health services have a significant role to play, alongside other public services. My department is working with the Department for Health and Social Care to ensure that rough sleepers have the health care they need, when they need it. The 10 year NHS long-term plan sets out that the NHS will invest up to £30 million on health services for people sleeping rough from 2019/20.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of emergency cold weather accommodation for rough sleepers.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
In periods of severe weather, Severe Weather Emergency Provision (SWEP) is triggered and local authorities work closely with charities to provide basic emergency accommodation to minimise the risk of harm to individuals who are sleeping rough. Local authorities take a common sense approach to activating SWEP, which may be triggered by extreme cold, heavy rain, high winds or extreme heat.
We recognise the additional challenges that cold weather poses for local authorities in terms of rough sleeping. On 31 October 2018, we launched the Cold Weather Fund, of up to £5 million, for all local authorities to provide a robust, local response to support rough sleepers off the streets prior to the impending winter period. Over 160 local authorities were granted funding under this scheme and funding was made available for over 1,000 additional bed spaces.
The Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy. This sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period. In its first year, the Rough Sleeping Initiative provided over 1,750 new bed spaces and 500 staff.