Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support her Department has provided to local authorities to (a) build and (b) maintain sports facilities in (i) Hexham constituency, (ii) Northumberland, (iii) Newcastle, (iv) the North East and (v) England.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, a 6.8% cash terms increase in councils’ Core Spending Power on 2024-25.
The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced, recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities.
DCMS and its ALB provide direct funding to sports facilities. The government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. The government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. Additional funding for grassroots sport facilities is also delivered through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, which is providing £98 million across the UK in 2025/26 to support new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities.
In June the Culture Secretary announced another £400 million to transform community sport facilities across the whole of the nation following the Spending Review. We will now work closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has had recent discussions with relevant stakeholders on the extension of the Rough Sleeping Initiative in the North East.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
For 2025-26, we are consolidating our main rough sleeping and single homelessness focused grants (Rough Sleeping Initiative, which includes Housing First funding, and Accommodation for Ex Offenders) into a single Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant. The Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant will provide up to £280.75 million in funding across England in 2025/26.
Allocations for the Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant 2025/26 can be found here: Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant allocations 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has had recent discussions with relevant stakeholders on the extension of the Rough Sleeping Initiative.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
For 2025-26, we are consolidating our main rough sleeping and single homelessness focused grants (Rough Sleeping Initiative, which includes Housing First funding, and Accommodation for Ex Offenders) into a single Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant. The Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant will provide up to £280.75 million in funding across England in 2025/26.
Allocations for the Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant 2025/26 can be found here: Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant allocations 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many people are homeless in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East and (e) England.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
Published data on homelessness including number of people in temporary accommodation can be found here:
Tables on homelessness - GOV.UK
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many people are on the waiting list for social housing in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East and (e) England.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The number of households on social housing registers (waiting lists) in (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East and (e) England is available in live table 600 on gov.uk here.
The department does not collect this information by parliamentary constituency, so we do not have the information for (a) Hexham constituency.
The number of households on the housing register (waiting list) is not the same as the number of households waiting. Local authorities periodically review their registers to remove households who no longer require housing, so the total number of households on housing registers may overstate the number of households who still require social housing at any one time. The frequency of reviews varies between local authorities. Housing register size may also be affected by other factors. For example, there is the potential for some households to be on the housing register of more than one local authority.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to approve Gilsland Community Benefit Society's award from the Community Ownership Fund.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
I can confirm that monies are being released to those successful Community Ownership Fund projects that have been announced. Officials will be in touch with projects to ensure that they receive the funding as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the status is of applications submitted to the Community Ownership Fund Round 4 Window 1.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
This government is committed to the communities sector and community ownership through empowering communities to own and run those local assets which mean the most to them. The English Devolution Bill will empower communities with a strong new ‘right to buy’ beloved community assets, such as empty shops, pubs and community spaces.
We will make further announcements in due course.