Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many staff working on Levelling Up have left his Department since its creation.
Answered by Jacob Young
Table 42 in the annual Civil Service statistics includes information on the number of leavers for the period in question and this information can be found at the following link for the years in question: Civil Service statistics - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
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 reduce postal voting fraud.
Answered by Simon Hoare
Postal voting is well established and popular with many electors, who find it a convenient way to vote. However, we need to be vigilant in ensuring that the processes are not exploited by those who would seek to deprive others of their democratic rights.
We have recently brought in a number of measures to strengthen the security of postal voting via the Elections Act 2022. These include: a requirement for identity checking, usually via National Insurance number, when applying for a postal ballot; a three-year limit on how long a postal voting arrangement can be held; and banning political campaigners from handling postal ballots, delivering our manifesto commitment to stop so-called “vote harvesting”.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many qualified building inspectors are (a) registered and (b) approved with the Construction Industry Council.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Construction Industry Council Approved Inspectors Register (CICAIR), a separate company owned by the Construction Industry Council (CIC), is currently the designated body for the registration of approved inspectors. There are currently 82 approved inspector companies registered in England and Wales.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the administration of planning applications at Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The performance of all local planning authorities in relation to speed and quality of decision-making are continuously monitored and reported quarterly through the Department’s live tables on planning application statistics. These can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-planning-application-statistics.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to protect the Cornish language.
Answered by Jacob Young
The Government is committed to supporting and preserving Cornwall’s rich language, heritage and culture. This is reflected through the recent devolution deal agreed with Cornwall in December 2023, which provides £500,000 of funding to support Cornish distinctiveness through the protection and promotion of the Cornish language.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has issued recent guidance to local authorities on the flying foreign flags on public buildings.
Answered by Lee Rowley
In England, flags are treated as advertisements for the purposes of the planning system and are controlled under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisement)(England) Regulations 2007. The Government publishes general guidance, the Plain English Guide to Flag Flying, for local planning authorities and others on the need for advertisement consent to display flags. This was last updated in July 2021. In broad terms, the Regulations permit certain types of flags, including any country’s national flag, to be flown without the need for consent from a local planning authority.
Should there be a perceived misuse of this flexibility, the department is open to reviewing this guidance once again, and we would welcome examples of concern.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help support the warehouse sector in Solihull constituency.
Answered by Jacob Young
Warehousing is a key part of the country’s supply chains, ensuring vital goods are available to businesses and consumers.
My department will continue to work with the sector to support its continued success as part of the work this government has been pursuing with the transport and logistics sector.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the potential impact of granting planning permission to the MSG Sphere in Stratford on economic growth in (a) east London and (b) the UK.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Because of the Secretary of State’s quasi-judicial role in the planning system, I cannot comment about the merits of this particular planning application.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to enable local authorities to hold elections using the single transferable voting system.
Answered by Simon Hoare
Government has not made any such assessment. The Government was elected on a manifesto which included a commitment to continue to support the First Past the Post voting system.
The Government believes that the First Past the Post system is a robust and secure way of electing representatives, that is well understood by voters, and provides for strong and clear local accountability. It ensures a clear link between elected representatives and constituents in a manner that other voting systems may not.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the deadline for applications to The Grenfell Assisted Home Ownership Scheme is.
Answered by Jacob Young
The Department is working to finalise the Grenfell Assisted Home Ownership Scheme and we hope to open it for applications in the coming months. We will write to all eligible residents once we have a firm date for launch. This will include details on how they can apply.