Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what percentage of eligible British Citizens living overseas submitted a successful application to register to vote in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The data requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the safety of cladding on high rise buildings in England.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has made clear that building safety is the responsibility of the building owner.
Acting on advice from the Expert Panel, the Government has commissioned research to support further understanding of the fire performance of external wall systems and cladding materials :
We have published advice (updated in January 2020) to building owners on the actions they should take with regards to external wall systems and managing the safety of buildings of all heights.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to ensure the safety of people who live in high rise buildings; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
In November 2018, the Government introduced a ban on combustible materials in and on the external walls of certain buildings, including blocks of flats more than 18 metres in height. We have more recently consulted on extending the scope of the ban and we will publish the results in due course.
The Government has committed £600 million for the remediation of high-rise residential buildings with unsafe ACM cladding. In March 2020, the £1 billion Building Safety Fund was then announced, aimed at remediating other unsafe cladding types on high-rise residential buildings. For high-rise residential buildings with unsafe ACM cladding, the Government has worked closely with local authorities and Fire and Rescue Services to ensure that interim safety measures, where needed, are in place until the cladding is replaced.
We have also published advice from the Independent Expert Advisory Panel on the measures building owners should take to ensure their buildings are safe. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-safety-advice-for-building-owners-including-fire-doors
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to tackle homelessness in the UK.
Answered by Nigel Adams
This Government remains clear that one person without a home is one too many, and we are committed to preventing and reducing homelessness and Rough Sleeping.
To achieve this, we have taken a number of important actions, including implementing the most ambitious legislative reform in decades The Homelessness Reduction Act came into force in April 2018.
We have established the Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce that will bring forward the implementation of a cross-Government strategy, to achieve our commitment of halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it altogether by 2027.
Supporting the Taskforce is the expert Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel. In addition, the Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and Rough Sleeping through to 2020.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the report entitled Everybody In: How to end homelessness in Great Britain, published by Crisis in 2018, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of that report; and if he will make an assessment of the validity of that report's findings on the merits of building 100,500 social homes each year.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The Government is aware homelessness is an issue which goes beyond Westminster, which is why the Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel was set up. The panel, of which Crisis CEO Jon Sparkes is a member, provides evidence-based advice which the Government will consider ahead of the upcoming Rough Sleeping Strategy.
This Government is pleased at how aligned the report is with actions we have already taken. The campaign calls for the implementation of schemes such as Housing First. In last autumn’s budget with £28 million worth of funding was announced for pilots in Manchester, Liverpool and the West Midlands.
We are committed to increasing the supply of new social homes. We are investing over £9 billion in affordable housing, and on June 26, this Department announced we will deliver a further 23,000 affordable homes, including at least 12,500 at social rent in high-cost areas, in a move to support families struggling to pay their rent. We have also invited local authorities in high affordability pressure areas to bid for a share of £1 billion extra borrowing to build much-needed homes.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the top-up funding for supported housing tenants given to local authorities is sufficient to make up the shortfall in funding following proposals to limit the level of housing benefit given to supported housing tenants to the level of local housing allowance.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Developing a workable and sustainable funding model for supported housing is a priority for the Government. We will set out further details on our plans later in the autumn.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that vulnerable people living in supported housing get the financial support needed to access adequately supported accommodation.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Developing a workable and sustainable funding model for supported housing is a priority for the Government. We will set out further details on our plans later in the autumn.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of reductions in local authority funding on Sunderland City Council's delivery of essential services.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Sunderland’s Core Spending Power was £232 million in 2015-16 and will be £231 million in 2019-20. The 4 year settlement means councils can plan ahead with confidence.
Local authorities are independent of central government and are responsible for managing their budgets in line with local priorities. Local spending decisions are better made by people who understand their communities and who are best placed to make the right call.
Sunderland City Council, like other councils, have continued to balance their budget while reducing council tax in real terms and maintaining public satisfaction with services.
The Spending Review took account of the costs of delivery of essential services and set out a sustainable basis for local authorities to discharge their functions. In addition, Spring Budget 2017 announced a further £2 billion funding in England to spend on adult social care over the next 3 years, of which Sunderland was allocated over £14 million over the next 3 years.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to monitor (a) letting agent fees, (b) lease terms and (c) safety standards in rented properties.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Government is committed to building a strong and safe private rented sector, which provides security and stability for both tenants and landlords. We announced at the 2016 Autumn Statement a ban on letting agent fees paid by tenants, to improve competition in the private rental market and give renters greater clarity and control over what they will pay. The Government will consult in the Spring on the detail of implementation.
The Housing White Paper outlines the Government’s intention to promote fairness and transparency for the growing number of leaseholders. We will consult on a range of measures to tackle all unfair and unreasonable abuses of leasehold and consider further reforms through the consultation to improve consumer choice and fairness for leaseholders.
An increasing number of private tenants are happy with their tenure and standards are improving. We are determined to ensure all sectors of the housing market provide decent homes.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people's views are taken into account on those proposals in the chapters of the White Paper, Fixing Our Broken Housing Market, published on 7 February 2017, which are not subject to public consultation.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Government's Housing White Paper should be read as a comprehensive package of reforms to fix the broken housing market which the Government will implement. On specific policy areas where we require detailed advice on policy proposals, we have set out clear deadlines for consultation and welcome feedback. Full information can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fixing-our-broken-housing-market
In addition, our Housing White Paper roadshow has involved visits to nine locations across the country, setting out the ambitious government reforms and listening to the opinions of local housing and planning professionals and the wider public .