Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many and what proportion of playgrounds are accessible to disabled children in England.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government's National Planning Policy Framework encourages the creation of places that are safe, inclusive and accessible and which promote health and well-being. In support of this, the National Model Design Code, which guides the production of local design codes, encourages the design of children's play areas to be inclusive and accessible.
Local planning authorities are responsible for the achievement of these objectives locally and can influence the development of play areas through their local planning policies and decisions.
We aim to review the national planning and design guidance periodically, in consultation with relevant organisations.
The department does not hold data on the number and proportion of playgrounds that are accessible to disabled children in England.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Levelling Up Parks Fund includes provisions to help ensure that parks are more inclusive for disabled children.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The UK Government launched the £9 million Levelling Up Parks Fund (LUPF) on 1 August. In England, 85 eligible local authorities have opted in to receive funding to deliver new or significantly refurbished green spaces in the neighbourhoods most deprived of green spaces.
The Fund will increase access to quality green spaces in some of our most deprived villages, towns and cities. It is for local leaders to decide how they can best do that in their neighbourhoods, considering the needs and views of local people. Where they decide that improved facilities for disabled children falls within their local priorities, the funding can be used for renovating parks to improve their inclusivity.
Local authorities are also subject to the public sector equality duty, which requires them to consider the needs and disadvantages faced by people with protected characteristics, which includes disabled users of their green spaces.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
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 impact of the Levelling Up Parks Fund on making parks more inclusive for disabled children.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The UK Government launched the £9 million Levelling Up Parks Fund (LUPF) on 1 August. In England, 85 eligible local authorities have opted in to receive funding to deliver new or significantly refurbished green spaces in the neighbourhoods most deprived of green spaces.
The Fund will increase access to quality green spaces in some of our most deprived villages, towns and cities. It is for local leaders to decide how they can best do that in their neighbourhoods, considering the needs and views of local people. Where they decide that improved facilities for disabled children falls within their local priorities, the funding can be used for renovating parks to improve their inclusivity.
Local authorities are also subject to the public sector equality duty, which requires them to consider the needs and disadvantages faced by people with protected characteristics, which includes disabled users of their green spaces.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many (a) new build planning approvals and (b) houses built there were in Swindon in each year since 2010.
Answered by Dominic Raab
a) Estimates of the residential planning applications granted (planning approvals) for England and in each local authority district, year to September quarter 2017, are shown in table P136 at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-planning-application-statistics
Earlier versions of table P136 are also available from the same link:
those for years ending July 2012 to June 2017 are under the heading, “Historical Live Tables”, and
those for years ending September 2010 to June 2012 are available from the relevant link to the National Archives.
b) Estimates of house building; new build dwellings completions for England and in each local authority district, to September quarter 2017, are shown in Live Table 253a 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.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with the Local Government Association on training for councillors.
Answered by Rishi Sunak
The Department works closely with the Local Government Association (LGA) on a host of issues and through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), provides £21 million of funding to the LGA to deliver a number of activities. Included in this is training and development offers for councillors, for example, the LGA have a target of providing development opportunities for at least 700 councillors and also run a more tailored development offer for ambitious councillors. This MoU is reviewed formally on a quarterly basis by officials and the LGA.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much money has been allocated from the New Homes Bonus to (a) Swindon and (b) England in each year since that grant's inception.
Answered by Dominic Raab
I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 2 February 2017 to Question UIN 61781. Allocations in 2017/18 for Swindon and local authorities in England are set out in the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-homes-bonus-final-allocations-2017-to-2018
In 2017/18 a retrospective allocation was made to 9 authorities totalling £33,600 to correct a minor error in their Affordable Housing numbers for Year 6. This increased the total allocation for England in 2016/17 to £1,461,888,924.