Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions officials his Department have had with local authorities on the duration of remote council meetings.
Answered by Luke Hall
Where local authority meetings take place face-to-face the ‘Working safely during cornavirus’ guidance published on gov.uk should be followed. Ultimately it is for local authorities to carry out their own risk assessments and follow the ‘working safely’ guidance to ensure meetings take place safely. It is for the local authority to decide what is appropriate in their specific circumstances.
The Government keeps all policy under review. To extend the facility for all local authorities to continue to meet remotely or in hybrid form after 7 May 2021 would require primary legislation.
We have received representations from local authorities and sector representative organisations making the case for the continuation of remote meetings beyond 7 May 2021 and are carefully considering next steps in this area.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to extend the ability of local authorities to hold meetings remotely through (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation; and if he will publish those plans.
Answered by Luke Hall
Where local authority meetings take place face-to-face the ‘Working safely during cornavirus’ guidance published on gov.uk should be followed. Ultimately it is for local authorities to carry out their own risk assessments and follow the ‘working safely’ guidance to ensure meetings take place safely. It is for the local authority to decide what is appropriate in their specific circumstances.
The Government keeps all policy under review. To extend the facility for all local authorities to continue to meet remotely or in hybrid form after 7 May 2021 would require primary legislation.
We have received representations from local authorities and sector representative organisations making the case for the continuation of remote meetings beyond 7 May 2021 and are carefully considering next steps in this area.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many funds his Department is responsible for; how many funds shared with other departments his Department is responsible for; and if he will provide a list of each of those funds and provide details of whether each those funds is allocated (a) competitively or (b) on the basis of need.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
All the details of the Department’s funding programmes are set out in the Explanatory Memoranda on our Estimates. The most recent memoranda for our Supplementary Estimate 2020-21 will be published shortly.
The Department’s Main Estimate Explanatory Memorandum for 2020-21 is available here: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/931/documents/7131/default/.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what methodology his Department used to the determine the priority areas listed in the (a) UK Community Renewal Fund and (b) UK Shared Prosperity Fund; and if he will publish that methodology.
Answered by Luke Hall
To ensure the UK Community Renewal Fund funding reaches the most in need, we have identified 100 priority places based on an index of economic resilience across Great Britain which measures productivity, household income, unemployment, skills, and population density. We are committed to transparency and a methodological note will be published explaining how the 100 priority places were selected.
We will publish details on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in a UK-wide Investment Framework later in 2021. The UK Community Renewal Fund will help inform the design of the UK Shared Prosperity through funding of one-year pilots, but the Funds are distinct in regard to design, eligibility, and duration.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what methodology his Department used to calculate the £1.5 billion per year that will be required for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to match EU Structural Funds; and if he will publish that calculation.
Answered by Luke Hall
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) will help to level up and create opportunity across the UK for people and places.
Funding for the UKSPF will ramp up so that total domestic UK-wide funding will at least match receipts from EU structural funds, on average reaching around £1.5 billion per year. Its funding profile will be set out at the next Spending Review.
£1.5 billion is the average annual investment from EU Structural Funds (including ERDF, ESF and ETC) over the previous EU funding round.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what criteria his Department uses to assess whether a fund should be (a) competitive or (b) allocated on the basis of need.
Answered by Luke Hall
In designing funding programmes, MHCLG works closely with a range of stakeholders in and outside government to identify the most appropriate method for distributing funding, considering a wide variety of different approaches. Our focus is on ensuring that public funding gets to where it is needed most, and that it is invested in high quality interventions that maximise value for money for the taxpayer.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the ability of parish and town councils to apply for grant funding.
Answered by Luke Hall
The Government does not have powers to offer Section 31 grants directly to parish and town councils, which are instead often funded in part through a precept collected from within the council tax paid by their residents. The Secretary of State has written to principal authorities and asked them to discuss the funding support for parish councils from within the support we have provided them. We continue to encourage parish and town councils to work with their principal authority (district or unitary council) where they are delivering vital services that have been impacted by COVID-19.
In the expectation that parish and town councils continue to show restraint when setting council tax precept levels, the Government has proposed to continue with no referendum principles for town and parish councils in 2021-22. The Government will take careful account of the increases set by parishes in 2021-22 when reviewing the matter ahead of next year’s settlement.
If a parish or town council operates a leisure facility that is outsourced to an external provider, then the parent local authority was eligible to bid to the Sports England National Leisure Recovery Fund (NLRF) on its behalf. Applications to the fund are currently being assessed and the results should be known by late February.
Parish and town councils are also not excluded from the COVID-19 business grant programme where they operate hereditaments that meet the criteria set out in guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-business-support-grant-funding.