Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the number of veterans who were sleeping rough on 13 December 2023.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
This data is available at Ending Rough Sleeping Data Framework, September 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
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 introduce regulation changes to protect current Local Government Pension Scheme members from planned changes to the national minimum pension age in April 2028.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Announcements will be set out in the usual way.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2023 to Question 127714 on Levelling Up Fund, if he will take steps to estimate the average cost to local authorities of applying to the Levelling Up Fund.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 129836 on 26 January 2023.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate his Department has made of the average cost to a local councils of putting forward a bid to the Levelling Up Fund.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Details of the assessment and decision-making process for round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund are available in the published explanatory note. A detailed breakdown of funding requested and awarded in round 2 can be found in the published geographic and thematic analysis. The department does not request nor record the costs incurred by applicants to the Fund. As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 19 January, I am pleased to say there will be a third round of the Fund and we will outline more information on this in due course.
Unsuccessful applicants to this second round will be provided written feedback to support future applications into levelling up funds.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to allocate round three of Levelling Up funding.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Details of the assessment and decision-making process for round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund are available in the published explanatory note. A detailed breakdown of funding requested and awarded in round 2 can be found in the published geographic and thematic analysis. The department does not request nor record the costs incurred by applicants to the Fund. As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 19 January, I am pleased to say there will be a third round of the Fund and we will outline more information on this in due course.
Unsuccessful applicants to this second round will be provided written feedback to support future applications into levelling up funds.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether it is his policy to amend the Defective Premises Act 1972 to increase the powers of leaseholders whose properties were constructed over thirty years ago.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government brought forward extensive protections for leaseholders through the Building Safety Act 2022, enabling those responsible for historical safety defects to be pursued and held to account. The leaseholder protections in the Act cover historical safety defects created since 28 June 1982, including those created during a refurbishment of a building which was originally constructed more than thirty years ago.
The Government has no plans to further extend the retrospective provisions for the Defective Premises Act 1972, however, the department will continue to monitor compliance with the Act’s provisions and allow the new regime to bed in before deciding whether further legislation should be brought forward.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Government plans to announce third round bids for the Levelling Up Fund in March 2023.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 71000 on 2 November 2022.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when the third round of Levelling Up Fund bids will be considered.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
We are not yet committing to the timing or format of future rounds. Announcements will be made in the usual way.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Social housing rents consultation, published by his Department on 31 August 2022, what assessment he has made of the potential financial impact of capping rent increases on housing associations in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and (c) 2025.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Our consultation on social housing rents in England issued on 31 August 2022 sought views on a temporary change to social housing rent policy that would take effect from 1 April 2023. Alongside this consultation we published an Impact Assessment (Annex D) which provided our assessment of the impact of options set out in our consultation paper – including on housing associations and local authorities. These documents can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/social-housing-rents-consultation.
The consultation closed on 12 October 2022 and we are currently reviewing the responses.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of the cost of living crisis on people living in private rented accommodation; and what steps his Department is taking to help support those people.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Government understands the pressures some private renters are facing with the cost of living.
That is why it has taken action worth over £37 billion to support those who need it most in 2022-23. This includes households receiving £400 of support with their energy bills through an expansion of the Energy Bills Support Scheme and the £150 Council Tax rebate for households in England in Council Tax bands A-D. The Household Support Fund has also been extended to help vulnerable households with the cost of essentials including energy bills.
In addition, the Energy Price Guarantee will reduce the unit cost of electricity and gas so that a typical household in Great Britain will save around £700 this Winter. The Energy Price Guarantee will be in place from 1 October 2022 until 31 March 2023.
Private renters who need help towards their rental payments may be eligible for a range of support through the welfare system. Local Housing Allowance rates have been maintained at their increased levels in 2022-23, following investment of nearly £1 billion in April 2020. For those most in need, support is available through Discretionary Housing Payments to help meet a shortfall in housing costs.