Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in the (a) Welsh and (b) Scottish devolved administrations on the (i) establishment and (ii) operation of the New Homes Ombudsman scheme.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Ministers and officials have regular engagement with the devolved administrations on a range of issues.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what checks his Department undertakes into the backgrounds of sponsors in the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The most up to date information on sponsor checks can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-sponsor-guidance#eligibility .
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department seeks references for candidates appointed to public positions which fall under the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities does not routinely seek references for Public Appointments.
The Governance Code on Public Appointments sets out that the Advisory Assessment Panel must satisfy itself that all candidates for appointment can meet the Seven Principles of Public Life and adhere to the Code of Conduct for board members of public bodies.
The Governance Code requires that candidates are asked to declare relevant interests and these are discussed at interview. The department may also provide the panel with other information, for example, open source material that they may wish to consider in reaching a judgement in a fair and open way.
References may not always be an appropriate, fair or open way of reaching such an assessment due to the limitations on what might be provided and the lack of transparency as to their contents.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many items of written correspondence from hon. Members sent to Ministers in his Department have been (a) received and (b) replied to since 1 April 2020; and how many of those responses were responded to by (i) Ministers and (ii) officials.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government recognises the great importance of the effective and timely handling of correspondence.
The Cabinet Office is currently compiling data on the timeliness of responses to Hon. and Rt Hon. members from Government Departments and Agencies. This data will be released, and made available to Members, in due course.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to enable faith venues that are approved for the registration of marriages to hold small wedding ceremonies with only the couple, celebrant and witnesses in attendance.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
We want to allow people to hold small weddings as soon as we can, but this must be done safely. Working with other departments, we will consider how small wedding ceremonies could take place safely in due course. We are working in partnership with faith leaders, through our Places of Worship Taskforce, to develop guidance that will enable the phased and safe reopening of places of worship.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will extend the same protections that are in place for tenants of commercial properties to artists facing eviction from rented workspaces and studios as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Through Section 82 of the Coronavirus Act 2020, the Government has introduced temporary new measures to protect tenants renting commercial property from aggressive forms of rent recovery: we have legislated to enact a?moratorium on commercial forfeitures due to non-payment of rent, due to end on 30 June; statutory demands and winding up petitions issued to commercial tenants will be temporarily voided; and changes have been made to the use of Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery.
The protection from eviction applies to businesses from any sector which have:
(a) a tenancy to which Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 applies, or
(b) a tenancy to which that Part of that Act would apply if any relevant occupier were the tenant.
Assuming the nature of their lease or contract is in line with the above, any tenant should be protected under this legislation.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with Ministerial colleagues on ensuring that the social housing system helps people with mental health conditions.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Ministers and officials from my department have regular discussions with our counterparts in the Department of Health and Social Care to discuss a range of issues, including mental health.
The Social Housing Green Paper recognises that many landlords play a role that goes beyond their key responsibilities, which includes providing signposting to vital services, including mental health services. Through the Green Paper, we are seeking to gather evidence on the impact of the important role that many social landlords are playing.
Within social housing and more widely, supported housing provides a vital service for vulnerable people, including people with mental health issues. Safeguarding provision and supply of appropriate supported accommodation is a priority for my Department - and we will continue to provide capital grant funding to promote new supply of supported housing. Our recent announcement confirming that funding for all supported housing will stay in Housing Benefit, will also give confidence to the sector to continue to invest in new supply. We are also reviewing oversight arrangements for all supported housing. As a Government, we are investing record levels in mental health, spending £11.98 billion in 2017/18.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of renaming his Department including signage, stationery, website, business cards and any other associated costs.
Answered by Jake Berry
Building the homes our country needs is an absolute priority for this government. The name change for the department reflects this government’s renewed focus to deliver more homes and build stronger communities across England.
Any necessary changes will be done in a cost-efficient way with expenditure being kept to a minimum.
This would be a fraction of the cost of splitting up the Ministry as proposed by the opposition.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Government response to the Housing White Paper will consider ancient woodland and veteran trees.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We are currently analysing responses to the public consultation on the Housing White Paper, which included proposals to strengthen the protections afforded to ancient woodland and aged or veteran trees when preparing plans or making decisions on planning applications. This change to national planning policy would place these irreplaceable habitats alongside other policies, such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Green Belt, National Parks and designated heritage assets.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
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 support the revival of the Cornish language.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green on 12 May to Question UIN 36737.