Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what funded training the Government is considering to ensure that lay directors of Right to Manage Companies, Residential Management Companies and Commonholds are able to undertake their roles to a suitable standard.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government continues to examine what more can be done to protect and support leaseholders to ensure buildings are managed effectively, including increased provision of training for those who become right to manage company directors. In their 2020 report on the Right to Manage, the Law Commission recommended that free online training covering company law and building management should be made available to RTM company directors and prospective directors. We will respond to the Law Commission's recommendation in due course.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on using the forthcoming spending review to secure funding to expand Housing First provision to other areas in England.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
This Government is committed to ending rough sleeping as part of its latest Manifesto Commitment, utilising schemes like Housing First. Announcements regarding the Spending Review are imminent, which will set out how Government will continue to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what funding will be made available to the Housing First pilots in (a) Liverpool City Region, (b) Greater Manchester, (c) West Midlands Combined Authority to ensure that their clients will continue to be supported beyond their current funding deadlines from March 2023 onwards.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
This Government committed to ending rough sleeping as part of its latest manifesto, utilising schemes like Housing First. A research consortium led by ICF was commissioned at the start of the scheme to evaluate the pilots. Reports on individual pilots and the scheme as a whole will be produced in due course and these will inform next steps. Announcements regarding the Spending Review are imminent, which will set out how Government will continue to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what financial support he plans to make available to leaseholders in homes with unsafe cladding seeking to take legal action against the developers of their homes.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government's proposed changes to the Defective Premises Act 1972 as part of the Building Safety Bill will more than double the time available to seek compensation for substandard building work from six to 15 years. These new measures will provide a legal route to redress that is not currently possible for hundreds of buildings, potentially benefitting thousands of leaseholders.
The Government has been clear that those responsible must pay towards the cost of remediating defective buildings. It is fundamental that the industry that caused this issue contributes to setting things right. Some parts of the industry have done the right thing, funding remediation of serious historic defects, but this is not happening in all cases. In many cases, those who caused the problems are evading responsibility. That is why the Government is taking action, providing a route to redress so that those who caused these problems can be held accountable.
Under the Defective Premises Act, compensation can be claimed by the person who originally commissioned the work, or by any person subsequently acquiring a 'legal or equitable interest' in the dwelling. This includes the freeholder of a block of flats, as well as leaseholders. The Government's position is that it is freeholders who are responsible for ensuring their buildings are safe, and that they should meet the costs of remediation without passing them on to leaseholders wherever possible.
The Building Safety Bill further protects leaseholders by imposing a legal requirement on building owners to explore alternative ways to meet the cost of remediation works before passing these onto leaseholders, along with a requirement (in regulations) to provide evidence to leaseholders. Alternative sources of funding which must be explored before passing costs on include recovering costs from applicable warranty schemes, or from the developers or contractors who were responsible for the defects. Claims under the Defective Premises Act are one additional route that we expect building owners to explore, and our reforms will extend that option to hundreds of blocks where it is not currently possible.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to extend the health, care and volunteer workers parking pass in response to the postponement of the easing of covid-19 restrictions planned for 21 June 2021.
Answered by Luke Hall
At the end of March 2020, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government reached an agreement with the Local Government Association that local councils in England would voluntarily offer free car parking to all NHS workers, social care staff and NHS volunteer responders during the emergency response period.
With the national lockdown drawing to a close, challenges in managing pass fraud and an increasing number of councils moving toward offering local concessions for health workers and other groups, it was agreed that the national pass guidance should be withdrawn.
This is reflected in new joint parking enforcement advice provided in April to local authorities by the Local Government Association, British Parking Association and London Councils.
Councils are responsible for setting their own local policy and those interested in local parking concessions can check their local councils' website for further details of any local schemes.
NHS staff continue to be eligible for free parking in hospital car parks and funding for this has been provided to NHS Trusts by Government.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
What recent assessment he has made of the potential effect on high street businesses of proposals for a new permitted development right to allow more premises to change to residential use.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Our new permitted development rights will boost our high streets and town centres, put vacant buildings back to use, and help to build the homes this country needs. They will create jobs, deliver more housing, and create an easier and more flexible environment for businesses to set up and flourish. Previous permitted development right changes have already delivered over 72,000 new homes over the last 5 years to March 2020. And a survey last year showed three quarters of small and mid-sized property builders expect to make use of the changes to Permitted Development Rights to deliver more housing units.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether a local authority assessing the eligibility of an EU citizen for homelessness assistance after 30 June 2021 will be obliged to refuse assistance if that EU citizen is unable to demonstrate any proof of status and has not applied to the EU Settlement Scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
EEA citizens who have missed the 30 June 2021 deadline to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) and who do not have a different form of UK immigration status will be considered a person subject to immigration control and will not be eligible for an allocation of social housing or homelessness assistance. They will need to resolve their immigration status. The Home Office’s Immigration Rules for the EUSS provide scope for late applications to the EUSS to be accepted where there are reasonable grounds for missing the 30 June 2021 deadline, which may include those who are homeless or rough sleeping.
Guidance on eligibility for homelessness assistance can be found in Chapter 7 of the statutory Homelessness Code of Guidance. This is available at: www.gov.uk/guidance/homelessness-code-of-guidance-for-local-authorities.