Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
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 his Department's White Paper entitled A Fairer Private Rented Sector, what discussions he has had with the animal welfare sector on the potential impact of allowing landlords to require that tenants have pet insurance on pet owners.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
The Government has committed to giving tenants the right to request a pet that the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse. We will amend the Tenant Fees Act 2019 so that landlords can require insurance to cover damage to their property caused by pets.
The Government has engaged a wide range of stakeholders from across the sector, including animal welfare charities, while developing these proposals. We will continue to do so, ahead of legislating as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to protect the (a) future and (b) funding of parks and green spaces.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Government recognises that parks and green spaces are vital to communities and the people they serve, which is why the £9 million Levelling Up Parks Fund (LUPF) announced in August 2021 as part of the Levelling Up agenda will help to increase accessibility to quality green space across the UK, and level up areas which are most deprived of green space and provide communities with a place to come together.
The Park Action Group met on 2 January 2018, 23 May 2018, 5 February 2019 and 4 June 2019. The Park Action Group delivered a number of workstreams that remained active until the outbreak of COVID-19. The group’s achievements includes an analysis of available funding for public parks. The experts who delivered it directly advised the Government on the design of the new Levelling Up Parks Fund. We have several forums which allow us to engage across departments on issues related to parks and green spaces and with stakeholders. In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal meetings are not normally disclosed.
As with all departmental business, the Secretary of State maintains overall responsibility for the work of the department, and I support the Secretary of State on policy matters relating to parks and green spaces.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the effect of trends in the level of Local Housing Allowance on the affordability of local rents for private renters.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
In April 2020 we boosted investment in the Local Housing Allowance by nearly £1 billion and rates have been maintained at their increased level in 2021/22 and 2022/23. This increase was worth over an extra £600 on average in 2020-21 for 1.5 million claimants.
Government recognises that some private renters may need additional support. For those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) are available from local authorities. Since 2011 the Government has provided almost £1.6 billion in DHP funding to local authorities.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the effect of the cost of living crisis in trends of the level of homelessness.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken decisive action. The Autumn Statement announced £26 billion for 2023-24 designed to support the most vulnerable households, building on the £37 billion of support provided this year.
We are also providing an additional £50 million, through a top up to the Homelessness Prevention Grant, for local authorities to help prevent vulnerable households from becoming homeless this winter.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
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 3 November 2022 to Question 72503 on Domestic Visits: Batley and Spen, when he plans to visit Batley and Spen constituency to discuss levelling up.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Hon Member to my answer to Questions UIN 72503 . Officials have contacted the Hon Member’s office to progress arrangements.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
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 his contribution to HC Deb 2 February 2022, col 330, on Levelling Up, what progress his Department has made on setting up a visit for him to Batley and Spen constituency.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Ministers look forward to visiting the constituency of Batley and Spen when diary scheduling allows.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, on what date he expects local authorities to be able to access and input information to the online Levelling Up round 2 application forms.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
Work is ongoing to open the application portal for the second round of the Levelling Up Fund as soon as possible. In the meantime, applicants already have access to all the information needed to develop their applications. We have encouraged places to use these tools to prepare their applications in readiness to upload when the portal launches.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support local authorities to ensure there is an adequate provision of publicly available disabled toilets.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
The Changing Places Fund forms part of the National Disability Strategy launched in 2021. The Strategy made a public commitment to make £30 million capital funding available over 3 years to unitary and district councils in England with the objective to increase both the number and geographic spread of Changing Places Toilets (CPTs) and to provide them in venues of greatest need. Changing Places Toilets unlike standard accessible toilets, have an adult changing bench and hoist facilities as well as extra space for carers.
The CPF prospectus was published in July 2021 inviting unitary and district authorities to submit an expression of interest.
Following the outcome of the Round 1 assessment process the government has announced that 191 unitary and district councils across England have been allocated £23.5 million of funding to increase the number and spread of Changing Places Toilet facilities across England.
A further round of the Changing Places Fund is anticipated later in 2022.