Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the recommendations of the analysis provided at its request by the Courtyard Societies on their tenancy and public value.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Department is sympathetic to the Societies’ position and is exploring whether there is a solution that can deliver value for taxpayers and help the Learned Societies remain at New Burlington House. The Department has been discussing options with DCMS given their responsibility for policy in regards to culture, museum and heritage.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to resume negotiations with Courtyard Societies on the tenancy and the value of Burlington House.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Ministers and officials are in frequent contact with the Learned Societies.
The Learned societies pay discounted rent on new Burlington House, currently 30 per cent of the market rate, in line with the agreement they reached with the then Government in 2006. The current arrangement would not see them pay market rent until 2085, however the Government is sympathetic to their position and is working with them to find a solution.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
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 funding for (a) children's and (b) youth services provided by his Department to Oxfordshire County Council in each of the last five years.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Funding for children’s and youth services is generally not ring-fenced and is part of either the wider Local Government Finance Settlement or the Dedicated Schools Grant in the case of education-related funding. It is for local authorities to determine how to spend their non-ring-fenced income, taking account of their statutory responsibilities, local need and their priorities.
This year’s Local Government Finance Settlement increased Social Care Grant by £300 million, taking the total Social Care Grant to £1.7 billion for 2021/22.
Core Spending Power in England will rise by up to 4.6% in cash terms, from £49 billion in 2020-21 to up to £51.3 billion in 2021-22. This real-terms increase builds on the largest year-on-year increase in spending power in a decade last year and recognises the resources councils need to meet their pressures and maintain children’s and youth services.
Additionally, we have continued to support councils throughout the pandemic, demonstrated by the fact we have provided over £4.6 billion in un-ringfenced funding to councils this year. In Oxfordshire, this amounted to £2.47 million in 2020/21.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 3 March 2021, Official Report, Column 245, what assessment he made of the effect of the South Oxfordshire Local Plan on the Green Belt prior to his statutory intervention in its adoption.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The South Oxfordshire District Council’s Local Plan is subject to proceedings in the High Court, which precludes a more detailed response than what follows. The Secretary of State’s 3 March 2020 Local Plan intervention decision letter to South Oxfordshire District Council sets out matters he considered in reaching his decision that intervention action was justified. The letter is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/south-oxfordshire-local-plan-holding-direction-letter-to-council . The Local Plan’s consistency with national policy was subsequently tested at examination by an independent planning Inspector. The Council adopted the South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2035 on 10 December 2020.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
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 number of people who are at risk of eviction due to unmet rent payments that are currently protected by the eviction moratorium in (a) Thames Valley region, (b) Oxfordshire and (c) Oxford West and Abingdon constituency.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Department does not currently hold information on the value of private housing rent arrears and the associated risk of eviction in Thames Valley region, Oxfordshire and Oxford West and Abingdon constituency.
This Government has provided an unprecedented package of financial support to help renters throughout the COVID-19 pandemic afford their housing costs. Notably, to help prevent people getting into financial hardship, we have increased the local housing allowance (LHA) rate to the 30th percentile of local market rents in each area. The increased LHA rates will be maintained at the current levels in cash terms in 2021/22, even in areas where the 30th percentile of local rents has gone down. We are also extending the £20 per week uplift in Universal Credit for a further 6 months and providing a one-off payment of £500 to eligible Working Tax Credit claimants.
In addition, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has offered support for businesses to pay staff salaries, enabling people to continue to pay their rent and has been extended until September 2021. For those who require additional support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) are available. As announced at the spending round for 2020/21, there is already £180 million in DHPs for local authorities to distribute for supporting renters with housings costs in the private and social rented sectors. For 2021-22 the Government will make available £140 million in DHP funding, which takes account of the increased LHA rates.
Our package of support is preventing evictions. The English Housing Survey Household Resilience Study found that in June-July 2020 the majority of private renters, 93%, were up-to-date with rent payments. The Ministry of Justice recorded only 548 landlord repossessions between April and end December 2020 compared to 22,444 over the same period in 2019.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether councils will continue meeting remotely after May 2021.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
To extend the facility for councils to continue to meet remotely, or in hybrid form after 7 May 2021 would require primary legislation.
There is no option to extend the current regulations under the Coronavirus Act 2020 as section 78 (3) contains the sunset date of 7 May 2021.
There is considerable pressure on the Government’s legislative programme, but the Government is carefully considering next steps in this area.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans the Government has for the vaccination of (a) homeless people and (b) rough sleepers during the rollout of the covid-19 vaccine; and where they are on the vaccine priority list.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
MHCLG is working closely with DHSC, Public Health England, and NHS England to ensure the health and care needs of vulnerable people experiencing rough sleeping can be met during the COVID-19 pandemic – including access to the vaccination.
We have asked all local authorities to ensure that rough sleepers are safely accommodated and that this opportunity is used to make sure that all rough sleepers are registered with a GP and factored into local area vaccination plans, in line with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) prioritisation for COVID-19 vaccinations. This will help ensure that the wider health needs of people who sleep rough are addressed, supporting them now and for the future.
The JCVI are the independent experts who provide advice to Government on which vaccine(s) the UK should use, and which groups to prioritise. The JCVI have advised that the first priorities for any COVID-19 vaccination programme should be for the prevention of COVID-19 mortality and the protection of health and social care staff and systems.
Many people sleeping rough will be a priority for the COVID-19 vaccine due to underlying health conditions. Secondary priorities could include vaccination of those at increased risk of hospitalisation and at increased risk of exposure, and to maintain resilience in essential public services.
We continue to work with the homelessness sector, local authorities and health and care partners, to ensure the needs of those experiencing homelessness can be met.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many meetings (a) he and (b) his Ministers have held (i) in 2020 and (ii) since Article 50 was triggered with the elected leaders of local authorities on preparations for the end of the transition period.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) continues to lead the Government's significant and regular engagement with councils and local government sector bodies, including the Local Government Association, on preparations for the end of the transition period.
The Local Government Secretary and the Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government host regular teleconferences for local government leaders and chief executives, with other ministers from across government also present to answer questions.
Ministers from MHCLG regularly speak to and meet with mayors, both bilaterally and as part of the M9 Group of Mayors.
MHCLG also continues to discuss priorities and support measures with councils in each of the nine English regions
MHCLG publishes details of ministers’ meetings with external organisations regularly on Gov.uk.
January to March 2020: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mhclg-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-january-to-march-2020
April to June 2020: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mhclg-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-april-to-june-2020
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposals of the Planning for the Future White Paper published in August 2020 on the time between granting planning permission and completing builds.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Sir Oliver Letwin's 2018 Review of Build Out concluded that the primary reason for the rate of housing completions following the grant of planning permission was market absorption and the best way of increasing build out rates was greater diversification of housing on large sites.
The White Paper has put forward proposals to support build out through planning, including revising national policy to encourage masterplans and design codes for substantial development sites to see a variety of development types by different builders come forward at once. We will be exploring further options to support faster build out as part of the wider package of reforms.