Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the total borrowing capacity is of the West Midlands Combined Authority; and how much that combined authority has borrowed since its establishment.
Answered by Jake Berry
Each combined authority remains responsible for its own borrowing. The prudential borrowing regime provides that an authority can borrow lawfully only if it can demonstrate that servicing and repayments of the debt are affordable. Mayoral combined authorities have annual maximum debt caps in place, agreed with HM Treasury, which can be reviewed if the need arises, and for the West Midlands:
2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 |
£546,744,807 | £783,049,523 | £1,041,974,844 |
Figures published by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government detail outstanding debt on a quarterly basis for each local authority and combined authority, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-local-government-finance
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Rough Sleeping Strategy, published in August 2018, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) Safeguarding Adult Reviews are conducted when a person who sleeps rough (i) dies and (ii) is seriously harmed as a result of abuse or neglect and (b) the implementation of processes to (i) record and (ii) learn lessons from those deaths.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
My Department is working with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) through the Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce to ensure that Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs) are conducted when appropriate and that rough sleepers have the health care they need, when they need it.
We are ensuring that where a homeless person dies, or there has been serious harm, SARs take place where appropriate, so that local services can learn lessons from these tragic events to better prevent them from happening in the future.
DHSC is working with Safeguarding Adult Boards to ensure that SARs are conducted when a person who sleeps rough dies, or is seriously harmed as a result of abuse or neglect, whether known or suspected, and there is concern that partner agencies could have worked more effectively to protect the adult. Lessons learned from these reviews will inform improvements in local systems and services.
They are working with the Local Government Association (LGA) to develop a series of national events in 2019/20 to look at safeguarding and homelessness and how we can share learning from reviews into rough sleeper deaths. DHSC is also commissioning King’s College London to conduct a thematic review of the national SAR library on rough sleeping cases.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, further to the agreement signed with West Midlands councils to create the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), if he will publish the amount of funding allocated to house-building; the time period for which that funding applies; what proportion of that funding has been transferred to the WMCA; and what proportion of that funding will be transferred in the next fiscal year.
Answered by Jake Berry
To date we have provided £2 million of resource funding to the West Midlands Combined Authority to support housing delivery capacity. We have also made up to £211 million available to the West Midlands Combined Authority before the end of 19/20, as part of a package worth up to £271 million by 21/22 to support housing delivery. Payments and payment timings are subject to the meeting of commitments and the delivery of key milestones.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to respond to the request made in November 2018 by hon. Members representing Birmingham to meet to discuss his instruction to Birmingham City Council prohibiting further access to its reserves.
Answered by James Brokenshire
I have responded to the Rt Hon Member's letter today.