Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what direct financial support his Department is providing to local authority parks and green spaces.
Answered by Luke Hall
The Government recognises the value of parks and green spaces in providing vibrant and inclusive locations for communities to socialise, volunteer, work, and exercise. It recognises that green spaces foster health, well-being, integration, and social engagement.
In 2021-22, local government will on average see a cash terms increase of up to 4.6% in Core Spending Power – a real-terms increase. This is in line with last year’s increase and recognises the resources councils need to meet their pressures and maintain current service levels.
The Settlement is unringfenced to ensure local areas can prioritise based on their own understanding of the needs of their local communities.
The Government has made £16.3 million available between 2017 - 2019 to support parks and green spaces.
This includes those in urban environments by funding; £9.7 million Local Authority Parks Improvement Fund; £5.1 million Pocket Parks and Pocket Parks Plus programmes; £1.41 million to test and pilot new management and funding models for parks through the Future Parks Accelerator programme; £55,000 to fund a Parks Action Group Coordinator; £30,000 on Green Infrastructure – working with Natural England to develop new standards for green spaces; £20,000 towards a skills event to promote continued professional development for parks professionals and £130,000 Community Empowerment Programme encouraging local communities become involved in the stewardship of community parks and green spaces.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the role of the National Bus Strategy in the creation of stronger communities.
Answered by Luke Hall
My Department has been engaging and coordinating with the Department for Transport on the implementation and delivery of the National Bus Strategy as an integral part of helping to build stronger local communities.
The strategy will focus on the needs of passengers and encourage more people to use the bus network. It will set out how national and local government, as well as the private sector, will come together to meet the needs of local communities. Local authorities have a vital role to play in ensuring local bus services meet local communities’ specific needs, with buses that can get closer to where people live, at a time convenient for them. Both Departments have also been working to help guide delivery to support better connected communities.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many (a) deaths, (b) serious injuries and (c) near misses have been recorded as a result of people taking shelter in refuse bins which are then emptied into refuse vehicles; and what steps he plans to take to help prevent such incidents.
Answered by Luke Hall
Every premature death of someone homeless is one too many and we take this matter extremely seriously.?It should not happen that people die prematurely?and on the street?because they are homeless.
We are absolutely committed to ending rough sleeping by the end of this parliament. To achieve this, we are providing £437 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in 2020/2021.This marks a £69 million increase in funding from the previous year.
This year we have expanded the Rough Sleeping Initiative with investment of £46 million for 246 areas – providing funding for an estimated 2,600 bed spaces and 750 staff. Next year, we are allocating a further £112 million to around 270 areas, funding up to 6,000 bed spaces and 2,500 staff. And this is having an impact.?The RSI?impact evaluation?shows that the Initiative has reduced the number of people sleeping rough by 32 per cent in the areas funded, compared to the number it would have been had the RSI not been in place.
We do not hold data on the?number of deaths as a result of people taking shelter in refuse bins.?However, we understand some local councils and businesses have conducted research and supplied advice on this issue in recent years.
This Government is aware that a skilled frontline workforce is essential to delivering good services and ultimately reducing homelessness.?Delivery of the?Key Groups?Training programme launched in Summer 2019. ?The training programme is expected to cater for 3,450 members of the frontline homelessness workforce by the end of June 2020.
Local authorities and outreach teams work tirelessly to ensure that appropriate support is given to all rough sleepers regardless of where they are found, be that in tents, doorways, bins or on the street.