Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans his Department has to trial new accessible voting devices to ensure that all blind and partially sighted people can vote independently and in secret.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Elections Act 2022 is improving the way support is provided to disabled voters and places a duty on Returning Officers to provide assistive equipment in polling stations, wherever reasonable, to support voters with a wide range of disabilities, taking account of people's varying needs. The Electoral Commission are producing statutory guidance to support Returning Officers to carry out this new duty, which is currently undergoing statutory consultation. This is an area the Government keeps under review and we are aware of some organisations developing devices aimed at supporting voters with sight loss. We will be interested to engage with suppliers, the elections community and representative organisations in considering the effectiveness of these, and any other products, to support disabled voters participate better in the democratic process.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, (a) when the task force on older people’s housing announced in the Levelling Up White Paper will be formally established and (2) what role health and social care will play in that task force.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The new taskforce on older people’s housing, as announced in the Levelling Up White Paper, will look at ways we can provide greater choice, quality and security of housing for older people. This work will be taken forward in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care, building on the commitments set out in their recent white paper on adult social care reform.
Further details regarding the remit of the taskforce, as well as the timing and frequency of meetings will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department plans to take to support the expansion in supported housing for older people, including integrated retirement communities, as set out in the Adult Social Care Reform White Paper.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
This Government is committed to further improving the diversity of housing options available to older people. We believe that offering older people a better choice of accommodation to suit their changing needs can help them to live independently and feel more connected to their communities.
Boosting the supply of a range of specialist housing for older people, including housing with care, will be key to achieving this aim. We already work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care to provide capital funding to incentivise their supply. This includes our new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme, which includes delivery of new supported housing for older, disabled and other vulnerable people.
Furthermore, as set out in the Department of Health and Social Care’s recent white paper, People at the Heart of Care , a new £300 million investment will embed the strategic commitment to connect housing with health and care in all local places and drive the stock of new supported housing
We will continue to work closely with colleagues across government and with a range of stakeholders to look at how we can further support the growth of a thriving older people’s housing sector.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reason the new model tenancy agreement does not extend to people living in social housing and assisted living facilities.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Model Tenancy Agreement is the Government's suggested contract for assured shorthold tenancies in the private rented sector, which landlords and tenants can choose to use to agree a tenancy. The 'New' Model Tenancy Agreement revised the previous agreement, with changes focussed on making it easier for responsible tenants to have well behaved pets in their home.
Many social landlords set out their pet policies in their tenancy agreements and will allow tenants to keep pets where it is appropriate to do so, and provided they are well looked after and do not adversely affect the lives of neighbours and those living nearby.
In our Social Housing White Paper we encourage all social landlords to adopt similar policies. The circumstances in which pets may be kept are, however, for social landlords to determine locally, taking account of the views of their tenants.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to include housing with care accommodation as part of the Government’s proposals for senior housing.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Offering older people a better choice of accommodation to suit their changing needs can help them live independently for longer and feel more connected to their communities. Housing with support and care plays a vital role in enabling older people to live independently, as well as delivering wider benefits to society.
We are investing over £12 billion in affordable housing over 5 years, the largest investment in affordable housing in a decade. This includes the new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme, where 10 per cent of delivery over the course of the programme will be used to increase the supply of much needed specialist, supported and retirement housing, including housing with care for older people. In addition, the Department of Health and Social Care continue to subsidise new supply of specialist housing for older and disabled people through the Care and Support Specialised Housing (CASSH) Fund.
We are working closely with the sector and across government to look at how we can further support growth and diversity of older people’s housing. This includes considering the merits of different engagement and delivery models, including housing with care accommodation.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to support employment projects for disabled people through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Answered by Luke Hall
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will help to level up and create opportunity across the UK in places most in need, such as ex-industrial areas, deprived towns and rural and coastal communities.
As set out at Spending Review 2020, one portion of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will support investment in people and skills, in communities and places and in local businesses, all tailored to local needs. A second portion of the Fund will be targeted differently to people most in need, through bespoke employment and skills programmes. This will support improved employment outcomes for those in and out of work in specific groups of people who face labour market barriers.
The Government will publish a UK-wide investment framework later this year.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what transitional funding and support he is providing to cover the period between the Shared Prosperity Fund being implemented and the end of the European Social Fund.
Answered by Luke Hall
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) will help to level up and create opportunity across the UK for places most in need, such as ex-industrial areas, deprived towns and rural and coastal communities, and for people who face labour market barriers.
To help local areas prepare over 2021/22 for introduction of the UKSPF, we will provide additional UK funding to support our communities to pilot programmes and new approaches. Further details will be published soon.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support the regeneration of town centres that are affected by the closure of Debenhams stores.
Answered by Luke Hall
This Government is fully committed to supporting the businesses and communities that make our high streets and town centres successful as the nation responds to the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak.
High streets and town centre regeneration policy is a devolved matter. Government officials have worked and will continue to work closely with their counterparts in the devolved administrations on the response to COVID-19 and in the future.
We are providing support to local leadership in England with a High Streets Task Force, giving them expert advice to support their high streets and town centres to adapt and thrive. Up to 2024 this is providing hands-on support to local areas to develop data-driven innovative strategies and connect local areas to relevant experts.
To support our town centres and high streets, we have introduced reforms to the use classes to enable more flexible use of existing buildings. These reforms create a new ‘commercial, business and service’ use class which encompasses a wide range of uses which will attract people to high streets and town centres. This includes offices and other business uses, shops, cafes, gyms and any other uses which are suitable in a town centre. The new class also allows for mixed uses to reflect changing retail and business models.