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 the Government is taking to help ensure that wheelchair-users do not have to wait longer than non-wheelchair users for social homes.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The statutory ‘reasonable preference’ criteria already ensure that social housing is prioritised for those who need to move on medical and welfare grounds, including grounds relating to a disability. This will include wheel-chair users.
In the Social Housing Green Paper we set out our intention to undertake an evidence collection exercise to help us understand how the allocations system is working and whether it is striking the right balance between fairness, support and aspiration. We are considering responses to the Green Paper and will respond 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 Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that local authorities monitor the number of new build homes that comply with optional accessibility standards set out in building regulations.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We have strengthened the policy for securing accessible housing, by expecting local planning authorities to use the Government’s optional technical standards for accessible and adaptable housing when preparing their plans, where this would address an identified need for such properties. Our planning guidance sets out the role of local planning authorities in monitoring the implementation of plans. Authorities can include the provision of accessible housing when preparing their Authority Monitoring Reports, but this is not mandatory.
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, when he plans to publish his consultation on Changing Places; how long that consultation will run; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of collaborating with the Scottish Government on its consultation on that policy.
Answered by Rishi Sunak
The Government plans to publish the consultation on Changing Places toilets this spring. We have yet to set the time-frame for the consultation, but we want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to respond. We have already held a roundtable with Changing Places toilet users and those that care for users to learn from their experience and officials from the Department are engaging with officials from the Scottish Government to exchange experience and learning about Changing Places toilets.
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 the Government is taking in response to the recommendations of the ninth report of the Women and Equalities Committee on Building for Equality, published on 25 April 2017, HC 631, on increasing and enforcing minimum accessibility standards; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Building Regulations Advisory Committee is currently defining the scope of a review into the Building Regulations’ requirements for access in Approved Document M (Access to and Use of Buildings), including the effectiveness of current standards both in relation to housing and other buildings.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2018 to Question 176357, whether his Department has any plans to regulate or monitor the provision of accessible homes in the UK as a strategic priority.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government‘s Building Regulations Advisory Committee is presently scoping a review of relevant guidance (Part M of the Building Regulations guidance), which will include a strategic look at the impact of accessible housing standards on provision.
A recent report by Habinteg indicates that the use of accessible housing standards by local planning authorities is increasing. The Government also continues to survey the accessible features of homes at regular intervals through the English Housing Survey.
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 statistics his Department holds on the (a) construction and (b) maintenance of new accessible (disability-friendly) housing.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government does not collect data on the construction and maintenance of new accessible homes built in accordance with the Building Regulations’ Optional Requirements for adaptable and accessible or wheelchair user homes. However, the English Housing Survey collects information on the accessibility and adaptability of all homes, including new homes. The most recent report can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-housing-survey-2014-to-2015-adaptations-and-accessibility-of-homes-report.
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 the implications are for his Department's policies of the recommendations of the report, Housing and disabled people: Britain’s hidden crisis, published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in May 2018; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
This Government is committed to supporting disabled people and is grateful for all the valuable work of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, including its report on Housing and disabled people: Britain's hidden crisis. Government officials have met the Equality and Human Rights Commission, on several occasions, to discuss the report and their recommendations. We are now carefully considering the report and will draw on this work in future policy including how we respond to the independent report on the future of the Disabled Facilities Grant.