Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what consultation his Department had with (a) religious leaders and (b) local authorities prior to the decision to place limitations on (i) weddings and (ii) civil ceremonies during the 2021 national covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
We engage regularly with the Places of Worship Taskforce, faith leaders and local authorities to discuss all aspects of the national restrictions implemented since the beginning of January.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the long-term effect on society of fewer marriages taking place during the covid-19 lockdowns.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Weddings and civil partnerships hold unique significance in people’s lives which is why they have only been suspended when transmission risks from the COVID-19 virus have been particularly high. We are aware that suspension, or restrictions on the number of attendees, may disproportionately affect faith communities where couples cannot start their life together or start a family before they are married. We have worked with the Places of Worship Taskforce to understand the needs of faith and belief wedding ceremonies and factors these into our planning.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, to what extent were religious leaders involved in the Government's discussions on the closure of places of worship during the second covid-19 lockdown in England.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Places of Worship Taskforce met on 2 November following the Prime Minister’s announcement on the new national restrictions that came into effect on 5 November. This gave us the opportunity to share information with our faith groups, as well as hearing their concerns.
The Government has worked closely with the Taskforce and representatives from our major faiths throughout the pandemic.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 had to provide additional funding to help end youth homelessness.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
This Government implemented the Homelessness Reduction Act, the most ambitious reform to homelessness legislation in decades, which placed new duties on local housing authorities to take reasonable steps to try to prevent and relieve a person’s homelessness. means that many more young people who may not previously have been eligible for support, are now being helped to prevent homelessness before it occurs.
The Act also places a duty on public bodies, including Children’s Services, Youth Offending Institutions and Youth Offending Teams ensuring better partnership working with local authorities to prevent youth homelessness.
We have also put in place bespoke support for local authorities through our Homelessness Advice and Support Team, which includes dedicated youth homelessness advisor roles that have a commitment to work with local authorities to proactively promote positive joint working across housing authorities and children’s services, offering training, advice and support to all local authorities. Alongside this, the department has funded St Basil’s, a specialist youth homelessness charity, to develop and disseminate best practice pathways for preventing youth homelessness, as well as running the annual Youth Homelessness Parliament, giving young people a voice on the issues that affect them.
The Youth Advisers are working closely with local authorities on the particular challenges that young people and care leavers are facing during COVID-19.
Government has also provided significant additional funding to support people sleeping rough or at risk of sleeping rough during the pandemic. At the beginning of the crisis, our priority?was to?urgently bring?vulnerable people inside so they could?self-isolate and stop the virus spreading.?We backed this with £3.2 million in emergency funding for local authorities to support vulnerable rough sleepers, and a further £3.7 billion to help councils to manage the impacts of COVID-19,?including supporting homeless?people.
On 24 June we?announced that we are?providing local authorities with?a further?£105 million?to enable them?to?best?support the 15,000 people placed into emergency accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what safeguarding measures are in place for potential home-buyers of new build properties to ensure that Building Control Regulation Completion Certificates have been issued prior to the sale of that property.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Building Regulations 2010 set standards for the design and construction of building work. The building owner will have usually received a completion certificate (from local authority building control) or a final certificate (from an approved inspector) before the building is occupied. These certificates are issued when the work is complete by a local authority for the sale of a new build property. In some circumstances a building may be occupied before the building owner has received the completion certificate or the final certificate. Part 3, Regulation 17(4) of the Building Regulations 2010 states that: ‘A certificate given in accordance with this regulation shall be evidence (but not conclusive evidence) that the requirements specified in the certificate have been complied with’.
There is no statutory link between the Building Regulations and the conveyancing process. The prospective buyer and their professional advisers should satisfy themselves that they have all material facts relating to the property before they commit to buying.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what legal requirements are in place to ensure that Building Regulation Completion Certificates have been issued before the release of funds by financial providers in the sale of a new build property.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Building Regulations 2010 set standards for the design and construction of building work. The building owner will have usually received a completion certificate (from local authority building control) or a final certificate (from an approved inspector) before the building is occupied. These certificates are issued when the work is complete by a local authority for the sale of a new build property. In some circumstances a building may be occupied before the building owner has received the completion certificate or the final certificate. Part 3, Regulation 17(4) of the Building Regulations 2010 states that: ‘A certificate given in accordance with this regulation shall be evidence (but not conclusive evidence) that the requirements specified in the certificate have been complied with’.
There is no statutory link between the Building Regulations and the conveyancing process. The prospective buyer and their professional advisers should satisfy themselves that they have all material facts relating to the property before they commit to buying.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to ensure that developers take responsibility for structural defects on new build properties.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
We are committed to ensuring that developers take responsibility and treat new build homebuyers fairly. Where structural defects are found developers and warranty providers must take swift action to put these right.
The Government will introduce legislation to require developers of new homes to belong to a New Homes Ombudsman. Last year, we consulted on the design and delivery of a New Homes Ombudsman and we will publish the response soon, setting out a way forward.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 assist owners of new build properties with structural defects when insurance companies fail to accept liability.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The responsibility to set right any defects with the building work lies with the person who carried out the work. Warranties provide insurance against defects. It is the responsibility of the Financial Conduct Authority to regulate new build warranties and protect consumers.
To provide effective redress for owners of new build homes we will introduce legislation to require developers to belong to a New Homes Ombudsman.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many people in (a) Preston constituency, (b) Lancashire and (c) England are waiting to be rehoused with a registered social landlord.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The number of households in the housing data list by local authority district can be found in Section C of the published tables from the Local Authority Housing Statistics. The latest published information, for 2017-18 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/local-authority-housing-statistics-data-returns-for-2017-to-2018
The department does not collect these data by parliamentary constituency.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many house sales were made by people that used the Right to Buy scheme in Lancashire since the scheme was introduced.
Answered by Jake Berry
The Department publishes the number of Right to Buy Sales by local authority area from 1979-80, when the scheme began, to 2017-18 in Live Table 685, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-social-housing-sales.
Information on Right to Buy sales in the three quarters of 2018-19 are published in Live Table 691 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-social-housing-sales. Please note these figures are only provisional.
Note that 2017-18 sales figures in Live Table 685 and 691 do not match. This is because Live Table 691 is revised quarterly while 685 is done annually. It is therefore advised to use the figures in 691