Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which applications were approved under the Together in Service programme to support multi-faith volunteering; what evaluation has been made of the effectiveness of that programme; and what plans the Government has for another Together in Service programme to support multi-faith volunteering.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Details of each of the social action projects awarded funding through Together in Service scheme can be found here:
http://www.faithaction.net/work/together-in-service/
Faith Action, the body contracted to run Together in Service, commissioned a full external assessment of the programme, which was completed in July 2015.
My Department continues to fund programmes which support local faith communities, and others, to undertake social action, including Near Neighbours, Mitzvah Day and Creating the Common Good.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 18 December 2014, HCWS154, what progress has been made on the grave restoration campaign to restore the graves of First World War recipients who are buried in the UK but not under the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's restoration project, including the numbers and locations of the graves in question.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Between 2014 and March 2016 my Department supported the Victoria Cross Trust to restore 50 graves of First World War Victoria Cross recipients who are buried in the United Kingdom but are not under the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's restoration. In November 2016, the then Chancellor announced a further £600,000 to support restoration of the remaining graves.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many civil servants of his Department at each grade are allocated to work on the Northern Powerhouse.
Answered by Andrew Percy
The Northern Powerhouse is a cross-governmental project supported by officials in all relevant departments, including DfT, HMT, DCMS, Defra, DCLG, and BEIS. The Cities and Local Growth Unit is a joint BEIS-DCLG team that supports local growth policy, including the Northern Powerhouse. It currently has almost 150 staff based in offices all across the country, including in London, Manchester, Gateshead and Leeds. This includes 1 Director, 9 Deputy-Directors, 8 Grade 6s, 61 Grade 7s, 11 Senior Executive Officers, 35 Higher Executive Officers, 15 Executive and Administrative Officers and 9 Fast Steamers.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which district and unitary councils in England prosecuted landlords under (a) section 80, (b) section 95 (1), (c) Section 95 (4) of the Housing Act 2004 in 2015; and how many convictions there were in each of those authorities under each of those sections of that Act.
Answered by Lord Barwell
H.M Courts and Tribunal Service, which is responsible for the administration of magistrates' courts where offences under the Housing Act 2004 are considered, has advised that they do not hold information on convictions under the Act.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to implement the actions identified for it in the Government's Ending Violence against Women and Girls Strategy 2016-2020, published in March 2016; and when a member of staff from his Department last attended a Violence against Women and Girls Stakeholder Meeting chaired by the Home Office.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
DCLG is working with partners, including the Local Government Association, local authorities and women’s sector organisations to implement its commitments in the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy. These are to launch a two-year fund for specialist accommodation-based support and services, and to help local areas meet the National Statement of Expectations which will set out for the first time what we expect from local areas in commissioning violence against women and girls services. DCLG is also committed to launching a new programme to support domestic abuse victims with complex needs.
The last Violence Against Women and Girls Stakeholder Meeting took place on 11 July 2016. DCLG officials did not attend as that meeting was between Home Office and third sector stakeholders. However, DCLG officials will be attending forthcoming meetings on this topic.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many Changing Places toilets are provided by each local authority in North West England.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
There are 86 Changing Places toilets in the North West of England. The location of Changing Places toilets can be found using the Changing Places interactive toilet map, hosted on their website; http://www.changing-places.org/.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to update planning guidance on using money from Section 106 agreements to fund flood prevention projects.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government is investing in flood protection at record levels, with an unprecedented 6-year commitment of £2.3 billion in more than 1,500 projects to better protect an additional 300,000 homes by 2021.
National planning policy is designed to protect people and property from flooding. Local planning authorities are expected to avoid inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding by directing development away from areas at highest risk. In addition government guidance is clear that policies for seeking section 106 planning obligations should be set out in Local Plans or neighbourhood plans to enable fair and open testing of the policies at examination.
Mitigation measures to make development acceptable in flood risk areas can be made a requirement of any planning consent. All local planning authorities are expected to follow the strict tests set out in national planning policy and guidance. Where these tests are not met, national policy is very clear that new development should not be allowed.
The Government's preferred approach for enabling developer contributions to infrastructure is the Community Infrastructure Levy, which is faster and more transparent than individually negotiated section 106 agreements. The Levy can fund infrastructure requirements where they are most needed across an area. Legislation and Government guidance specifies that flood defences form part of the infrastructure that can be funded in this way. More than 100 authorities currently charge the Levy and well over 100 more have made substantive progress towards doing so.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he intends to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Preston dated 7 October 2015 on rents for supported housing schemes run by housing associations and local authorities.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
This was answered and sent out on 14 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 Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to improve the time to respond to correspondence from hon. Members and Peers since the tabling of the statement on 3 June 2015, Handling Members' Correspondence in 2014, HCWS11.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 15 December 2015, PQ 19650.
The reporting of performance of Government Departments in handling correspondence from hon. Members is co-ordinated by the Cabinet Office and published annually.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many letters his Department received from hon. Members and Peers in each month in 2015; and how many such letters received a substantive response within 10 working days.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 15 December 2015, PQ 19650.
The reporting of performance of Government Departments in handling correspondence from hon. Members is co-ordinated by the Cabinet Office and published annually.