Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans for local authorities to have the power to issue banning orders against landlords as provided for in the Housing and Planning Act 2016.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Housing & Planning Act 2016 introduced a power enabling local authorities to apply to the First tier tribunal for a banning order against a person or organisation who has been convicted of a banning order offence. Banning order offences will be specified in regulations following a public consultation and will be subject to the affirmative procedure. We are planning to introduce this power on 1 October 2017.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to monitor the use of procedures to recover abandoned premises introduced by the Housing and Planning Act 2016.
Answered by Lord Barwell
These provisions are not yet in force. The first step is for the Department to issue guidance on how the procedures may be effectively and lawfully applied.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to monitor the (a) provision and (b) price of starter homes under the Housing and Planning Act 2016.
Answered by Lord Barwell
My Department publishes annual statistics on total Affordable Housing Supply, including breakdowns by local authority and type of housing provided (social rent, affordable rent and intermediate housing). We also publish a combined Greater London Authority/ Homes and Communities Agency funded Affordable Housing figure on a six-monthly basis. My Department plans to publish a breakdown of starter homes alongside existing housing types from early 2017.
We have also included provisions in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 for local planning authorities to report on starter homes delivery in their area and make this publicly available. This could be combined with their existing requirement to report on delivery of affordable housing through their Authority Monitoring Report. We have consulted on proposals, which will be put in place through regulations.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans for local authorities to have access to (a) tenancy deposit protection scheme data and (b) the database of rogue landlords and property agents as provided for in the Housing and Planning Act 2016.
Answered by Lord Barwell
Following the positive measures to tackle rogue landlords that we have delivered in the Housing and Planning Act 2016, we are working with the Tenancy Deposit Protection (TDP) Schemes on providing local authorities with access to the relevant data by the end of this year.
Work is also underway to prepare the database of rogue landlords and property agents which will require affirmative regulations to be considered by Parliament.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to monitor the use of extended Rent Repayment Orders.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Housing & Planning Act 2016 extended the grounds for seeking a Rent Repayment Order to include illegal eviction, breach of a banning order or failure to comply with a statutory notice. It is envisaged that each of these will also be banning order offences. Where a person or organisation has been convicted of a banning order offence, local authorities will be encouraged to record that information in the database of rogue landlords and property agents. This will enable government to monitor how frequently Rent Repayment Orders are used.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the level of Government spending will be on the Disabled Facilities Grant for each year until 2020.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
In the 2015 Spending Round, my rt. hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (George Osborne), announced £500 million for the Disabled Facilities Grant by 2020. Since April 2015, the Grant has been part of the Government's £5.3 billion Better Care Fund, promoting integration with health and social care.
Annual allocations for the Disabled Facilities Grant for each year until 2020 will be announced in due course, when they are finalised.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the accessibility requirements will be for the 8,000 new accessible homes announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015; and where those homes will be located.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
We will be publishing the prospectus for the 2016-21 Affordable Homes Programme in the New Year, which will set out the assessment requirements that bids contributing towards the 8,000 vulnerable, older and disabled peoples housing will be assessed against.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the spending power of local authorities in relation to the level of demand for their statutory services.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Councils are responsible for balancing their budgets, and every one of them issued a balanced budget for 2014-15. We have increased councils' flexibility by removing ring fencing from many local government grants. This gives them freedom to work with their residents to decide how best to meet on local priorities.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department paid Sir Ken Knight in (a) salary, (b) fees and (c) expenses for the independent review of efficiency and operations in fire and rescue authorities in England.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
[Holding Reply: Monday 24 March 2014]
Sir Ken Knight worked on his independent review between 1 January and 22 June 2013. He was paid £53,635 during this period. Between 1 January and 28 January 2013, Sir Ken was also the Government's Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser in addition to conducting initial fieldwork for his review. His salary rate whilst working on the Knight Review was in line with his previous salary rate when he was Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser.
Sir Ken's review found huge variations in the way the 46 fire and rescue authorities in England operate and highlighted the scope for the services to find £200 million in savings whilst safeguarding emergency operations and protecting public safety. His report highlighted the importance of collaboration with other local services in helping fire and rescue authorities to transform the way they run to meet the changing needs of communities. The Government will be publishing a formal response to the report in due course. The best fire and rescue authorities are already beginning to collaborate with police and ambulance services and local authorities – through co-location of stations and services, through sharing back office functions, including sharing senior staff, and through co-responding and joining up on service delivery.