Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, where his Department's offices, including arm’s length bodies, are currently located in (a) the West Midlands and (b) the East Midlands.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) currently has one office in the West Midlands, in central Birmingham. Three MHCLG arm’s-length-bodies are located in the West Midlands. The Regulator of Social Housing in Birmingham, and Social Care Ombudsman, and Homes England in Coventry. The Department has one office in the East Midlands, in Nottingham.
In February, we confirmed that the Government will create a second headquarters in Wolverhampton with at least 500 MHCLG Group roles set to be based across the West Midlands by 2025 – with further increases planned by 2030.
The new HQ in Wolverhampton will include the presence of ministers – making it the first such ministerial office outside of London with a regular ministerial presence. Senior civil servants will also be based in Wolverhampton, ensuring this becomes a centre for policy development and decision making.
This is a significant increase on the 300 roles currently in the region and is part of plans to have at least 800 roles outside of London by 2030 – including 50% of the most senior positions. This will ensure that more local voices are reflected in the creation of government policy.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what criteria he used when deciding to establish his Department's new headquarters in Wolverhampton.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
A number of factors were considered when deciding the location of the Department's additional headquarters. The choice of Wolverhampton, which builds on the Department's existing strong presence in the West Midlands region, supports the Government’s commitment to levelling up.
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Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of changes in local authority (a) budgets and (b) funding formula during the covid-19 outbreak on the capacity of Durham County Council to maintain services.
Answered by Simon Clarke
We have now made £3.2 billion available to local authorities through an un-ringfenced grant so they can address pressures they are facing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of this, Durham County Council has received £33.15 million.
In total, the Government has committed over £27 billion to local areas to support councils and their communities. This also includes: £300 million to support the new test and trace service, £600 million to support providers through a new Infection Control Fund and £12.3 billion of support through the Small Business Grants Fund and the Retail, Hospitality & Leisure Grants.
Alongside this funding, the Government has provided over £5 billion of cashflow support including the deferral of local authority payments of the Central Share of retained business rates, valued at £2.6 billion, as well as up-front payments of £1.8 billion of business rates reliefs and £850 million of social care grant.
Following the allocation of the £1.6 billion in March, we reviewed the funding formula, by using monthly data and our conversations with councils to refine our assessment. To allocate the additional £1.6 billion in April, we used our latest and best assessment of the distribution of additional COVID-19 pressures.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with local authority leaders on the implementation of regional covid-19 lockdowns.
Answered by Simon Clarke
My Department has been working with the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) and the Department of Health and Social Care to develop a framework for the local management of further outbreaks. In addition, all upper tier local authorities have been asked to develop local outbreak control plans based on the existing statutory responsibilities of their Directors of Public Health. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, alongside other relevant departments, is considering whether further powers are required for local authorities to manage future outbreaks in line with these plans.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what contingency plans are in place to support local authorities in the recording of deaths in the event that covid-19 causes workforce disruptions.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government will continue to work with local partners, including local authorities and local resilience forums, to assist preparedness to manage the potential effects of the Covid-19 outbreak. This includes supporting them in their duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. All local partners have business continuity and local risk assessment processes in place for the purpose of ensuring that, if an emergency occurs, they are able to continue to perform their functions.
The Government will support councils to maintain their public services via the Covid-19 Response Fund, which has initially been set at £5 billion and provides funding so local public services are prepared and protected. Government is also considering emergency legislation which may ease some of the current requirements relating to registering a death.