Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what targets his Department has set to help achieve the Government's commitments on net zero.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government set out how we would meet our commitments in the Net Zero Strategy in 2021 which included a detailed breakdown of actions required across all sectors in the economy. This was updated in 2023 through the publication of 'Powering Up Britain'.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department plans to publish the responses to the private parking code of practice call for evidence.
Answered by Jacob Young
As part of our forthcoming consultation, we will publish our regulatory Impact Assessment. This document has drawn upon relevant data received from the Call for Evidence submissions, as well as evidence from other sources.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether local authority grant funding is ring-fenced for the purposes of parish churches upgrading their facilities.
Answered by Simon Hoare
The majority of the funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is un-ringfenced in recognition of local authorities being best placed to understand local priorities. There are no grants within the Settlement that are ringfenced for the purposes of parish churches upgrading their facilities.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an estimate of the number of local authorities that haven't published their annual accounts for financial year 2022-23 as of 9 November 2023.
Answered by Simon Hoare
There is a statutory duty, under the Accounts and Audit Regulations (2015), for local authorities to publish audited accounts annually. The department does not hold this information centrally, but local authorities are required by law to make these accounts available for public inspection.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the decision by the Planning Inspectorate not to approve the proposed West Oxfordshire Area Action Plan for a new garden village.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
A Judicial Review claim has been issued in relation to the proposed West Oxfordshire Area Action Plan. It is therefore not appropriate to comment directly on this matter at this time.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to respond to the consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
We received a high number of detailed responses to the consultation and expect to publish a response later this autumn.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress their Department have made on implementing Procurement Policy Note 06/21.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has implemented the requirements of PPN 06/21: Taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans in the procurement of major government contracts, where it is relevant to the subject matter of the contract and proportionate to do so.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of the use of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in the construction of buildings operated under its remit.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has a duty of care to ensure that its buildings are safe and without risks to the health of our staff, visitors and members of the public with access. The Department has made a preliminary assessment of buildings it occupies and concluded that very few, if any, are likely to have been constructed using reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. The Government Property Agency manages the Department's estate on a day to day basis. The Department has commissioned the Agency to take action so that it can deem the buildings the Department occupies are safe and alert it to any risks.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate his Department has made of the number of properties in Hendon constituency that require building safety works.
Answered by Lee Rowley
As of 31 May 2023, a total of 15 residential buildings over 18 metres in height in the constituency of Hendon have been identified as still having unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding awaiting removal or have been deemed eligible for the Building Safety Fund due to the presence of unsafe non-ACM cladding.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will publish the names of companies that have not complied with measures contained in the Building Safety Act 2022 with regard to remediating historical building safety defects.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Once the Building Safety (Responsible Actors Scheme and Prohibitions) Regulations 2023 are in force, the Secretary of State will prepare, maintain and publish a list of any persons who are subject to the prohibitions set out in those regulations.