Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to reopen the Building Safety Fund for applications in 2022.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is providing £5.1 billion, including £4.5 billion through the Building Safety Fund, to address the fire safety risks caused by unsafe cladding on high-rise residential buildings. This will be used where the original developer and/or the building owner are not funding the works. We will be opening the next phase of the Building Safety Fund at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the council tax rebate scheme, what steps he is taking to help support local authorities with residents who pay council tax in cash.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
My Department will shortly issue FAQs to help local authorities administer the council tax rebate. This will include information on flexible payment options for households, balancing administrative ease and accessibility with the need to manage fraud risk.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to whom the council tax rebate will be paid in cases where tenants pay rent with all bills included, including council tax; and in cases where the landlord receives the rebate, whether there will be a requirement for the landlord to pass it on to the tenant.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
My Department will provide guidance to billing authorities on administering the council tax rebate scheme, including on the eligibility criteria. The associated discretionary fund will allow councils to support people that may need help with their energy bills but who are not eligible for the main scheme.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether local authorities will receive central Government funding for the additional administrative costs incurred in the rollout of the £144 million discretionary fund for vulnerable people and individuals on low incomes that do not pay council tax or that pay council tax for properties in Bands E-H.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Government will provide new burdens funding to local authorities to cover reasonable administrative costs incurred in delivering the council tax rebate scheme and the associated discretionary fund.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether additional administrative costs incurred by local authorities in the implementation of the £150 council tax rebate will be a new burdens requirement.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Government will provide new burdens funding to local authorities to cover reasonable administrative costs incurred in delivering the council tax rebate scheme and the associated discretionary fund.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 July 2017 to Question 900568, what support is available to businesses that have had their property incorrectly valued by the Valuation Office Agency.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Where the valuation of a non-domestic property is altered following a successful appeal, the ratepayer will generally receive a backdated refund. Local authorities also have wide-ranging powers to provide discretionary rate relief to businesses in their area, including where a business is experiencing significant financial hardship. From April 2017, the Government introduced reforms to the appeals system to help reduce the delays caused by large numbers of speculative appeals.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 July 2017 to Question 900568, what compensation is available for businesses that win at appeal but have suffered losses between the original valuation and appeal.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Where the valuation of a non-domestic property is altered following a successful appeal, the ratepayer will generally receive a backdated refund. Local authorities also have wide-ranging powers to provide discretionary rate relief to businesses in their area, including where a business is experiencing significant financial hardship. From April 2017, the Government introduced reforms to the appeals system to help reduce the delays caused by large numbers of speculative appeals.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the revaluation of business rates on businesses in Hackney.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The effect of the revaluation of business rates on businesses in Hackney will depend on the specific circumstances and location of the relevant property.
We announced further measures to support businesses in last week's Budget.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what criteria his Department used to decide where the Right to Buy information booklet was distributed.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Right to Buy campaign aims to ensure that eligible social housing tenants are aware of the increased discounts available through the Right to Buy scheme.
The Direct Marketing activity sets out to raise awareness of the scheme and eligibility as Right to Buy can only be exercised by eligible tenants if they have sufficient information about their Right to Buy.
Direct marketing has been the most cost effective way to reach eligible council and housing association tenants.
Our targeting approach is based on a combination of social housing stock and penetration levels - we target higher stockholding areas to ensure reach and value for money across England.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the cost to the public purse was of (a) producing and (b) distributing the Right to Buy information booklet to households.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Right to Buy campaign aims to ensure that eligible social housing tenants are aware of the increased discounts available through the Right to Buy scheme as well as changes to the scheme and that those who are interested in taking up this opportunity to be a home owner, know where to obtain the necessary information to help them decide if it is right for them.
The direct marketing activity sets out to raise awareness of and eligibility of Right to Buy as Right to Buy can only be exercised by eligible tenants if they know about it, can check their eligibility and have sufficient information about their Right to Buy.
For the last wave of marketing in October 2016, we sent leaflets to a combination of 789,695 households informing them of their legal Right to Buy their home. The Department spent the following:
1. Production/ Printing/ Postage: £75,116.60
2. Distribution/ Data purchase: £60,951.67
The direct marketing activity has driven a strong response over the last 4 years of the campaign with a conversion rate of around 8% which is significantly higher than industry norms and has also led to improved efficiencies in local authorities through generating higher quality applications– further evidence of value for money.
The cost of the production and distribution of the Direct Marketing equates to 18 pence per leaflet. Over 63,000 tenants have now been able to buy their homes since April 2012, generating £3.5 billion in additional sales receipts. There were 12,000 sales in 2015-16, nearly 5 times higher than pre-reinvigoration sales in 2011-12.
Under the reinvigorated Right to Buy, local authorities are now able to keep the receipts from additional Right to Buy sales to pay off debt and fund additional affordable housing.