Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Building Safety Remediation: monthly data release - December 2024, published on 23 January 2025, in how many of the buildings where enforcement action has been taken but which are not in any remediation funding programme does the building owner meet the contribution condition.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department does not hold this information.
The contribution condition is met when the landlord group’s net worth is at least £2,000,000 per relevant building owned by the landlord group. If the landlord group of a relevant building meets the contribution condition, all qualifying leaseholders in that building are exempt from all costs associated with non-cladding defects and interim measures (including waking watch costs).
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Building Safety Remediation: monthly data release - December 2024, published on 23 January 2025, how many buildings which were deemed eligible for the Building Safety Fund have subsequently been determined to be ineligible after being transferred to the Cladding Safety Scheme.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
125 buildings have transferred from the Building Safety Fund (BSF) to the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS). We are exploring opportunities to transfer further buildings from the BSF to exploit the benefits of the CSS.
No buildings, to date, have been found to be ineligible after transferring to the CSS.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to transfer any buildings that have not yet started work under the Building Safety Fund to the Cladding Safety Scheme.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
125 buildings have transferred from the Building Safety Fund (BSF) to the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS). We are exploring opportunities to transfer further buildings from the BSF to exploit the benefits of the CSS.
No buildings, to date, have been found to be ineligible after transferring to the CSS.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 has she made with Cabinet colleagues of the adequacy of the support available to veterans affected by homelessness.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected. We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The Government is looking at these issues carefully and will develop a new cross government strategy, working with mayors and councils across the country to get us back on track to ending homelessness, including veteran homelessness.
As announced at the Budget, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233m compared to this year (2024/25). This brings total spend to nearly a billion pounds in 2025/26.
We have made changes to social housing allocations regulations to exempt all veterans from local connection and residency tests to facilitate their access to social housing. The regulations came into force on 18 December 2024.
The Government has also committed a further £3.5 million to the Reducing Veteran Homelessness Programme from March 2025, including Op FORTITUDE, the homelessness pathway for homeless veterans, including those rough sleeping.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Building Safety Remediation: monthly data release - December 2024, published on 23 January 2025, how many of the buildings where enforcement action has been taken but which are not in any remediation funding programme are leaseholder-owned.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We do not hold information on whether buildings outside the scope of government funded remediation programmes are collectively owned.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will commission a review into the adequacy of housing bands used to calculate council tax bands.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has no plans to commission a review of council tax bands. The Government is committed to keeping taxes on working people as low as possible.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has she made of the impact on her policies of the levels of damp and mould affecting housing managed by Onward Homes in Halton.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to working with social housing providers to ensure that homes are safe, decent, warm, and free from damp and mould.
The Deputy Prime Minister made a Written Ministerial Statement on 6 February (HCWS423) confirming that the government will bring Awaab’s Law into force for damp and mould in October 2025.
Awaab’s Law will empower social tenants to hold their landlords to account by law if they fail to investigate and fix hazards within their homes within set timescales. Tenants will be able to hold their social landlords to account by seeking redress through the Housing Ombudsman Service or taking legal action through the courts for a breach of contract.
The government is also committed to consulting on a new Decent Homes Standard and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards this year which will enable upfront preventative measures on disrepair and deliver improvements to tackle damp and mould.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 she has made of the adequacy of the progress of building remediation work at The Decks in Runcorn.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We expect developers that signed the developer remediation contract with government to meet their obligation to remediate buildings for which they are responsible as quickly as reasonably practicable.
Taylor Wimpey, the developer of The Decks, has advised us that remedial works are expected to commence shortly, following recent execution of a legal agreement between relevant parties.
The Ministry monitors progress closely. Any developer that fails to comply with its obligations faces significant consequences.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring local government funding formulas reflect local (a) need and (b) funding levels.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We are making good on the previous government's commitment to improve and update the way in which local authorities are funded through “Fair Funding Review”. We will implement long-awaited reforms through a multi-year settlement in 2026-27, which will reflect an up-to-date assessment of need and local resources. We are inviting views on our principles and objectives for this reform through a consultation which closes on 12 February.
These changes are part of a comprehensive set of reforms for public services to fix the foundations of local government. This will be done in partnership with the sector and on the principle of giving forward notice and certainty to allow time for councils to plan for the future.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 she has made of the potential impact of the new recovery grant on Halton Council.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Halton Borough Council will receive £4.5 million from the Recovery Grant in 2025-26. The Recovery Grant is targeted towards areas with greater need and demand for services and less ability to raise income locally. This grant is the first meaningful step towards long overdue funding reform but the government is clear that this is not comprehensive reform. The metrics in this grant will not be as sophisticated as the fully updated assessment of need we are consulting on, and deprivation is the best available proxy.
This Government recognises that council funding has been under pressure since 2010. Detailed information on core spending power and settlement funding for Halton Borough Council from 2015/16 to 2020/21 can be viewed here.
Due to changes in the function and financing of local government, comparable data on Core Spending Power is not available prior to 2015/16.