Written Question
Thursday 19th January 2023
Asked by:
Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
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 assessment of the effectiveness of leaseholders appointing a Building Safety Director when they live in high rise blocks with voluntary Resident Management Companies.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Building Safety Act 2022 provides that resident-led companies will have the option to appoint a person with the relevant professional expertise to their board, to support them in meeting their building safety duties. The consultation on the secondary legislation relating to the building safety director proposals is open until 7 February 2023 and we will consider all responses prior to finalising the policy.
Written Question
Wednesday 11th January 2023
Asked by:
Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
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 effectiveness of local authorities allocating funding to waking watches in tower blocks.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Waking Watch Relief Fund was launched in January 2021 and the Waking Watch Replacement Fund was launched in January 2022. The funds covered the cost of installing a fire alarm to replace waking watch measures in buildings where a waking watch was in place and where those costs were being passed on to leaseholders.
As of 30 November 2022, 237 applications across both funds have been approved which will enable Waking Watch measures to be replaced with an alarm system in 368 buildings. Of the 368 buildings approved for funding, 314 have completed alarm installations.
The department publishes a monthly data release which includes information on the Waking Watch Relief and Replacement Funds which can be found here.
We continue to monitor the use of waking watches and welcome comments and feedback on the properties with experience of them.
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 20 Apr 2022
Building Safety Bill
"I welcome the Minister to his position on this very interesting Bill that is going back and forth. The one group of people who took the money right at the start for the developers and builders was the insurance companies. The developers could not have built those properties without having …..."Mike Penning - View Speech
View all Mike Penning (Con - Hemel Hempstead) contributions to the debate on: Building Safety Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 20 Apr 2022
Building Safety Bill
"What an awful long way we have come with this Bill. On the previous Bill, the Fire Safety Bill, we were told categorically that that was not the right vehicle for the sorts of remedial help people needed in all our constituencies and that this was the Bill. To be …..."Mike Penning - View Speech
View all Mike Penning (Con - Hemel Hempstead) contributions to the debate on: Building Safety Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 20 Apr 2022
Building Safety Bill
"Go for the insurers...."Mike Penning - View Speech
View all Mike Penning (Con - Hemel Hempstead) contributions to the debate on: Building Safety Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 24 Jan 2022
Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill [Lords]
"I congratulate my hon. Friend on his tenacity in looking after his constituents. All of us across the House try to do that, and he has done a brilliant job. On other areas that need to be addressed, the solicitors that have gone into administration were insured. The big companies …..."Mike Penning - View Speech
View all Mike Penning (Con - Hemel Hempstead) contributions to the debate on: Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill [Lords]
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 24 Jan 2022
Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill [Lords]
"I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. On new clause 1, I do not think there is any argument that we need to look at historical leaseholds. However, my constituency has lots of new build and regeneration going on, and a lot of …..."Mike Penning - View Speech
View all Mike Penning (Con - Hemel Hempstead) contributions to the debate on: Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill [Lords]
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 24 Jan 2022
Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill [Lords]
"I thank the Minister for giving way to me, because it saves me a speech.
The most important aspect of the legislation to which the Minister has just alluded is that “far-reaching” should not mean “far away”. It is really important for leaseholders that it should be introduced as soon …..."Mike Penning - View Speech
View all Mike Penning (Con - Hemel Hempstead) contributions to the debate on: Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill [Lords]
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 19 Jan 2022
Building Safety Bill
"I want to clarify, should I be lucky enough to catch Madam Deputy Speaker’s eye later, where my speech might be going. This is retrospective legislation, and that is fantastic—if we can track down the freeholder, the developer and the insurer. If they cannot be tracked down, where does that …..."Mike Penning - View Speech
View all Mike Penning (Con - Hemel Hempstead) contributions to the debate on: Building Safety Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 19 Jan 2022
Building Safety Bill
"I do not think there is a conflict, but I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. As an ex-fireman, although my concerns and thoughts are with the victims of the Grenfell fire and their families and loved ones, I say that we must put on …..."Mike Penning - View Speech
View all Mike Penning (Con - Hemel Hempstead) contributions to the debate on: Building Safety Bill