Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of his Department's policies on the provision of support for Afghan refugees on trends in levels of homelessness for that group.
Answered by Paul Scully
Thanks to an enormous collaborative effort across the public and private sector, we have welcomed over 21,000 Afghans and continue to receive more families each month. Work is continuing across Government to ensure the Afghans who stood side by side with us in conflict, their families and those at highest risk who have been evacuated, are supported as they now rebuild their lives in the UK. We are encouraging all councils to work alongside us to provide accommodation and support for Afghans in need of our compassion and support to rebuild their lives in the UK. C.7,000 Afghans have now been moved into permanent accommodation.
We have announced a £25.5 million Housing Costs fund to help meet the costs of housing. The additional housing support is being provided to enable local authorities to come forward with offers of accommodation to larger families as soon as possible. For example, it can be used to provide a top up payment, where it is needed to meet the gap between market rent and the Local Housing Allowance, or to help meet shortfalls which impact on a family's ability to cover their rent.
In the longer-term, the provision of affordable housing is a key element of the Government's plan to end the housing crisis, tackle homelessness and provide aspiring homeowners with a step onto the housing ladder. Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) will provide up to 180,000 new homes across the country, should economic conditions allow. Around half the homes will be for affordable and social rent and we will deliver more than double the amount of social rent compared to the current programme, with around 32,000 social rent homes due to be delivered.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the time taken for claimants to receive a decision on Building Safety Fund applications on the cost of the works.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Building owners and managing agents remain responsible for completing their full applications without delay. Due to ongoing support and engagement from the Department we are continuing to see an increase in the number of buildings completing remediation. We continue to actively engage with building owners, including providing expert support, and to submit evidence of cost variations where they relate to the works permitted for grant funding.
For high-rise buildings with unsafe non-ACM cladding, over £1.3 billion has already been allocated from the Building Safety Fund. This means that over 90,000 homes within high-rise blocks are covered by Building Safety Fund applications and leaseholders and residents can be assured the fire risks caused by the unsafe cladding will be addressed at no cost to them.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will provide additional funding for approved or funded Building Safety Fund works that are at risk of incompletion due to rising (a) energy and (b) other costs.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Government funding will continue to be available to pay for all eligible works within the Building Safety Fund and all eligible cost variations. It is the responsibility of building owners or managing agents to submit evidence of cost variations where they relate to the works permitted for grant funding - examples of which may include professional fees, site set up or construction costs.
The Department is regularly monitoring the costs of the remediation of high-rise buildings with unsafe non-ACM cladding through regular consultation with industry bodies and associations. Officials closely track contractor capacity, cost and supply of construction materials and other external market factors to mitigate risk and ensure that remediation projects can complete as soon as possible.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether funding provided through the Building Safety Fund has been (a) insured and (b) otherwise protected against rising (i) workforce, (ii) energy and (iii) other costs.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Government funding will continue to be available to pay for all eligible works within the Building Safety Fund and all eligible cost variations. It is the responsibility of building owners or managing agents to submit evidence of cost variations where they relate to the works permitted for grant funding - examples of which may include professional fees, site set up or construction costs.
The Department is regularly monitoring the costs of the remediation of high-rise buildings with unsafe non-ACM cladding through regular consultation with industry bodies and associations. Officials closely track contractor capacity, cost and supply of construction materials and other external market factors to mitigate risk and ensure that remediation projects can complete as soon as possible.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support leaseholders who have been affected by remedial fire safety works to help cover rising insurance costs for their homes.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
I urgently want to relieve the financial pressures facing leaseholders due to unfair and unwarranted insurance premiums.
I have called on the FCA and the CMA to conduct a review of the buildings insurance market to get to the bottom of concerning year-on-year price increases, and the restricted cover on offer to leaseholders. The FCA is currently collecting data on market conditions to inform their review. By better understanding the root and scale of this issue in a thorough review, the Government can seek ways to ensure leaseholders get the value for money they deserve. The review is part of a wider raft of measures to protect innocent leaseholders from the impact of building safety issues.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many meetings he has held with developers since his announcement on 10 January 2022 that the Government plans to make developers and companies pay to fix the cladding crisis.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to work with the insurance sector to prevent rising costs for leaseholders affected by remedial fire safety works.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is working with the insurance industry to address the challenges experienced by leaseholders facing increasing building insurance costs. On the 28 January, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities called on the Financial Conduct Authority and the Competition and Market Authority to review buildings insurance premiums for people living in medium and high-rise blocks of flats. The FCA has met with Chief Executives of key insurers and insurance brokers to explain their expectations for engagement in the review and affirm their regulatory expectations. The FCA is currently collecting data on market conditions to inform their review
In Minister Gove’s statement to parliament on 10th January, he noted Lord Greenhalgh's intention to work with insurers on new industry-led approaches that bring down the premiums facing leaseholders. On 4 January, Lord Greenhalgh wrote to the Association of British Insurers, encouraging them to investigate the possibility of an industry-led risk pool with their members. My officials are actively working with the Association of British Insurers to develop policy solutions, and Lord Greenhalgh met with the Association of British Insurers on 1 March to discuss progress.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to ensure that Capital Letters, a not-for-profit organisation that procures accommodation for homeless households on behalf of London boroughs, will continue to receive Government funding to enable it to continue playing a key role in the Government’s homelessness reduction strategy.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Capital Letters was set up in 2018 with the support of £37.8 million of Government funding. As announced at the Spending Review the Government will be spending over £2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the next 3 years. Allocations of funding for individual programmes will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
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 £2 billion funding to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping announced in the Autumn 2021 Spending Review, what steps he is taking to ensure that grant funding for Capital Letters, a not-for-profit organisation that procures accommodation for homeless households on behalf of London boroughs, will be extended beyond March 2022.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Capital Letters was set up in 2018 with the support of £37.8 million of Government funding. As announced at the Spending Review the Government will be spending over £2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the next 3 years. Allocations of funding for individual programmes will be announced in due course.