Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many social houses will be built by housing associations with Government support in the next 12 months.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer my Hon Friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 11383 on 31 October 2024. The Government supports housing associations and local authorities to build new social and affordable housing through the Affordable Homes Programme. We do not set annual targets for the programme.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities in maintaining parks in cities.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government supports local authorities in the maintenance of urban parks and green spaces in many ways. The Government’s Green Flag Awards scheme helps to increase access to quality green spaces and sets the standard for those spaces to meet the needs of the communities they serve. Furthermore, the Green Infrastructure Framework launched by Natural England in January 2023 will help local authorities and developers incorporate green infrastructure into development plans to improve access to nature on our doorsteps and build resilience to climate change.
The £2.6 billion UK Shared Prosperity Fund provides funding for investment in local growth, and a further £900 million for 2025-26 was announced at the Autumn Budget. Local authorities can decide how to use funding to best serve their communities, including investing in improving and developing their parks. This Government will also support local authorities by moving towards multi-year funding settlements, ending competitive bidding for pots of money and reforming the local audit system.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
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 implications for her policies of (a) trends in level of planning applications granted for buy-to-let developments and (b) the potential impact of those trends on first-time buyers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The department does not hold data on planning applications for buy-to-let developments and we are therefore unable to assess the impact of trends in applications on first-time buyers.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
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 have discussions with the Minister for Women and Equalities on a role for a Women and Equalities Minister in the cross-government strategy to tackle homelessness.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
We will consult and engage a wide range of stakeholders to develop our new cross-government strategy to make sure we put in place services that meet people’s needs. This includes discussions with the Secretary of State for Education who has responsibility for women and equalities to consider how we can ensure our strategy takes account of the needs of women.
The Government is taking action by setting up a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG), bringing together ministers from across government, to develop a long-term strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing private rented sector tenants' protections and rights of redress against (a) landlords and (b) letting agencies under private rented sector deposit protection schemes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Tenancy Deposit Protection (TDP) schemes play a vital role in protecting tenant deposits and providing free alternative dispute resolution, should a deposit dispute arise at the end of a tenancy. TDP providers are appointed as authorised schemes through government concession contracts.
My department is responsible for managing these contracts and monitoring schemes’ performance. The contracts are due to expire in 2026, and as part of the re-procurement we will be reviewing the current system and exploring what improvements can be made to ensure the best possible service for tenants and landlords.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the role of letting agencies on trends in the level of rents in the private rented sector.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government keeps trends in the Private Rented Sector under review, including the role of letting agents.
The English Private Landlord Survey 2021 asked landlords if they had increased their rent and, if so, what were their motivations for doing so. It found that 64% of landlords surveyed had not increased their rent in the last two years. Where landlords had increased the rent, the most common factor was to account for changes in market rents. 71% of landlords who had raised rents cited changes in market rents as an influencing factor. 34% of landlords who had raised the rent cited advice from an agent as influencing their decision.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department is taking steps to give local authorities greater flexibility in respect to grant funding.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The Government was elected on a manifesto that stressed a partnership approach with local authorities and an intention to stabilise the funding system, moving away from wasteful competition and towards multi-year funding settlements.
We want to have better join up across interconnected policy areas and investment programmes, reducing burdens for local authorities and fund bidders.
We have been working closely with local authorities and delivery partners to inform best practice in future design and recognise the importance of supporting local capacity and capability, realistic delivery timelines and working in partnership to design future delivery arrangements. As part of this, we are also committed to deepening existing combined authority devolution settlements and widening devolution to more areas, incentivised through new powers over transport, adult education and skills, housing and planning and employment support. We will also continue to offer support for combined authorities working on their local growth plans. Those are the principles we will seek to apply as we plan future local funding.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
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 take steps to end local authority competitive bidding.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The Government was elected on a manifesto that stressed a partnership approach with local authorities and an intention to stabilise the funding system, moving away from wasteful competition and towards multi-year funding settlements.
We want to have better join up across interconnected policy areas and investment programmes, reducing burdens for local authorities and fund bidders.
We have been working closely with local authorities and delivery partners to inform best practice in future design and recognise the importance of supporting local capacity and capability, realistic delivery timelines and working in partnership to design future delivery arrangements. As part of this, we are also committed to deepening existing combined authority devolution settlements and widening devolution to more areas, incentivised through new powers over transport, adult education and skills, housing and planning and employment support. We will also continue to offer support for combined authorities working on their local growth plans. Those are the principles we will seek to apply as we plan future local funding.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when her Department plans to publish the next round of submissions on homelessness duties owed to Ukrainians by each lower-tier local authority.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
The Homelessness Pressures Management Information was last published on 3 October 2024. The publication included data submitted from local authorities in England on homelessness duties accepted for Ukrainian households, covering the period from 24 February 2022 until 31 August 2024 and can be found here. We aim to publish these quarterly.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for her policies of trends of the level of demand on statutory services provided by local authorities since June 2010.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Local authorities play a crucial role in the delivery of this Government’s missions, from driving growth, to delivering opportunities for all. The Government is under no illusions about the scale of the pressures that local authorities are facing which is impacting the services councils can provide to local people. Resetting the relationship between national and local government and improving how local government is funded in this Parliament, are crucial in ensuring local people get the support and services they need and deserve.