Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of to Question 184606 on Leasehold, whether that legislation will apply retrospectively.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
As I outlined in response to my Hon. Friend, in Question 184606, we are looking to legislate to resolve this issue as soon as parliamentary time allows.
We do not hold data on the number of people who are not protected due to an extension or variation of a lease since 14 February 2022, however, we believe the number to be relatively small.
We have not made an assessment as to the estimate of the potential legal and valuation costs for leaseholders who are in the process of extending or varying a lease. However, it should be noted that, in the normal course of events, all leaseholders typically require legal support in the course of seeking a lease extension or variation, so we do not anticipate that there will be significant 'additional' costs to those which they ordinarily would have incurred.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to take steps to ensure statutory leaseholder protections apply to those leaseholders currently extending or varying their leases; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We are aware that leaseholders protected under the statutory leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act 2022 may no longer be protected if they have extended or varied their lease since 14 February 2022.
We are looking at how we can extend the remit of the leasehold protections to cover circumstances where there was a qualifying lease, as at 14 February 2022, and where a new lease with an extended term has since been entered into. This would need to be done via primary legislation and we are looking to legislate to resolve this issue as soon as Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
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 make an announcement about the future of the Homes for Ukraine Scheme beyond April 2023.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government has announced a new package of further support under the Homes for Ukraine scheme details of which can be accessed here.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the civil service headcount for their Department was on (a) 15 November 2022 and (b) 1 February 2020.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
DLUHC headcount is published each month at the following link.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many employees in his Department work on matters related to covid-19.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
As of 17 November 2022, the Department has 39.7 FTE officials working on supporting the inquiry into Covid-19. Other officials may work on covid-related matters.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assurance process he has put in place to ensure funding provided to local authorities for the Homes for Ukraine initiative is being used solely for that purpose.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The department monitors data submitted from councils who are responsible for reporting the number of guests who arrive, the number of “thank you” payments awarded to sponsors and the amount of tariff funding they are entitled to receive. The department expects councils to use the tariff to support costs associated with the scheme and final assurance will be conducted within a reconciliation process at the end of the financial year.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will require all local authorities to publish a transcript of full council meetings.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government has no plans to require local authorities to publish a transcript of full council meetings. Government does not regulate the content of councils’ minutes or decision notices; this is a matter for individual local authorities.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will detail the losses and special payments valued at under £300,000 for his departmental group as defined by section A4.10.7 in HM Treasury's Managing Public Money for (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019-20 and (c) 2020-21.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The losses and special payments valued at under £300,000 for the main department for the years 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 as already held on the record of losses for the public sector organisations within the departmental group, in accordance with Managing Public Money (Annex A4.10.7), or as otherwise held for the purposes of special payment disclosures, are set out below. These disclosures are consistent with the organisations’ obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018.
(a) 2018-19 Total individual losses recorded for core department under £300,000 were 33 with a combined value of £1,191,342.49. These relates to write offs on the ERDF and Regional Growth Fund Programmes and losses of IT equipment. Total individual special payments recorded for core department under £300,000 were 66 with a combined value of £1,987,285.56. These relates to annual payments for historic personal injury claims.
(b) 2019-20 Total individual losses recorded for core department under £300,000 were 43 with a combined value of £555,063.05. These relates to write offs on the ERDF, Great Britain High Streets and Regional Growth Fund Programmes and losses of IT equipment. Total individual special payments recorded for core department under £300,000 were 60 with a combined value of £1,934,852.67. These relate to annual payments for historic personal injury claims and payments to local authorities related to NNDR guidance on the business rates retention scheme.
(c) 2020-21 Total individual losses recorded for core department under £300,000 were 10 with a combined value of £294,350.00. These relates to write offs on the ERDF Programmes and losses of IT equipment. Total individual special payments recorded for core department under £300,000 were 44 with a combined value of £981,366.53. These relates to annual payments for historic personal injury claims.
Due to the number of payments made, the full breakdown is in the attached excel file. Losses and Special Payments registers for Arm’s Length Bodies are not held centrally, and are excluded from the numbers above. The data for the wider department will be provided in follow up to this initial response.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when his Department expects the planning inspector to announce his decision following the public inquiry into West Cumbria coal mine planning application; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The date for the Secretary of State’s decision on this case will be set when the independent planning inspector’s report and recommendation is submitted to the Department, and will be 13 weeks after the date of that submission. The Inspector’s report has not yet been received.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
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 his Department and its agencies remove all internal covid-19 related policies, restrictions and mask mandates.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Throughout the pandemic, the Department and all Civil Service employers have followed government guidance in setting out their internal COVID-19 related policies. This includes complying with the Working Safely during Coronavirus (COVID-19): Guidance which sets out the key actions organisations should take to protect employees and customers in order to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading in workplaces, along with carrying out health and safety risk assessments that include the ongoing risk from COVID-19.
On 21 February 2022, the Government published their COVID-19 Response: Living with COVID-19. This document sets out how and when the remaining restrictions will be lifted in England. Government guidance was subsequently amended, including the Working Safely guidance.
The Government's Working Safely guidance, which was last updated on 24 February, continues to require organisations to carry out a risk assessment which includes the risk from COVID-19. It also sets out additional actions organisations can take to protect employees and customers in the workplace, such as ensuring adequate ventilation, frequent cleaning, asking people to wash their hands frequently and asking people with COVID-19 to stay away. The guidance advises that people continue to wear face coverings in crowded and enclosed settings where they come into contact with people they do not normally meet, when rates of transmission are high. The Department will continue to follow this guidance and align its policies accordingly.