Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of number of hate crimes reported to the a) Sikh Guard and b) Rakkha that were not passed on the police in the last three years.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government remains committed to protecting the right of individuals to freely practise their religion and will not tolerate anti-Sikh hatred in any form. We continue to work with the police and community partners to monitor and combat this.
No assessment has been made of the number of hate crimes reported to the Sikh Guard and the Rakkha that were not passed on to the police, but we recommend that all reporting services direct reports of hate crime to the police where appropriate.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when she expects to publish a response to the consultation seeking views on the implementation of measures in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023, which closed on 15 May 2025.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government remains absolutely committed to improving the quality of supported housing and implementing the measures in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023.
The government will publish its response to the consultation as soon as possible, ahead of consulting on draft licensing regulations and guidance. We are also pressing forward with implementing other measures in the Act including the duty on local authorities to produce supported housing strategies, for which guidance will be published in February.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much funding his Department has provided to Sikh community organisations to address hate crimes in each of the last five years.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
All forms of racial and religious discrimination are completely unacceptable, including that directed at Sikhs. No one should ever be a victim of hatred because of their race or religion and the Government continues to work with police and community partners to monitor and combat this. We welcome the Sikh Guard initiative, a third-party reporting service specifically for the Sikh Community.
Over the last 5 years, the Government has provided funding to True Vision – the police hate crime programme and online reporting portal – to encourage communities to report hate crime and reinforce relationships between communities and policing. As a part of this, True Vision has been working with the Sikh Guard (established by the National Sikh Police Association) and Rakkha initiatives to encourage reporting from within Sikh communities.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has considered (a) recognising and (b) establishing a definition of anti-Sikh hate.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
All forms of racial and religious discrimination are completely unacceptable, including that directed at Sikhs. No one should ever be a victim of hatred because of their race or religion and the Government continues to work with police and community partners to monitor and combat this. We welcome the Sikh Guard initiative, a third-party reporting service specifically for the Sikh Community.
Over the last 5 years, the Government has provided funding to True Vision – the police hate crime programme and online reporting portal – to encourage communities to report hate crime and reinforce relationships between communities and policing. As a part of this, True Vision has been working with the Sikh Guard (established by the National Sikh Police Association) and Rakkha initiatives to encourage reporting from within Sikh communities.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has received recent representations from relevant stakeholders on the potential impact of (a) rent charge clauses and (b) management company practices on homeowners’ ability to sell their properties.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has not carried out an assessment of the prevalence and potential impact on freehold property sales of rent-charge clauses.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 contains measures to protect homeowners on freehold estates, including specific measures to improve the home buying and selling process by ensuring information required to sell a home on a freehold estate is accessible at a reasonable cost. We will be consulting this year on the secondary legislation that is required to switch on most of these measures.
The government is determined to end the injustice of ‘fleecehold’ entirely and we will also consult this year on legislative and policy options to reduce the prevalence of private estate management arrangements, which are the root cause of the problems experienced by many residential freeholders.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to help protect freeholders from excessive (a) delays and (b) charges imposed by private management companies during property transactions.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has not carried out an assessment of the prevalence and potential impact on freehold property sales of rent-charge clauses.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 contains measures to protect homeowners on freehold estates, including specific measures to improve the home buying and selling process by ensuring information required to sell a home on a freehold estate is accessible at a reasonable cost. We will be consulting this year on the secondary legislation that is required to switch on most of these measures.
The government is determined to end the injustice of ‘fleecehold’ entirely and we will also consult this year on legislative and policy options to reduce the prevalence of private estate management arrangements, which are the root cause of the problems experienced by many residential freeholders.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the (a) prevalence and (b) potential impact on freehold property sales of restrictive rent-charge clauses used by developers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has not carried out an assessment of the prevalence and potential impact on freehold property sales of rent-charge clauses.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 contains measures to protect homeowners on freehold estates, including specific measures to improve the home buying and selling process by ensuring information required to sell a home on a freehold estate is accessible at a reasonable cost. We will be consulting this year on the secondary legislation that is required to switch on most of these measures.
The government is determined to end the injustice of ‘fleecehold’ entirely and we will also consult this year on legislative and policy options to reduce the prevalence of private estate management arrangements, which are the root cause of the problems experienced by many residential freeholders.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
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 safeguards protecting residents of retirement homes from additional paid-for services from independent living providers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to ensuring that leaseholders, including those living in retirement homes, are protected from unfair and unreasonable practices.
There are currently two government-approved codes of practice in force in relation to the residential leasehold sector and private retirement housing. These are the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Residential Management Service Charge Code and the Association of Retirement Housing Managers (AHRM) Code of Practice. The enforcement of standards set out in these codes can be taken into account as evidence, at court or tribunal hearings.
Individual leases set out what services leaseholders may expect to receive, and what they should pay for. By law variable service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate to works or services, the works or services must be of a reasonable standard. Should leaseholders wish to contest the reasonableness of their service charges, they may make an application to the appropriate tribunal. On 4 July, the government published a consultation on strengthening leaseholder protections over charges and services. It can be found on gov.uk here.
The government is giving careful consideration to the recommendations from the Older People’s Housing Taskforce report, including in relation to specialist accommodation for older people.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
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 introducing specific (a) Sikh and (b) Jewish options for a person’s ethnic group in data collection conducted by her Department.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
MHCLG do collect data on religion and/or belief. This includes Jewish and Sikh options. This data is collected separate to ethnic group data
We collect ethnicity data in line with the ethnicity harmonised standard, which is developed by the independent Office for National Statistics.
The current harmonised standard is based on the 2011 Census questions used across the UK; those questions were updated for the 2021 and 2022 Censuses. The current standard does not include specific “Sikh” and “Jewish” categories for a person’s ethnic group.
The ONS is reviewing the harmonised standard to ensure this remains appropriate and meets the needs of both data users and respondents. This will include a public consultation later this year.
We await the outcome of this review.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what data her Department holds on the number of people living in deprivation by ethnic group.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We do not hold or collect data specifically on people belonging to an ethnic minority who live in deprivation. The indices of deprivation (2019) are publicly available and show patterns of deprivation across England and Wales. These data could be cross-checked with the Census data to show the geographic locations of people from ethnic minority groups.