Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how her Department plans to support the LTA in developing covered (a) tennis, (b) padel and (c) multi-sport facilities to help facilitate (i) year-round and (ii) all-weather participation.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That is why we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK following the Spending Review. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans. I have met with the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis and padel, along with representatives from other sports, to discuss this.
The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. This includes long term investment in the Lawn Tennis Association, which receives up to £10.2 million for five years from 2022 to 2027 to invest in community tennis and padel initiatives in England that will benefit as many people as possible.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to support the development of (a) affordable and (b) accessible padel courts in (i) Birmingham Edgbaston constituency and (ii) other parts of the UK.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That is why we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK following the Spending Review. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans. I have met with the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis and padel, along with representatives from other sports, to discuss this.
The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. This includes long term investment in the Lawn Tennis Association, which receives up to £10.2 million for five years from 2022 to 2027 to invest in community tennis and padel initiatives in England that will benefit as many people as possible.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to increase the number of (a) indoor and (b) covered tennis facilities in Birmingham Edgbaston constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That is why we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK following the Spending Review. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans. I have met with the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis and padel, along with representatives from other sports, to discuss this.
The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. This includes long term investment in the Lawn Tennis Association, which receives up to £10.2 million for five years from 2022 to 2027 to invest in community tennis and padel initiatives in England that will benefit as many people as possible.
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 ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the Office for National Statistics not requiring public bodies to collect data on ethnicity for (a) Jews and (b) Sikhs.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Public bodies usually collect ethnicity data in line with the ethnicity harmonised standard, which is developed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
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, which is independent of government, 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 ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will ask the Office for National Statistics to change its policy that recommends excluding Jews and Sikhs from data collected on ethnicity in its ethnicity harmonised standard.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Public bodies usually collect ethnicity data in line with the ethnicity harmonised standard, which is developed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
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, which is independent of government, 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 ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will make representations to the ONS on including (a) Sikhs and (b) Jews in their advice to public bodies on using ethnicity categories.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Public bodies usually collect ethnicity data in line with the ethnicity harmonised standard, which is developed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
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, which is independent of government, 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.