Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress the Minister for Local Government has made in strengthening the Department's consideration of loneliness as a policy concern.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
MHCLG is a key member of the Inter-Ministerial Group on Loneliness and is part of the cross-government loneliness team ensuring that loneliness is being embedded into all areas of Departmental policy.
The new Community Framework: ‘By deeds and their results: how we will strengthen our communities and nation’ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/by-deeds-and-their-results-strengthening-our-communities-and-nation, published on 20 July, sets out how the government will work with local and national partners such as businesses, faith institutions, local authorities and volunteer groups to help build stronger, more empowered and integrated communities across England and will address many of the issues highlighted in the Government’s Loneliness strategy.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many (a) women and (b) men his Department has appointed to each of its non-Departmental Public Bodies in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jake Berry
The Commissioner for Public Appointments completes and publishes an annual data survey of all new appointments and reappointments made to boards of public bodies by Government including the overall gender diversity.
Data on the gender diversity of new non-executive appointees to public boards for 2012 to 2015 is published on Gov.uk https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/diversity-in-public-appointments
Data for appointments, including reappointments, to the Department's non-Departmental Public Bodies since 2015 is as follows:
2015 – 16 | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | |||
Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female |
21 | 6 | 16 | 5 | 13 | 3 |
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In advertising public appointments the Department utilises a range of recruitment websites that specifically target women. The Department is also considering other ways in which it can attract a more diverse candidate pool such as broader, more targeted advertising and even better use of existing stakeholder networks.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government is providing support to local authorities to ensure that all public places can offer fully accessible facilities in accordance with the requests from the Changing Places campaign; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Government is keen to promote the provision of Changing Places toilet facilities and has supported the development of a web based map to enable people to find their nearest Changing Places toilet. Existing guidance on the Building Regulations’ requirements on access encourages the provision of Changing Places facilities in new non domestic buildings and we are keeping that guidance under review.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much and what proportion of the housing infrastructure fund will be allocated to the (i) marginal viability and (ii) forward funding funds.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The £2.3 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund, extended by an additional £2.7 billion at Autumn Budget 2017, will unlock homes in areas of greatest housing need. It is an open and competitive fund, available for all local authorities to put forward their ambitious plans for housing growth.
We want the Housing Infrastructure Fund to support the delivery of as many homes as possible. Therefore, we are not prescribing the final split between the two funding streams, or pre-determining the distribution of funding according to region. We are currently assessing bids from local authorities. However, if higher ranked local authority bids are ineligible or have been rejected, we will consider the local authorities lower ranked bids.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to ensure an equal distribution of Housing Infrastructure Fund for each region of England.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The £2.3 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund, extended by an additional £2.7 billion at Autumn Budget 2017, will unlock homes in areas of greatest housing need. It is an open and competitive fund, available for all local authorities to put forward their ambitious plans for housing growth.
We want the Housing Infrastructure Fund to support the delivery of as many homes as possible. Therefore, we are not prescribing the final split between the two funding streams, or pre-determining the distribution of funding according to region. We are currently assessing bids from local authorities. However, if higher ranked local authority bids are ineligible or have been rejected, we will consider the local authorities lower ranked bids.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether a bid for the Housing Infrastructure Fund that has been ranked lower by a local authority than a bid that is ineligible or has been rejected will still be considered.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The £2.3 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund, extended by an additional £2.7 billion at Autumn Budget 2017, will unlock homes in areas of greatest housing need. It is an open and competitive fund, available for all local authorities to put forward their ambitious plans for housing growth.
We want the Housing Infrastructure Fund to support the delivery of as many homes as possible. Therefore, we are not prescribing the final split between the two funding streams, or pre-determining the distribution of funding according to region. We are currently assessing bids from local authorities. However, if higher ranked local authority bids are ineligible or have been rejected, we will consider the local authorities lower ranked bids.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if the Government will review the fire safety regulations to ensure that highrise accommodation is required to have sprinklers.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Building regulation guidance provides that newly built high rise accommodation, over 30 metres, is constructed with a sprinkler system.
The Department wrote to all social housing providers in 2013 following the recommendations in a Coroner’s report into firefighter deaths which occurred at Shirley Towers in Southampton in April 2010. That letter encouraged providers to consider the retrofitting of sprinklers in older residential tower blocks. The Department then reinforced the content of that letter in its response to the Coroner’s report into the Lakanal House Fire – a copy of which can be found at:
An independent expert panel has been set up to provide advice to the Government on any immediate measures needed to make buildings safe following the Grenfell Tower fire. The panel will be led by Sir Ken Knight, former London Fire Commissioner and former Government Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser. It will consider safety measures, policies, inspection and regulation, taking account of both the Grenfell Tower fire and ongoing fire safety inspections. It will look at any immediate action required to ensure public confidence that everything possible is being done to make all public and private buildings safe as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the possibility of local asbestos contamination as a result of the fire at Grenfell Tower.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Safety officers working with the emergency services currently on site have tested the air within Grenfell Tower for asbestos and have not detected any levels of concern. When work commences to clear the site there will be a system of engineering work that will prevent any asbestos being released from the site and a programme of regular environmental air monitoring conducted to minimise the risk to local residents and contractors. Public Health England is monitoring air quality around the site and to date has not detected any asbestos in the environment. The results of the monitoring tests are available on the PHE website along with a health explanation at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/628925/Environmental_monitoring_following_the_Grenfell_Tower_fire.pdf
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if the Government will review fire safety regulations to ensure that cladding on highrise accommodation is fireproof.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Coroner’s report into Lakanal House recommended simplifying the fire safety guidance relating to Building Regulations (Approved Document B). This work was being progressed.
Following the tragedy at Grenfell Tower, we will need to consider the position on guidance further alongside the Prime Minister’s commitment to look at wider issues. This work will now need to be informed by any recommendations that the independent inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire makes.
In the interim, we have set up an expert panel to advise us on any immediate steps that should be taken to ensure fire safety. The role of the expert panel and the advice already given following Grenfell is set out in a note published last week at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/explanatory-note-on-safety-checks-and-testing
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if the Government will review fire safety regulations to ensure that highrise accommodation is required to have more than one fire exit.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Coroner’s report into Lakanal House recommended simplifying the fire safety guidance relating to Building Regulations (Approved Document B). This work was being progressed.
Following the tragedy at Grenfell Tower, we will need to consider the position on guidance further alongside the Prime Minister’s commitment to look at wider issues. This work will now need to be informed by any recommendations that the independent inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire makes.
In the interim, we have set up an expert panel to advise us on any immediate steps that should be taken to ensure fire safety. The role of the expert panel and the advice already given following Grenfell is set out in a note published last week at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/explanatory-note-on-safety-checks-and-testing