Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of the population in (a) Birmingham, Northfield constituency and (b) Birmingham city was homeless in each year since 2010.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Total numbers of households, numbers of households accepted as homeless and in priority need, and numbers of homeless households in temporary accommodation, have been published for each local authority in England, for the years 2004/05 to 2015/16, in live table 784:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness
Constituency level information on homelessness is not collected.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assistance his Department provides to local authorities to help tackle (a) homelessness and (b) the root causes of homelessness.
Answered by Marcus Jones
One person without a home is one too many. That is why the Government is clear that prevention must be at the heart of everything we do to tackle homelessness. We will be investing £500 million in work to prevent and relieve homelessness across this Parliament. This includes protecting homelessness prevention funding for local authorities, which will amount to £315 million by 2019-20, to help them continue to provide quality advice and assistance to everyone who approaches them for help. Since 2010, local authorities have helped prevent or relieve over one million cases of homelessness.
Homelessness is rarely a housing issue alone. The causes are varied and driven by issues such as health, education, justice, welfare, and employment. That is why we have increased central investment to tackle homelessness over the next four years to £139 million, including a new £10 million Social Impact Bond to support rough sleepers with the most complex needs. This builds on the success of the world’s first homelessness Social Impact Bond, run by the Greater London Authority to turn round the lives around of 830 of London’s most entrenched rough sleepers. Over half have achieved accommodation, employment or reconnection outcomes.
In addition we have invested £15 million to improve outcomes for young people through the Fair Chance Fund. This funding is turning around the lives of around 1,900 18 to 25 year olds with complex and overlapping needs, by supporting them into accommodation, education, training and employment.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to provide employment and social enterprise opportunities for (a) the homeless and (b) those at risk of homelessness in (i) the West Midlands and (ii) Birmingham, Northfield constituency.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The government is committed to preventing and reducing homelessness. We have increased central government funding for homelessness programmes to £139 million over the Spending Review period. We have also maintained and protected homelessness prevention funding for local government, totalling £315 million by 2019/20. One person without a home is one too many, and we are clear that more needs to be done to ensure that support is available for some of the most vulnerable in society.
We recognise that employment and social enterprise opportunities are key factors to help people avoid homelessness and secure a sustainable place to live and build personal resilience. That is why we have invested £15 million to improve outcomes for young people through the Fair Chance Fund. This funding is turning around the lives of around 1,900 18 to 25 year olds with complex and overlapping needs, by supporting them into accommodation, education, training and employment. Young people are being supported by seven projects across the country including in Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull, Walsall and Wyre Forest and the majority of projects are funded by social investment. We will build our learning on this to our £10 million Social Impact Bond for people with complex and multiple needs. In addition we have funded a £40 million Platform for Life programme, providing affordable shared accommodation for homeless young people, so that they have a stable platform for work.
Moreover, we are actively working across government and through our local partners to help vulnerable people find a job and get into training. STRIVE, a joint pilot project with BEIS, DCLG and DWP, is helping homeless people into jobs by improving their basic English, maths and IT skills and is being delivered by Crisis and St Mungo’s. We are continuing to drive cross government action through the Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness which is making sure that homelessness is an integral part of every department’s planning and that policies are joined up.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the causes of the increase in homelessness in 2015; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Homelessness is rarely a housing issue alone. The causes are varied and driven by issues such as health, education, justice, welfare, and employment.
That is why the work we have undertaken supports action across these. For example, we invested £5 million in the world’s first homelessness Social Impact Bond, run by the Greater London Authority to turn round the lives around of 830 of London’s most entrenched rough sleepers. Over half have achieved accommodation, employment or reconnection outcomes.
In addition we have invested £15 million to improve outcomes for young people through the Fair Chance Fund. This funding is turning around the lives of around 1,900 18 to 25 year olds with complex and overlapping needs, by supporting them into accommodation, education, training and employment.
Since 2010 we have invested over £500 million to enable local authorities and the voluntary sector to support those vulnerable and at risk of homelessness.
We have protected the homelessness prevention funding local authorities receive, totalling £315 million by 2019-20. This builds on our Spending Review commitment to increase central government funding to £139 million over the next four years. We are working with homelessness organisations to consider all options, including legislation, to ensure those at risk of homelessness get earlier and more effective support.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much central government funding has been provided to each combined authority in each year since those combined authorities have been established.
Answered by Andrew Percy
The funding provided to combined authorities is agreed through Devolution Deals and City Deals (where applicable). These deals are individually negotiated agreements that include funding as well as the devolution of additional powers and flexibilities. The funding shown below has been provided directly by the government to each combined authority since they were established.
Combined Authority | Financial year | Overall total (£m) |
Greater Manchester 1/4/2011* | 2011/12 | 223.9 |
2012/13 | 59.6 | |
2013/14 | 81.1 | |
2014/15 | 182.6 | |
2015/16 | 241.9 | |
2016/17 | 290.3 | |
North East 15/4/2014* | 2014/15 | 27.4 |
2015/16 | 117.1 | |
2016/17 | 132.0 | |
West Yorkshire/ Leeds 1/4/2014* | 2014/15 | 72.3 |
2015/16 | 120.0 | |
2016/17 | 182.6 | |
Tees Valley 1/4/2016* | 2016/17 | 15.7 |
West Midlands 17/6/2016* | 2016/17 | 85.1 |
Sheffield City Region 1/4/2014* | 2014/15 | 26.0 |
2015/16 | 82.6 | |
2016/17 | 101.2 | |
Liverpool City Region 1/4/2014* | 2014/15 | 28.3 |
2015/16 | 60.1 | |
2016/17 | 98.9 |
*Date established
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 March 2016 to Question 31430, on Anti-Semitism, which legal changes form part of the Government's position on boycott, divestment and sanctions.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Following the announcement on 3 October, the Department issued a public consultation on 25 November on changes to the regulatory framework for investments made under the local government pension scheme. The consultation proposed that guidance would be issued on how pension fund authorities should take non-financial considerations into account when making investment decisions.
The Government’s response to the consultation will be published in due course.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many organisations were affected by his Department's pilot of anti-sock puppet rules; how many exemptions were made under that pilot scheme; and what estimate he has made of the savings to the public purse that arose from that pilot scheme.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The guidelines ensure that government grants are only spent on the good causes and programmes spelt out in the underlying grant agreement, and prevent taxpayers’ money being diverted to unproductive lobbying. The savings are thus delivered by ensuring all such public money is properly spent on the intended purposes, rather than seeking to reduce the absolute level of government grants as a consequence of stopping taxpayer-funded lobbying.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he expects to report on the findings of his Department's consultation on changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme.
Answered by Marcus Jones
A consultation and draft regulations proposing amendments to the scheme’s investment framework were published on 25 November 2015. The closing date for responses is 19 February. The Government’s response to the consultation will be published in the normal way.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many disputes have been filed through an accredited tenancy deposit scheme and withdrawn before a final decision was made in each of the last five years.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The number of disputed cases filed but withdrawn by each of the three authorised tenancy deposit schemes in the last five years is set out in the tables below.
Number of cases withdrawn before adjudication by approved scheme
2010/11(1) 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15
MyDeposits (2)
177 1,012 1,324 1,626 1,728
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Deposit Protection Service (3)
1,049 (4) 1,945 1,888 2,489 2,464
The Dispute Service
832 1,186 1,810 2,140 2,075
(1) From 24 November 2010
(2) Figures include cases where tenants have raised a dispute but scheme has been unable to contact them for further information.
(3) Figures include cases where (i) both parties have reached agreement (ii) notification given that the case is going to court (iii) one party has not submitted any evidence within the required timescale which has resulted in the disputed amount being paid to the other party and (iv) other reasons.
(4) From June to December 2011
The upward trend in the number of cases withdrawn before adjudication is a result of the successful use of mediation services by the schemes before the formal adjudication process begins and the detailed guidance and advice provided to both landlords and tenants by the schemes to help avoid disputes.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many fires involving (a) any make of vehicle and (b) Vauxhall Zafiras each fire brigade has responded to in each of the last five years.
Answered by Greg Clark
Since 2009/10, detailed information on the causes of fires attended by fire and rescue services has been collected on the Incident Recording System.
Figures for road vehicle fires – broken down for the last five years and by fire and rescue service - are available in Table 3b(iv) of the Department’s Fire Statistics Monitor statistical release, which can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-statistics-monitor-april-2014-to-march-2015
The Incident Recording System shows a total of 224 fire incidents attended by fire and rescue services between 2010/11 and 2014/15 (the latest year for which data are available) in which the word ‘Zafira’ was included in the make and model free text box.
The quality and extent of the make and model information provided by services is variable and its accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. Recorded incidents do not include judgments on whether the cause of the incident related to the vehicle (either its manufacture or maintenance), the driver, other circumstances or a combination of those factors. This information should not, therefore, be used in isolation to make judgments about the safety of particular vehicles.