Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many (a) private tower blocks and (b) social housing blocks in Birmingham have been identified as requiring the removal and replacement of unsafe aluminium composite cladding.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
As of 30 April, Birmingham has between 1 and 5 private sector high-rise buildings identified with Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding systems unlikely to meet Building Regulations which are yet to be remediated. This data is published in the April 2019 Building Safety Programme Data Release.
There has been no funding allocated to Birmingham City Council as we are not aware of any social sector high-rise buildings with ACM cladding in Birmingham.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 has been allocated to Birmingham city council to remove and replace unsafe aluminium composite cladding in council and housing association blocks since such funding was made available in 2018.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
As of 30 April, Birmingham has between 1 and 5 private sector high-rise buildings identified with Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding systems unlikely to meet Building Regulations which are yet to be remediated. This data is published in the April 2019 Building Safety Programme Data Release.
There has been no funding allocated to Birmingham City Council as we are not aware of any social sector high-rise buildings with ACM cladding in Birmingham.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which schemes or Departmental budgets will be affected by the reallocation of funds to the Stronger Towns Fund.
Answered by Jake Berry
The Stronger Towns Fund is a new package of support and is complementary to other departmental funding.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the eligibility criteria for the Stronger Towns Fund will be; and whether local authorities can apply to that fund for (a) specific projects or (b) grants for general use.
Answered by Jake Berry
The Stronger Towns Fund prospectus will be published before Summer recess. This will outline the process for how towns can come forward and will set out the process of the £600 million competitive component of the fund. It will also detail the role of local partners, relevant definitions and eligibility criteria.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding local government receives to deliver children’s services.
Answered by Rishi Sunak
Funding for local government services, including children’s services, is set at Spending Review. The Chancellor has announced that the next Spending Review will be in 2019 and decisions about the future funding of local government will be taken in the round.
We are working with the Department for Education (DfE) and the sector to develop an understanding of children’s services costs and pressures, and to help local authorities innovate and reform services to achieve better quality and efficiency.
In preparation for the Spending Review, and as part of the Government’s review of relative needs and resources, new, up-to-date formulas are being developed to ensure funding distribution to councils is based on the best available evidence. DfE and MHCLG have commissioned an ambitious data research project from independent contractors to inform this work.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the merits for communities of reinstating the migrant impact fund.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
We launched the Controlling Migration Fund in October 2016, with £100 million available over four years, to provide additional support to local areas that are facing pressure as a result of recent migration. To date we have funded £74 million. The deadline for bids from local authorities for a share of the remaining £26 million in the Fund was 1 October. My officials are assessing the applications that were submitted and successful projects will be announced in the new year. We will consider how best to continue to provide support for areas in response to the impacts of recent migration as part of the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing projects on Help to Rent and on a national rent deposit guarantee proposed by Crisis in its report, Crisis Help to Rent programmes.
Answered by Lord Sharma
My Department welcome's the work carried out by Crisis. We have committed £20 million funding to improve access to the private rented sector for those who are, or are at risk of, homelessness or rough sleeping, and are currently considering how best to use this.
This comes on top of £28 million funding for 3 regional Housing First pilot schemes which will offer permanent homes to homeless people.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of changes in the business rate treatment of solar power since April 2017 on the uptake of rooftop solar.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Business rates are based on valuations from the Valuation Office Agency and we are not involved in their independent assessments. My Department has put in place a £3.6 billion transitional relief scheme to support ratepayers in England, including those in the solar power sector, at the 2017 revaluation. The scheme ensures that annual increases in rate bills caused by the revaluation are capped.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on mandating the sale of homes owned by social housing associations.
Answered by Lord Sharma
We are currently considering the extension of Right to Buy discounts across England to housing association tenants, through the voluntary agreement with housing associations, and will announce more details in due course.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to bring into force the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017; and whether he plans to provide additional funding to councils to ensure the performance of their responsibilities under that Act.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Government is committed to preventing and reducing homelessness. The timely commencement of the Homelessness Reduction Act will ensure that local authorities intervene at earlier stages to prevent homelessness. It is our intention to commence the Act in April 2018. On Monday 16 October I updated the House on a commitment I made to fund the administrative costs of the additional new duties contained within the Act in line with the new burdens doctrine. Following further discussions with local authorities, the Government is providing an additional £11.7 million in new burdens funding taking the total amount from £61million to £72.7 million.