Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether there is a timetable in place for the removal of all combustible cladding from privately owned high-rise buildings; and what sanctions there will be for private owners of such buildings who refuse to remove dangerous cladding.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
As at 12 July 2018, of the 301 private sector residential buildings with cladding systems that are unlikely to meet current Building Regulations guidance, local authorities have told us about plans for remediating 77 buildings. Of these, 23 buildings have started remediation, of which 4 have completed.
A new ministerial-chaired taskforce is being established to actively oversee the remediation of private sector buildings with aluminium composite material cladding systems. The taskforce will be charged with ensuring that remediation plans are put in place swiftly across all private sector buildings with aluminium composite material cladding systems, and addressing any barriers or identifying any additional support required to achieve this. We have not ruled out any options for enforcing remediation.
Local authorities have strong and effective powers to deal with poor quality unsafe accommodation and they have a statutory duty to keep housing conditions in their areas under review. They should take enforcement action against owners of buildings in their areas that are not acting responsibly in respect of hazards, and we encourage them to use these powers to the fullest to ensure residents are safe.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many requests for financial assistance to undertake fire safety work from local councils and housing associations has his Department refused since the Grenfell Tower fire; and of each such request what the sum of money applied for was.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Government has not declined any requests for financial flexibilities to assist local authorities in competing essential fire safety work.
We have listened to what social sector landlords have been telling us about the cost of Aluminium Composite Material cladding systems and the decisions that they are making about how to fund it. The Prime Minister announced on 16 May that the Government will fully fund the removal and replacement of dangerous cladding on building owned by councils and housing associations, with costs estimated at £400 million. We will also continue to offer financial flexibilities for local authorities who need to undertake other essential fire safety work. We want to allocate this funding as soon as possible and we will announce more details shortly, including how we will encourage landlords to continue to pursue other parties for costs where they are responsible or at fault.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
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 plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of legislative proposals to remove prison sentences for the non-payment of council tax in line with other forms civil debt sentencing.
Answered by Rishi Sunak
Every penny of council tax that is not collected means a higher council tax or worse services in an area. However, it is important that councils are sympathetic to those in genuine hardship and are proportionate in enforcement. The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations are clear that the magistrates courts can only consider sending people to prison where the failure to pay is due to wilful refusal or culpable neglect. The Department has no plans to change those provisions.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much public funding was allocated to local authorities to support the retention of community (a) sports halls, (b) playing fields and (c) swimming pools in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2016-17.
Answered by Rishi Sunak
Over the course of this spending period the Government has made available over £200 billion of funding for local government, for councils to spend on locally determined priorities, including sports facilities.
Sport England works with a wide range of local authorities, providing expert advice and funding to sustain and increase the number of people playing sport regularly.
It invests in local authority facilities projects through its range of funding programmes to make sure that facilities are modern, accessible and in the right places to have the most impact.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether steps he has taken to safeguard deposit payments for licensees who have signed up for property guardianship schemes.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The tenancy deposit protection legislation applies to all new tenancy deposits taken on or after 6 April 2007 for qualifying assured shorthold tenancies. This legislation is not intended to apply to licensees. Property guardianship schemes are private arrangements between a building owner and/or guardian company and one or more individuals, where property guardians can be asked to live in conditions which do not meet the standards expected in residential properties. The Government does not endorse or encourage the use of property guardianship schemes as a form of housing tenure.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the suitability of using desktop studies to assess the flammability of cladding on buildings.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Interim report of Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety made the following recommendation;
"The government should significantly restrict the use of desktop studies to approve changes to cladding and other systems to ensure that they are only used where appropriate and with sufficient, relevant test evidence. Those undertaking desktop studies must be able to demonstrate suitable competence. The industry should ensure that their use of desktop studies is responsible and in line with this aim."
The government has accepted this recommendation and will be consulting shortly on proposed changes to building regulations guidance.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what support his Department provides to improve attendance at schools by children whose families are placed in temporary accommodation away from local schools.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Time spent in temporary accommodation ensures no family is without a roof over their head.
Local authorities should secure accommodation within their own borough so far as is reasonably practicable and take into account the impact a change in location would have on a household, including the possible disruption to jobs and children’s schooling. It is for the local authority to determine the suitability of accommodation on a case by case basis.
But we know we need to do more. This is why we are implementing the most ambitious legislative reform in decades, the Homelessness Reduction Act, in April 2018, which will ensure that more people get the help they need earlier to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.
We have also replaced DWP’s Temporary Accommodation Management Fee with a Flexible Homelessness Support Grant which local authorities can use more strategically to prevent and tackle homelessness. This amounts to £402 million over the two years from 2017/18.
Devolving the funding to local authorities will improve incentives to move families out of temporary accommodation and into settled accommodation more quickly, and with more certain upfront funding local authorities will be able to tackle homelessness more pro-actively, pushing the balance of the investment away from crisis intervention and towards prevention.