Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on leasehold reform that will retrospectively provide a right to extend a lease by 990 years.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
We are due to bring forward further leasehold reforms later in this Parliament and will set out further details in due course.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on whether any commercial buildings converted into residential buildings under permitted developed rights contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Individual building owners and managers continue to be responsible for health and safety, including responding to safety alerts such as RAAC.
Building owners must address safety risks of all kinds in their buildings through a risk-based, proportionate and evidence-based approach. On the 1 May 2019, the Standing Committee on Structural Safety issued a safety alert on the failure of RAAC planks. Local authorities, like other building owners, are advised to follow available professional guidance.
The Local Government Association has advised members to check whether any buildings in their estates have RAAC, to ensure it can be identified, assessed, and responded to accordingly. This is accessible on the LGA website and in line with the guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers. If further buildings are identified as having suspected or confirmed RAAC, building owners and managers should follow the guidance to put appropriate mitigation in place.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had recent discussions with (a) local authorities and (b) housing associations on the possible use of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in residential homes in England.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Individual building owners and managers continue to be responsible for health and safety, including responding to safety alerts such as RAAC.
Building owners must address safety risks of all kinds in their buildings through a risk-based, proportionate and evidence-based approach. On the 1 May 2019, the Standing Committee on Structural Safety issued a safety alert on the failure of RAAC planks. Local authorities, like other building owners, are advised to follow available professional guidance.
The Local Government Association has advised members to check whether any buildings in their estates have RAAC, to ensure it can be identified, assessed, and responded to accordingly. This is accessible on the LGA website and in line with the guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers. If further buildings are identified as having suspected or confirmed RAAC, building owners and managers should follow the guidance to put appropriate mitigation in place.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential financial implications for leaseholders who lease a building built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Individual building owners and managers continue to be responsible for health and safety, including responding to safety alerts such as RAAC.
Building owners must address safety risks of all kinds in their buildings through a risk-based, proportionate and evidence-based approach. On the 1 May 2019, the Standing Committee on Structural Safety issued a safety alert on the failure of RAAC planks. Local authorities, like other building owners, are advised to follow available professional guidance.
The Local Government Association has advised members to check whether any buildings in their estates have RAAC, to ensure it can be identified, assessed, and responded to accordingly. This is accessible on the LGA website and in line with the guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers. If further buildings are identified as having suspected or confirmed RAAC, building owners and managers should follow the guidance to put appropriate mitigation in place.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of whether residential buildings contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC); and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Individual building owners and managers continue to be responsible for health and safety, including responding to safety alerts such as RAAC.
Building owners must address safety risks of all kinds in their buildings through a risk-based, proportionate and evidence-based approach. On the 1 May 2019, the Standing Committee on Structural Safety issued a safety alert on the failure of RAAC planks. Local authorities, like other building owners, are advised to follow available professional guidance.
The Local Government Association has advised members to check whether any buildings in their estates have RAAC, to ensure it can be identified, assessed, and responded to accordingly. This is accessible on the LGA website and in line with the guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers. If further buildings are identified as having suspected or confirmed RAAC, building owners and managers should follow the guidance to put appropriate mitigation in place.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many calls were made to Homes England in (a) April, (b) May and (c) June 2023 on the Help to Buy Scheme.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Homes England do not have published figures for how many calls were made to Homes England in (a) April, (b) May and (c) June 2023 on the Help to Buy Scheme.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many chartered fire engineers there are.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the service provided by Lenvi to individuals enquiring about Help to Buy Equity Loans.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The contract with Lenvi was awarded following a rigorous procurement process. It is a concession contract, so the equity loan administrator's costs are met through fees charged to customers with an equity loan.
Homes England established a project team to manage the process, with a programme of testing before migration of customer data and the service launching on 19 June. Following the migration and launch, the service has been subject to high volumes of customer calls and emails, and this has led to delays for some customers. We are working to address this.
Several steps have been taken in response. This includes increasing staff working hours, ensuring urgent cases are prioritised and escalated, encouraging customers to use email instead of phoning wherever possible and targeted communications channels to keep customers informed.
The department receives daily updates and regularly monitors the service recovery plan and a number of actions have been taken to improve the service.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps she has taken to decrease the waiting time for individuals contacting Lenvi regarding Help to Buy Equity Loans.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The contract with Lenvi was awarded following a rigorous procurement process. It is a concession contract, so the equity loan administrator's costs are met through fees charged to customers with an equity loan.
Homes England established a project team to manage the process, with a programme of testing before migration of customer data and the service launching on 19 June. Following the migration and launch, the service has been subject to high volumes of customer calls and emails, and this has led to delays for some customers. We are working to address this.
Several steps have been taken in response. This includes increasing staff working hours, ensuring urgent cases are prioritised and escalated, encouraging customers to use email instead of phoning wherever possible and targeted communications channels to keep customers informed.
The department receives daily updates and regularly monitors the service recovery plan and a number of actions have been taken to improve the service.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2023 to Question 190575, what is the cost to the public purse of the contract given to Lenvi to administer the service provision for the Help to Buy: Equity Loan Scheme.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The contract with Lenvi was awarded following a rigorous procurement process. It is a concession contract, so the equity loan administrator's costs are met through fees charged to customers with an equity loan.
Homes England established a project team to manage the process, with a programme of testing before migration of customer data and the service launching on 19 June. Following the migration and launch, the service has been subject to high volumes of customer calls and emails, and this has led to delays for some customers. We are working to address this.
Several steps have been taken in response. This includes increasing staff working hours, ensuring urgent cases are prioritised and escalated, encouraging customers to use email instead of phoning wherever possible and targeted communications channels to keep customers informed.
The department receives daily updates and regularly monitors the service recovery plan and a number of actions have been taken to improve the service.