Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he had with (a) Mayors and (b) Metro Mayors on formulating the Budget 2023.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Ministers and officials work closely with all layers of local government including mayors and metro mayors.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department conducted an equality impact assessment on the new powers and funds for the Metro Mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands announced in March 2023.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I can confirm that the Department conducted public sector equalities duty analysis for each of the 'trailblazer' deeper devolution deals and for the capital regeneration projects in these city regions, and that this analysis was considered by ministers prior to final approval.
We have also gone further, to reiterate what is written in the trailblazer devolution deal documents, in exercising existing and newly devolved functions, the mayors and mayoral combined authorities will continue to adhere to their public sector equality duties.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the ability of local councils to fill vacancies in (a) social care and (b) refuse sectors; and what the cost per year is to local authorities of carrying vacancies in those sectors.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Local authorities work closely with providers in their local area to deliver social care, many aspects of which are provided by independent organisations and companies. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs leads on work relating to the refuse sectors.
The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2023/24 makes available up to £59.7 billion for local government in England.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment has been made of the potential impact of increased energy costs on local authority finances; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lee Rowley
As we have set out previously, we recognise that councils are facing higher costs. At the Autumn Statement, the Government announced significant additional resources for local government, making available approximately £6.5 billion of taxpayer subsidy for local government to deliver core services in 2023/24 and 2024/25 in addition to what was agreed at the 2021 Spending Review.
In addition, the Energy Bill Relief Scheme is providing a discount on energy prices this winter for councils whose bills have been significantly inflated by the global energy crisis.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment has been made of the adequacy of costs incurred by local authorities when applying for competitive Local Authority funding pots.
Answered by Lee Rowley
It is ultimately for individual local authorities to determine when and which funding pots to apply for but we also recognise that the process of applying for competitive funding does incur costs and have provided support to places accordingly; this includes as an example, the Levelling Up Fund which provided £125,000 of capacity funding to all eligible English local authorities.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent discussions he has had with Muslim faith leaders on Islamophobia in the UK.
Answered by Lee Rowley
This Government takes tackling Anti-Muslim hatred very seriously and working to stop it. Earlier this year the Secretary of State chaired a roundtable with experts on Anti-Muslim hatred where we discussed the drivers of discrimination against Muslim communities.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he last met with each directly-elected Mayor or Metro-Mayor in England.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Since being reinstated to my post as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Levelling Up, I have met with the Mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. The Secretary of State has also met with the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Tees Valley and the North of Tyne. We look forward to engaging with the rest of the English metro mayors and local authority mayors and leaders as we continue our mission to level up every part of the country
Ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of ways to improve the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
We continue to review and develop plans to support guests to access economic opportunities, informed by engagement with other government departments, local councils, VCS organisations, sponsors, and guests.
The Homes for Ukraine scheme relies on cooperation between Government, local government, the voluntary sector, faith organisations, and Ukrainian representative organisations. We have engaged with local government and other partners through several different conversations and working groups to date. This has included Ministerial roundtables attended by local government representatives, official-led working group meetings, and ongoing bilateral engagement with local authority Chief Executives and senior representatives.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Rt. hon Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland accepted the full severance payment to which he was entitled on leaving his post on 25 October 2022.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 77560 on 8 November 2022.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Rt. hon Member for Tunbridge Wells accepted the full severance payment to which he was entitled on leaving his post on 7 September 2022.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 77560 on 8 November 2022.