Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many members of his Department's executive board are disabled.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The executive and non executive members of the Department’s management board are listed at:
Disability is a self declaration and none of the members of the Department’s management board have declared themselves disabled.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many members of his Department's executive board are (a) white British and (b) from any other ethnic background.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The executive and non executive members of the Department’s management board are listed at:
Disability is a self declaration and none of the members of the Department’s management board have declared themselves disabled.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of people on the waiting list for social housing at the latest date for which figures are available were identified as (a) white British and (b) from any other ethnic group.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
DCLG does not collect data directly from social housing waiting lists but according to the English Housing Survey in 2012-13 in England, there were 680 thousand (74%) white British households and 236 thousand (26%) households from any other ethnic group where at least one person within the household was on the waiting list for social housing.
More broadly, I would observe that local authority housing waiting lists in England under the last Administration soared from 1.02 million households in April 1997 to 1.74 million in April 2010. Under this Government, waiting lists have now fallen to 1.37 million as of April 2014 (source: Local Authority Housing Statistics, which uses different methodology to the English Housing Survey).
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many meetings he, his Ministers or officials have had with individuals and organisations representing Gypsies, Roma or Travellers since May 2010.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Officials from the Department for Communities and Local Government hold quarterly meetings with organisations representing Gypsies, Travellers and Roma through the DCLG Gyspy, Traveller and Roma Liaison Group. The Group has met nine times since June 2012 and the first meeting was attended by a DCLG Minister. DCLG Ministers have met members of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Gypsy Roma Travellers. DCLG officials have also met individuals and organisations representing Gypsies, Travellers and Roma at other meetings, conferences and events, including consultation events, but we do not hold a comprehensive list of these.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the sufficiency of Traveller sites in England.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
It is for local authorities to plan to meet their traveller site needs, based on robust evidence, as is consistent with national planning policy as a whole.
The total number of caravans on authorised sites has risen from an estimated 14,498 in July 2010 to an estimated 16,771 in July 2014.
This shows our locally-led approach is working, with the abolition of top-down regional targets, the revocation of politically correct planning guidance, increased protection of the Green Belt and new powers for councils to tackle unauthorised sites.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many permanent Traveller sites have been created since May 2010.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
In July 2014, the most recent month for which a figure is available, there were an estimated 9,313 private caravans on authorised sites with permanent planning permission in England. This compares with an estimated 7,182 private caravans on authorised sites with permanent planning permission in England in July 2011. This is the earliest month for which a national figure is available.
National and local authority data on the number of private caravans on authorised sites with permanent planning permission in England are published and are available at www.gov.uk/government/collections/traveller-caravan-count
The total number of caravans on authorised sites has risen from 14,498 in July 2010 to 16,771 in July 2014.
This shows our locally-led approach is working, with the abolition of top-down regional targets, the revocation of politically correct planning guidance, increased protection of the Green Belt and new powers for councils to tackle unauthorised sites.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to develop inclusive practices and community cohesion guidance with respect to Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government's approach to integration is set out in "Creating the conditions for integration", published in February 2012. Instead of large scale, centrally led and funded programmes our approach is to enable civil society and local areas to take action on integration issues that are important to them. We have moved away from a focus on single issues and specific groups, but we nonethless recognise that Gypsies and Travellers experience inequalites in a number of important areas. The Ministerial Working Group on Reducing Inequalities Experienced by Gypsies and Travellers published a progress report in April 2012, which made 28 commitments from across Government on reducing inequalities in these communities. We are currently reviewing progress on those commitments and will publish a further report in due course.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of people in private rented accommodation are (a) white British and (b) from any other ethnic group.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
According to the English Housing Survey in 2012-13 in England, 72% of households in the private rented sector were white British and 28% of households in the private rented sector were from any other ethnic group.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of (a) his Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by his Department who are paid less than the Living Wage are (i) white British and (ii) from an ethnic minority background.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies do not currently employ any staff earning less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of (a) his Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by his Department are paid less than the Living Wage.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies do not currently employ any staff earning less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.