Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 produce a cross-departmental strategy to reduce the number of households living in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
At the last Spending Review, the department was allocated over £2 billion to help tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. We have allocated the vast majority of this funding across our core programmes.
We are providing over £1 billion through the Homelessness Prevention Grant over three years, including a £109 million top-up this year. Temporary accommodation is an important way of ensuring no family is without a roof over their head. The Government is committed to reducing the need for temporary accommodation by preventing homelessness before it occurs in the first place.
The department continues to work with local authorities and partners in the voluntary and community sector to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, including to assess the effectiveness of our interventions on homelessness and rough sleeping.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reason the rules on local authority Right to Buy receipts limit their use to re-purchase homes previously sold to their tenants.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Local authorities are able to use Right to Buy receipts to buy former council homes and use them for social housing. In March, following calls from local authorities, we introduced increased flexibilities on the use of Right to Buy receipts.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to his oral contribution of 30 January 2023 on Building Safety, Official Report, column 55, whether he has had discussions with insurance companies that have increased premiums for leaseholders awaiting cladding remediation.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government is committed to making sure that buildings insurance costs are fair and transparent, and that leaseholders have confidence in challenging costs where necessary. Insurers must price risk in a responsible manner. It is clear from the Financial Conduct Authority reports into this market that leaseholders have not always been getting the service that they should, and this must change.
The Association of British Insurers is developing a scheme for buildings with fire safety risks experiencing particularly high premiums. I have engaged regularly with the industry to monitor the progress of the scheme. We have made clear that we expect the scheme to be delivered as soon as possible.
The Government has also committed to ban commissions paid to brokers or other third parties on buildings insurance from being passed on to leaseholders through their service charge, replacing this with more transparent fees. We are pressing relevant parties to urgently consider their charging mechanisms ahead of government reform. The Financial Conduct Authority has recently consulted on changing its rules to increase transparency for leaseholders and ensure insurers and insurance brokers apply fair value to their policies, an initiative which I strongly welcome.
We will continue to work with the insurance sector to restore confidence in building safety and a return to proportionate premiums and products.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to his oral contribution of 30 January 2023, Official Report, column 55, what steps his Department has taken steps to help alter the behaviour of insurance companies; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government is committed to making sure that buildings insurance costs are fair and transparent, and that leaseholders have confidence in challenging costs where necessary. Insurers must price risk in a responsible manner. It is clear from the Financial Conduct Authority reports into this market that leaseholders have not always been getting the service that they should, and this must change.
The Association of British Insurers is developing a scheme for buildings with fire safety risks experiencing particularly high premiums. I have engaged regularly with the industry to monitor the progress of the scheme. We have made clear that we expect the scheme to be delivered as soon as possible.
The Government has also committed to ban commissions paid to brokers or other third parties on buildings insurance from being passed on to leaseholders through their service charge, replacing this with more transparent fees. We are pressing relevant parties to urgently consider their charging mechanisms ahead of government reform. The Financial Conduct Authority has recently consulted on changing its rules to increase transparency for leaseholders and ensure insurers and insurance brokers apply fair value to their policies, an initiative which I strongly welcome.
We will continue to work with the insurance sector to restore confidence in building safety and a return to proportionate premiums and products.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department plans to take steps to support leaseholders that are paying increased insurance premiums whilst awaiting cladding remediation.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government is committed to making sure that buildings insurance costs are fair and transparent, and that leaseholders have confidence in challenging costs where necessary. Insurers must price risk in a responsible manner. It is clear from the Financial Conduct Authority reports into this market that leaseholders have not always been getting the service that they should, and this must change.
The Association of British Insurers is developing a scheme for buildings with fire safety risks experiencing particularly high premiums. I have engaged regularly with the industry to monitor the progress of the scheme. We have made clear that we expect the scheme to be delivered as soon as possible.
The Government has also committed to ban commissions paid to brokers or other third parties on buildings insurance from being passed on to leaseholders through their service charge, replacing this with more transparent fees. We are pressing relevant parties to urgently consider their charging mechanisms ahead of government reform. The Financial Conduct Authority has recently consulted on changing its rules to increase transparency for leaseholders and ensure insurers and insurance brokers apply fair value to their policies, an initiative which I strongly welcome.
We will continue to work with the insurance sector to restore confidence in building safety and a return to proportionate premiums and products.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 (a) identified and (b) taken action in cases of freeholders preventing cladding remediation; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Building owners have a legal responsibility to make sure their buildings are safe. While many freeholders are acting responsibly, a minority are failing to progress remediation.
The department is aware of freeholders who are stalling on remediation work through intelligence gathered from engagement with regulatory bodies, and updates from our delivery partners who monitor buildings' progress through the government's remediation funds (e.g., building safety fund and cladding safety scheme). This intelligence is also used by the department to identify, monitor and contact owners of high-rise buildings that have not registered for remediation schemes but may have unsafe cladding systems. Where Freeholders fail to engage, the department works with local regulators to compel them to take action.
Regulators (local authorities and fire and rescue services) have statutory duties and a range of powers to compel responsible entities to enter the funds and undertake the necessary remediation works. These powers range from soft levers to enforcement powers under the Housing Act 2004 and Fire Safety Order 2005. The department also holds account management meetings reviewing the largest and/or most problematic freeholders to track progress and resolve blockers.
In addition to the above Local Regulator powers, the Building Safety Act 2022 introduced new enforcement powers, remediation orders (ROs) and remediation contribution orders (RCOs), that allow regulators, the Secretary of State and leaseholders to apply to the First-tier Tribunal for an order requiring a building owner to fix, and pay to fix, their unsafe building within a specified time.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, on what date he plans to bring forward the Renters (Reform) Bill.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 198928 on 18 September 2023.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has plans to bring forward secondary legislation on the regulation of almshouses.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to my answer to Question UIN 194656 on 24 July 2023.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 merits of establishing a new regulatory body for almshouses.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to my answer to Question UIN 194656 on 24 July 2023.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 provide funding for the Inter Faith Network in the 2023-2024 financial year; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Inter Faith Network will receive funding from the Department in 2023/24 to deliver a range of activities, including work to promote good relations between people of different faiths, and to coordinate activity around Inter Faith Week in November.