Asked by: Stephen Twigg (Labour (Co-op) - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of rough sleeping in (a) Liverpool, (b) Merseyside and (c) England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
MHCLG’s latest annual Rough Sleeping Statistics published on 31 January 2019 show the total number of people counted or estimated to be sleeping rough in England on a single night in Autumn 2018 was 4,677. This was down by 74 people or 2 per cent from the 2017 total of 4,751, and was up 2,909 people or 165 per cent from the 2010 total of 1,768.
These single night snapshots of the number of people sleeping rough are provided by all local authority areas in England. In Liverpool, there were 15 people sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2018. This was down by 18 people or 55 per cent from the 2017 total of 33, and was up 12 people or 400 per cent from the 2010 total of 3.
The single night snapshots for (a) Liverpool and (b) those local authorities in Merseyside are provided in table below.
Rough sleeping single night snapshots, 2010 - 2018 | |||||||||
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
Liverpool | 3 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 15 | 21 | 33 | 15 |
% change from previous year |
| 200 | -33 | 0 | 33 | 88 | 40 | 57 | -55 |
Knowsley | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
% change from previous year |
| 0 | 200 | -67 | -100 | - | 100 | -100 | - |
St Helens | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 14 |
% change from previous year |
| 0 | 0 | -50 | -100 | - | 0 | 350 | 56 |
Sefton | 4 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 11 |
% change from previous year |
| 50 | 17 | 29 | 22 | -64 | 0 | 125 | 22 |
Wirral | 4 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 16 |
% change from previous year |
| 25 | 40 | 0 | -29 | 60 | 38 | 27 | 14 |
England | 1,768 | 2,181 | 2,309 | 2,414 | 2,744 | 3,569 | 4,134 | 4,751 | 4,677 |
% change from previous year |
| 23 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 30 | 16 | 15 | -2 |
These statistics are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rough-sleeping-in-england-autumn-2018
This Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy which sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period. This year, Rough Sleeping Initiative investment totals £46 million and has been allocated to 246 areas – providing funding for an estimated 750 additional staff and over 2,600 bed spaces.
Asked by: Stephen Twigg (Labour (Co-op) - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to minimise the environmental effect of mineral extraction (a) in the UK and (b) abroad.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The National Planning Policy Framework sets out the Government’s planning policies which provide the framework to minimise the environmental effect of mineral extraction. The Department is only responsible for providing the planning framework for mineral extraction in England.
Asked by: Stephen Twigg (Labour (Co-op) - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on its proposals for leasehold reform for people currently living in leasehold properties.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for leaseholders.
On 21 December 2017, the Government set out a package of measures to tackle abuses and unfair practices in the leasehold market. This includes introducing legislation to prohibit the development of new build leasehold houses, other than in exceptional circumstances; restricting ground rents in newly established leases of houses and flats to a peppercorn (zero financial value), and working with the Law Commission to support existing leaseholders which includes making buying a freehold or extending a lease easier, faster, fairer and cheaper.
A number of developers have introduced schemes to compensate existing leaseholders affected by onerous ground rents, but these must go further and faster. The Government wants to see this support extended to all those with onerous ground rents, including second hand buyers, and for customers to be proactively contacted. The then Housing Minister wrote to developers on 21 December 2017 to set out this position. We will be keeping a close eye on progress and will consider measures that could be pursued to take action if necessary.
Asked by: Stephen Twigg (Labour (Co-op) - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on its proposals for leasehold reform for people currently living in leasehold properties.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for leaseholders.
On 21 December 2017, the Government set out a package of measures to tackle abuses and unfair practices in the leasehold market. This includes introducing legislation to prohibit the development of new build leasehold houses, other than in exceptional circumstances; restricting ground rents in newly established leases of houses and flats to a peppercorn (zero financial value), and working with the Law Commission to support existing leaseholders which includes making buying a freehold or extending a lease easier, faster, fairer and cheaper.
A number of developers have introduced schemes to compensate existing leaseholders affected by onerous ground rents, but these must go further and faster. The Government wants to see this support extended to all those with onerous ground rents, including second hand buyers, and for customers to be proactively contacted. The then Housing Minister wrote to developers on 21 December 2017 to set out this position. We will be keeping a close eye on progress and will consider measures that could be pursued to take action if necessary.
Asked by: Stephen Twigg (Labour (Co-op) - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when the Government plans to respond to the ninth report of the Women and Equalities Committee's report, Building for Equality: Disability and the Built Environment of Session 2016-17, HC 631, published on 25 April 2017.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Government expects to publish its response shortly.