Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to establish a working definition of Islamophobia; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Government agrees that there needs to be a formal definition of Islamophobia to give the issue a stronger focus. We have committed to appointing independent advisers to provide expert advice on a definition. The first of these advisers, Imam Qari Asim MBE, was appointed in July 2019. We are taking steps to appoint individuals with the right combination of skills and experience to drive the work. We endeavour to move at pace on these appointments; good progress is balanced by the necessity for careful consideration of due process.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will meet Wycombe social housing providers to discuss the effect of abolishing section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 on innovative housing providers in the Wycombe constituency.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Earlier this year, the government announced its commitment to improve security for renters, and intends to introduce a new, fairer deal for both tenants and landlords.
As part of this new deal, the government has agreed to consult on repealing Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988. This would provide tenants with greater security in their homes because landlords would not be able to end a tenancy without a specified reason.
Our consultation, ‘A New Deal for Renting: Resetting the balance of rights and responsibilities between landlords and tenants’ sought views from across the private and social rented sectors on how the new system should operate, including whether the reforms proposed (including the use of section 21 notices) should extend to all users of the Housing Act 1988, including social housing providers. As part of the consultation process my officials met with a number of housing associations, including some who operate in the Wycombe area, and discussed how a more effective system can be developed that works for everybody.
The consultation has now closed and we are carefully considering the more than 20,000 responses received. We will publish our response in due course, setting out how the new system will work and our next steps.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with parish council representatives on the Local Government Finance Settlement Technical Consultation; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
During the consultation period, both I and officials at the department met a variety of representatives from the parishes sector to discuss the Local Government Finance Settlement 2017-18 Technical Consultation. This included a meeting between the minister and representatives from the National Association of Local Councils (NALC), as well as several official-level meetings with representatives of the NALC, the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC) and a variety of larger parishes. The minister also spoke at the NALC’s annual conference via video link on 19 October, and an official spoke at the SLCC’s annual conference on 14 October.