Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to increase funding support for towns and coastal communities.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government will set out a refreshed approach to local growth funding at the multi-year Spending Review in the Spring. An approach that includes more integrated settlements, over longer term, with less central direction and more local choice.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps to help ensure that grants for affordable housing schemes do not sit as debt on housing association balance sheets.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is responsible for setting prescribed accounting standards for the UK and Ireland, including the treatment of government grants. Grants, such as those associated with the Affordable Housing Programme, are not treated as debt on housing association balance sheets.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department is taking steps to recover costs incurred by local authorities in maintaining the safety, security and environmental integrity of the property portfolio originating from the administration of the Carlauren Group ;and whether she has made an estimate as to the total cost to local authorities of this work since 2019.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Local authorities have flexibility over the money they receive, enabling them to work with their residents to decide how best to spend it on local priorities. Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are responsible for commissioning a diverse range of care and support services that enable people to access quality care.
The responsibility for management of any of Carlauren Group’s former properties sits with the current freeholders, who would be responsible for any related costs. Local authorities can decide how to pursue recovery of any costs incurred in line with their broader financial responsibilities.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much base funding she plans to provide for (a) domestic abuse and sexual violence and (b) drugs and alcohol services in Torbay constituency.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
In 2024/25, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) allocated Torbay, as a Tier One authority, £321,538 to commission support for victims of domestic abuse and their children within safe accommodation locally.
On 28 November, the Government announced a £30 million increase to the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Grant, bringing the total investment to £160 million in 2025-26. This funding will enable all local authorities in England to continue investing in essential support within frontline safe accommodation services, ensuring victims of domestic abuse can access the support they need. Individual allocations to local authorities will be published shortly.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) provides ringfenced funding to Police and Crime Commissioners for community-based support to victims of crime, including victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence. The Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly received £3,752,000 for 2024-25.
Despite the challenging financial environment, MoJ ministers have decided to protect victims spending in the department by maintaining 2024-25 funding levels for sexual violence and domestic abuse support next year. This means that for 2025-26, the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund (RASASF) grant will be maintained at its current level (£21 million for 25-26). Recipients of the RASASF in Devon and Cornwall received a combined total of £782,500 for 2024-25.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is continuing to invest in improvements to local drug and alcohol treatment services. In addition to the Public Health Grant, DHSC allocated local authorities £267 million in 2024-25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. An additional £105 million from DHSC, MHCLG and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is improving treatment pathways and recovery, housing and employment outcomes for people affected by drug and alcohol use. As part of this, in 2024/25 Torbay received £798,783 through the Supplemental Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery Grant and £40,085 through the Inpatient Detoxification Grant. Now that the autumn budget has concluded, DHSC is working to announce future funding allocations for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery systems.
Funding from April 2026 will be a matter for Phase Two of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to renew play equipment in (a) parks and (b) public spaces.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The provision of playgrounds in parks and public spaces is primarily a matter for local authorities. We support local government and recognise the challenges that local authorities are facing as demand increases for critical services. We have listened to voices across the sector and it was prioritised at the Budget, where we announced over £4 billion in additional funding for local government services, including £1.3 billion provided through the Local Government Finance Settlement. Overall, the provisional Settlement will mean local government receives an around 3.2% real-terms increase in Core Spending Power.
The National Planning Policy Framework, which local authorities are expected to consider when developing their Local Plans, is clear that planning policies and decisions should aim to achieve healthy, inclusive and safe places.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will review the postal voting system to help improve accessibility for blind and partially sighted people.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
I refer the hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 10319 on 29 October 2024.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when her Department plans to publish the prospectus on the Long-Term Plan for Towns.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Chancellor confirmed at the Budget on 30 October that the Long-Term Plan for Towns will be retained and reformed as part of a new regeneration programme.
A revised prospectus for the programme will be published in due course, confirming the associated timelines and a new set of strategic objectives aligned to this government’s missions.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that care leavers below the age of 26 are given priority need status for homelessness support.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
The Government recognises that homelessness levels are far too high and this can have a devastating impact on those affected, including young people and care leavers. We will look at these issues carefully and will consider youth and care leaver homelessness as we develop our long-term, cross-government strategy working with Mayors and councils across the country, to get us back on track to ending homelessness.
Helping care leavers to make a successful transition from care to independence is a priority for this Government. We will improve access to social housing for care leavers under 25 and exempt them from local connection and residency tests for social housing. We will work with the sector and engage with relevant stakeholders to bring forward these changes in due course.
The Homelessness Reduction Act places duties on local housing authorities to take reasonable steps to try to prevent and relieve a person’s homelessness. These duties apply irrespective of whether a person has 'priority need' or if they are 'intentionally homeless'.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of public support for an elected Mayor in the South West peninsula.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The Government wants more areas to benefit from devolution settlements, with new powers that will allow them to play a leading role in delivering growth and bring economic benefit to communities. This is why we are encouraging local authorities to advance discussions on devolution settlements. We will develop further proposals to widen and deepen devolution through the landmark English Devolution Bill and welcome engagement in that process.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure that funding for social rented housing goes to communities where the need is greatest.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to the biggest growth in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. We intend to ensure that we are supporting the delivery of the right kinds of affordable homes to meet local need.
The bid scoring mechanism of the Affordable Homes Programme actively targets areas of acute housing need by generating greater value for money for social landlords and central Government, and we strongly encourage bids from these areas.
We are committed to setting out details of future Government investment in social and affordable housing at the Spending Review.