Asked by: Steve Rotheram (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the levels of homelessness were in (a) Liverpool, Walton constituency, (b) Merseyside and (c) England in each year from 2010 to 2016.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Homelessness acceptances remain less than half the 2003-4 peak, but one person without a home is still one too many. That is why we have protected £315 million for local authority homelessness prevention funding, and secured £149 million central government funding in this Parliament.
We have a strong homelessness safety net, but we want to go further by putting prevention at the heart of our approach to tackling homelessness. That is why we are supporting Bob Blackman MP’s Private Members’ Bill. The Homelessness Reduction Bill will significantly reform England’s homelessness legislation, ensuring that more people get the help they need earlier to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.
Homelessness statistics are recorded at a local authority level. Statistics for each of the last five years on statutory homelessness acceptances, homelessness prevention and relief and rough sleeping by each local authority in England are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics.
Asked by: Steve Rotheram (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many young people in Merseyside and Halton have benefited from the Government's Help to Buy scheme.
Answered by Lord Barwell
Since the launch of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan, Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee and Help to Buy: NewBuy schemes, the total number of homes sold under all three schemes total 183,795 in the UK, of which 5,343 are in Merseyside and Halton.
It is not possible to estimate how many of these homes have been sold to young people.
Asked by: Steve Rotheram (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, who has responsibility for delivering the Northern Powerhouse.
Answered by Andrew Percy
The Northern Powerhouse is a partnership between local civic and business leaders and the whole of government; all departments, therefore, have a responsibility to support its delivery. The Prime Minister appointed me as Minister for the Northern Powerhouse to help ensure the whole machinery of government gets behind the Northern Powerhouse as part of our efforts to build an economy that works for everyone, not just the privileged few.
Asked by: Steve Rotheram (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to tackle racist and discriminating behaviour.
Answered by Marcus Jones
This Government deplores racism in all its forms and is determined to ensure everyone has the opportunity to get on in life free from harassment and fear.
50 years ago Britain introduced its first race equality legislation and in that time our country has undoubtedly become fairer. The Equality Act 2010 protects all individuals against racial and other forms of discrimination.
On 12 October 2015 a new Cross Government Hate Crime Action Plan was announced, to drive forward action against all forms of hate crime. This will be taken forward in partnership with communities to ensure we target the harm that hate crime causes. More broadly, my rt. hon. Friend, the Prime Minister has set out a series of ambitious government commitments to reduce racial inequalities by the end of the current Parliament in 2020.
Asked by: Steve Rotheram (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of trends in the number of young people who own their own home since 2010.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government is committed to increasing the number of first time buyers. Action taken in support of this Includes:
- extending the Right to Buy - which has supported council tenants into home ownership for decades - to housing association tenants. This will give another 1.3 million families the chance to purchase a home at right to buy level discounts;
- Help to Buy schemes, targeting those wanting to get onto the housing ladder with 80% of sales going to first time buyers, which have so far enabled over 130,000 families to purchase a home;
- launching, on 1 December 2015, the Help to Buy: ISA which will help first-time buyers save for their first deposit. The Government will top up savings by 25%, up to a maximum top-up of £3,000; and
- a £2.3 billion fund to deliver 200,000 Starter Homes by 2020, to be exclusively offered to first time buyers under 40 at a 20% discount on market value.
Information on housing tenure and the age of the household reference person in England, based on data from DCLG’s English Housing Survey, can be found (in Annex Table 1.4) at:
Asked by: Steve Rotheram (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to tackle landlords who knowingly rent out unsafe and substandard accommodation.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Through the Housing and Planning Bill we are taking measures to tackle rogue landlords who rent out sub-standard accommodation. Our proposals include a database of rogue landlords and property agents, introducing banning orders for serious or repeat offenders, a tougher fit and proper person test, extending Rent Repayment Orders and introducing civil penalties for offences such as failing to comply with an improvement notice or overcrowding a property.
In addition, over the last Parliament, we made over £6.7 million available to local authorities to help them tackle rogue landlords in their areas. We have also invited 65 local authorities to bid for a share of a further £5 million funding to tackle rogue landlords and will be announcing successful schemes shortly.
Asked by: Steve Rotheram (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the Government's proposed changes to business rates on (a) Liverpool Walton constituency, (b) Liverpool City Council, (c) the North West and (d) the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority area.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Liverpool City Council is forecast to collect £190 million in 2015/16, while for the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Area the total forecast is £466 million. The 45 local authorities that comprise the North West are expected to collect £2,588 million in 2015/16.
The Government intends to move to 100% business rates retention for the local government sector across England by the end of this Parliament. As part of the new system, there will continue to be a redistribution of local tax revenue between authorities, with protections in place for authorities that might see their business rates income fall significantly. Over the coming months we will work with local government on the detail of these reforms.
Asked by: Steve Rotheram (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the number of wheelchair accessible (a) homes, (b) flats and (c) bungalows which will be built in each of the next five years.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Local authorities are best placed to understand the housing needs in their area. We expect them to work closely with key partners and their local communities in deciding what type of housing is needed.
National policy sets out clearly the need for local authorities to plan for the housing needs of all members of the community and that planning should encourage accessibility. The introduction of optional requirements for accessibility in the Building Regulations provides local authorities with the tools needed to ensure that new homes are accessible and that in particular the needs of disabled people are met.
At the same time as introducing these new optional requirements, we amended planning guidance to provide further advice on how they should be applied through local planning policy. We also published a data sheet setting out information and statistics on older and disabled peoples’ needs to act as a starting point for local authorities wishing to develop suitable policies.
An impact assessment supporting implementation of the Housing Standards Review estimated, for appraisal purposes, an indicative rate of construction of accessible housing in the period 2015 to 2025 - the impact assessment and accompanying documents can be found at the link below;
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-standards-review-final-implementation-impact-assessment.
Asked by: Steve Rotheram (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will undertake an assessment of the effectiveness and progress of the Anfield regeneration project.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
[Holding Reply: Monday 9 June 2014]
This local regeneration project is being overseen by Liverpool City Council, and is not the responsibility of my Department.
This Government cancelled the last Administration's controversial Pathfinder programme and its top down targets.
Given my Department's quasi-judicial role in the planning process, it would not be appropriate to comment at this stage on any current or pending planning application.
Asked by: Steve Rotheram (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people registered for social housing in (a) Liverpool, (b) the North West and (c) England are non-UK nationals.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
[Holding Reply: Monday 9 June 2014]
Information about the nationality of households on local authority waiting lists is not collected centrally. Last December we published statutory guidance for local authorities to ensure that – with the exception of Service personnel – only those with a well-established local residency and local association qualify for social housing. The guidance also encourages local authorities to consider how accurate and anonymised information on waiting list applicants and lettings outcomes could be routinely published, to strengthen public confidence in the fairness of their allocation scheme.
Information on social housing lettings is collected by the Department through the Continuous Recording of Lettings (CORE). In 2012/13, 92% of all new social housing (general and supported, social and affordable rents) lettings were to households where the lead tenant was a UK national. In Liverpool this was 91%. National data is published annually
Ministers have been very clear that local authorities should ensure they have up-to-date information about prospective tenants' nationality and immigration status, in order to ascertain their eligibility for social housing.