Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department took to increase levels of housebuilding in Birmingham in 2023.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Department has consistently set the conditions for the building of homes – and building them in the right places, including the revision of the NPPF in December 2023 and the Written Ministerial Statement on a long-term plan for housing in February 2024. Beyond that, Birmingham City Council is responsible for setting the plan for building the houses the city needs.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the report entitled Relationship of Equals, published by the Housing Ombudsman on 23 January 2024, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a Royal Commission to create a long-term plan for social housing.
Answered by Jacob Young
We welcome the Housing Ombudsman’s spotlight report on attitudes, respect, and rights and we will consider its recommendations. We urge social landlords to do the same, and for them to reflect on how best to support vulnerable residents.
The Social Housing Regulation Act is bringing in a tough new regulatory regime to support this Government’s commitment to driving up standards in social housing and holding landlords accountable for providing residents with decent homes.
We are currently consulting on further changes that will improve social housing. These include Awaab’s Law, which will set strict time limits on fixing reported health hazards in social housing, and on Competence and Conduct standards, which will require senior managers and executives in organisations that provide social housing to have or be working towards a relevant qualification.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that house building targets are met.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Hon Member to the written statement of 19 December 2023 entitled The Next Stage in Our Long Term Plan for Housing Update (HCWS161).
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what lessons for the protection of high streets his Department has learned from the collapse of Wilko.
Answered by Jacob Young
Government has no role in the strategic direction or management of private companies, but we understand that the failure of a business is very difficult for all involved, especially employees.
We recognise the importance of the retail sector and its significance for employment and the economy. Government will continue to work with retail businesses, including those taking over Wilko’s assets as well as through the industry-led Retail Sector Council to determine the sector’s long-term strategic needs. We want all types of retail to thrive now and in the future.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to increase the provision of housing for homeless families in Birmingham, Hall Green constituency.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
We are committed to tackling homelessness. For those who find themselves at risk of homelessness, we are investing over £1 billion in the Homelessness Prevention Grant over three years. Birmingham has been allocated £16.9 million between 2023/24 and 2024/25.
At the Autumn Statement government announced a further £120 million funding to help councils address Ukraine and homelessness pressures in 2024/25, including funding for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme delivers thousands of affordable homes for both rent and to buy right across the country.
We are also launching a £450 million third round of the Local Authority Housing Fund. This will provide capital funding to local authorities to obtain better quality temporary accommodation for those owed a homelessness duty and to provide safe and suitable housing for those on Afghan resettlement schemes.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) inflation and (b) trends in the level of energy costs on services delivered by local authorities.
Answered by Simon Hoare
The Government use a range of forecasts and indices to estimate demographic and unit cost pressures facing local government when determining the additional resource required to fund the expenditure needs of local authorities. We ensure the assumptions underlying our modelling are robust by holding in-depth financial conversations with local authorities and regular conversations with treasurer societies.
As a demonstration of Governments recognition of the additional pressures facing councils in 2023/24, the final Local Government Finance Settlement made available up to £59.7 billion for local government in England, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £5.1 billion or 9.4% in cash terms on 2022/23.