Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many applications his Department received to the Waking Watch Relief fund (a) in total and (b) by local authority.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Waking Watch Relief Fund opened for applications for buildings in England, except private sector buildings in London, on 31 January 2021 and closed on 14 March. Applications received are currently being processed. For private sector buildings in London the Fund opened on 18 March 2021 and remains open until 30 April. We will publish complete data on the Waking Watch Relief Fund, including the number of applications.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much of the Housing Infrastructure Fund has been allocated, by local authority.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
This information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-infrastructure-fund
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the review of the Decent Homes Standard, whether the Government plans to provide funding to local authorities and other social housing providers to meet the new standard.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Social Housing White Paper announced a review of the Decent Homes Standard to consider whether it needs to be updated to ensure it is delivering what is needed for safety and decency now, including on energy efficiency and green spaces.
As a first step, the review will consider the case for change. If the evidence demonstrates that we need to revise the Standard, we will consider new criteria as a second stage of the review.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reforming full repairing and insuring leases for small business premises.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government will launch a review of the commercial landlord and tenant relationship later this year.
This is in response to growing concerns that the current commercial leasehold legislation has not kept pace with the realities of the sector, and will seek views on how to ensure a flexible and fit-for-purpose system that enables sustainable occupation of thriving high streets and town centres as we recover from the pandemic and beyond.
It will consider a broad range of issues including the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 Part II, different models of rent payment, and the impact of Coronavirus on the market. The Government will make further announcements on the detail, including a timeline and full scope, in due course.
The Government has also recently launched a Call for Evidence on commercial rents to help monitor the overall progress of negotiations between tenants and landlords. This call for evidence will support the Government’s decision making on the best way to withdraw or replace existing legislation preventing eviction and insolvency measures, while preserving tenant businesses and the millions of jobs that they support. We welcome responses by 11:45pm on 4 May 2021.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the New Homes Quality Board is planned to include considerations affecting fire safety in its work putting together a Code of Conduct for the building industry.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The New Homes Quality Board is independent of Government and was established through an industry-led initiative. The Government had no role in making appointments to the Board or the appointment of the Chair. The Board brings together a wealth of relevant experience from across the housing industry and includes consumer protection groups. We are supportive of the Board’s aims and we have been kept appraised of its work, including on a code of practice. However, the Government has not been involved in the code’s development.
The Government is bringing forward legislation, through the Building Safety Bill, to provide for the New Homes Ombudsman which will resolve disputes, provide effective protection for new build home-buyers and will set out the arrangements for the New Homes Ombudsman scheme. Legislation will also underpin a developers’ code of practice to cover the standards of conduct and quality of work expected of developers, including fire safety issues.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the process was for selecting members of the New Homes Quality Board, including appointment of the Chair.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The New Homes Quality Board is independent of Government and was established through an industry-led initiative. The Government had no role in making appointments to the Board or the appointment of the Chair. The Board brings together a wealth of relevant experience from across the housing industry and includes consumer protection groups. We are supportive of the Board’s aims and we have been kept appraised of its work, including on a code of practice. However, the Government has not been involved in the code’s development.
The Government is bringing forward legislation, through the Building Safety Bill, to provide for the New Homes Ombudsman which will resolve disputes, provide effective protection for new build home-buyers and will set out the arrangements for the New Homes Ombudsman scheme. Legislation will also underpin a developers’ code of practice to cover the standards of conduct and quality of work expected of developers, including fire safety issues.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reason appointments to the New Homes Quality Board were not subject to open applications.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The New Homes Quality Board is independent of Government and was established through an industry-led initiative. The Government had no role in making appointments to the Board or the appointment of the Chair. The Board brings together a wealth of relevant experience from across the housing industry and includes consumer protection groups. We are supportive of the Board’s aims and we have been kept appraised of its work, including on a code of practice. However, the Government has not been involved in the code’s development.
The Government is bringing forward legislation, through the Building Safety Bill, to provide for the New Homes Ombudsman which will resolve disputes, provide effective protection for new build home-buyers and will set out the arrangements for the New Homes Ombudsman scheme. Legislation will also underpin a developers’ code of practice to cover the standards of conduct and quality of work expected of developers, including fire safety issues.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the (a) bailiff enforced eviction ban and (b) protection from eviction during the covid-19 outbreak applies to mortgage as well as landlord possession actions.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Public Health (Coronavirus) (Protection from Eviction) (England) Regulations 2021 prevents the serving and execution of writs or warrants of possession by bailiffs up to 31 May 2021. Landlords and mortgage lenders are able to issue a claim and obtain a possession order, but the ban prevents bailiff enforcement. Limited exemptions exist to enable landlords to take enforcement action in the most serious cases.
The Coronavirus Act 2020 requires landlords to provide six months’ notice before seeking possession through the courts except in the most serious cases. The notice periods do not apply to mortgage lenders when seeking possession from homeowners. A pre action protocol is in place to ensure mortgage lenders only take court action as a last resort. If a lender takes possession of a property and wishes to seek possession from sitting tenants, they will need to provide the relevant period of notice before they can seek possession through the court.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the building safety fund registration statistics, what is classified as basic information to assess whether an application is eligible.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The criteria used to assess the eligibility of registrations for the Building Safety Fund is set out in the prospectus. The Building Safety Fund prospectus, as well the annex with the registration questions (Prospectus Annex B), can be found at: www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#prospectus---outlining-eligibility-for-the-fund .
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his letter to building control bodies on the retraction of three tests carried out on Kingspan K15 insulation, what contribution Kingspan is planned to make to the cost of remediation of buildings with Kingspan insulation, where that is required.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We have announced that we will be introducing a levy and tax on developers to contribute to righting the wrongs of the past. The proposed levy will be targeted and apply when developers seek permission to develop certain high-rise buildings in England.
It is also clear that further measures must be put in place to prevent unsafe products being placed on the market and there must be action against companies which advertise and sell unsafe products, or who game the testing regime.
That is why we have brought forward proposals to strengthen the regulation of construction products in the draft Building Safety Bill. We have also announced in January a new national regulator for construction products, which will be based in the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), and who are receiving up to £10 million in 2021/22 to set it up. A review of the system for testing construction products was announced in January and will report its findings later this year. The Government will act where we see standards falling short.