Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the report entitled Building a Safer Future, Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, published in May 2018, whether the Government plans to bring forward legislation to implement recommendations in that report before the second anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government set out how it intends to take forward the recommendations of the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety as well as other steps we are taking to improve building safety in its report titled ‘Building a Safer Future – An Implementation Plan’ published on 18 December 2018.
We will consult in spring 2019 to develop government policy in more detail and to prepare the way for future legislative change.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
What recent assessment he has made of the effect of the cost of housing on trends in the level of evictions.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Government keeps rent levels and numbers of evictions under review. We are taking steps to make renting more affordable and more secure. In the private rented sector, we have recently consulted on overcoming the barriers to longer tenancies and we have committed to ban letting fees and cap tenancy deposits.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many citizens of non-UK EU countries work in (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies.
Answered by Jake Berry
The Department encourages its staff to voluntarily disclose their national identity and regularly review their diversity and inclusion profile throughout the course of their employment. However, as this information is collected by the Department on a purely voluntary basis it would be potentially misleading to provide this information in the format requested.
The Department’s executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies similarly collect this information on a voluntarily basis and therefore cannot confirm exact numbers reliably.
The Department is bound by EU and UK requirements concerning right-to-work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether gagging clauses have been used in contracts drawn up between his Department and any charities, voluntary sector organisations, social enterprises or companies with the intention of stopping any criticism of Ministers of his Department.
Answered by Jake Berry
Since January 2011, details of central government contracts above the value of £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts published prior to 26 February 2015 can be viewed at:
https://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive
Those published after 26 February 2015 can be viewed at:
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of leaving the EU in accordance with (a) the proposals set out in the Government’s White Paper and (b) a no-deal scenario.
Answered by Jake Berry
At Autumn Budget 2017, the Chancellor also set aside £1.5 billion of additional funding for EU Exit preparations in 2019/20. Departments will be invited to bid for 2019/20 EU Exit preparation funding later in the year. Details of timings and process will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the cost to the public purse has been of his Department hiring additional staff to cover issues related to the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Jake Berry
This information is not available as the Department does not account for costs in that way. MHCLG’s annual report and accounts 2017-2018 were published on 19 July: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mhclg-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-to-2018.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the total cost to the public purse of his Department’s work preparing for the UK to leave the EU has been since 23 June 2016.
Answered by Jake Berry
HM Treasury has allocated over £2 billion of additional funding to departments and the Devolved Administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This breaks down as:
£412 million of additional funding over the spending review period for the Department for Exiting the European Union, Department for International Trade and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office at Autumn Statement 2016.
£286 million of additional funding for 17/18 (a full breakdown of which can be found in Supplementary Estimates 17/18).
Over £1.5 billion of additional funding for 18/19. A full breakdown of which can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, made on 13 March (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/)