Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
What steps his Department is taking to tackle unfair practices in the leasehold system.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
We are committed to tackling unfair leasehold practices, which is why we are working with the Law Commission to make buying your freehold or extending your lease easier, faster, fairer and cheaper.
We want to ensure leaseholders have the right support to deal with onerous ground rent and will consider further action if developer’s schemes to compensate individuals don’t go far enough.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of devolution of the public health grant and 100 per cent business rates retention on local authorities' delivery of the public health outcomes framework from 2018-19.
Answered by Marcus Jones
By the end of the Parliament, local government will retain 100 per cent of taxes raised locally, giving councils control of around an additional £12.5 billion of business rates to spend on local services. Councils have long campaigned for this move towards local self-sufficiency. In order that these reforms are revenue neutral, local authorities will have £12.5 billion of additional responsibilities delegated to them. We consulted last Summer on these reforms, including on which additional functions should be delegated, and had over 450 responses. My officials are currently considering all responses and we will publish a summary of the responses and our proposals for the broad way forward in due course.
If public health responsibilities were to be resourced through retained business rates, then this would change the funding mechanism by which the resource is supplied to local authorities, but would not change the legal requirements on local authorities to improve public health.
The legislative framework for public health would remain, including regulations mandating particular services. If public health responsibilities were to be resourced through retained business rates then the Government would also consider whether any adjustments to this framework are necessary, and if required the Government would consult on any proposed changes.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of its proposals for 100 per cent business rates retention and devolution of the public health grant on the capacity of local authorities to work to reduce health inequalities from 2018-19.
Answered by Marcus Jones
By the end of the Parliament, local government will retain 100 per cent of taxes raised locally, giving councils control of around an additional £12.5 billion of business rates to spend on local services. Councils have long campaigned for this move towards local self-sufficiency. In order that these reforms are revenue neutral, local authorities will have £12.5 billion of additional responsibilities delegated to them. We consulted last Summer on these reforms, including on which additional functions should be delegated, and had over 450 responses. My officials are currently considering all responses and we will publish a summary of the responses and our proposals for the broad way forward in due course.
If public health responsibilities were to be resourced through retained business rates, then this would change the funding mechanism by which the resource is supplied to local authorities, but would not change the legal requirements on local authorities to improve public health.
The legislative framework for public health would remain, including regulations mandating particular services. If public health responsibilities were to be resourced through retained business rates then the Government would also consider whether any adjustments to this framework are necessary, and if required the Government would consult on any proposed changes.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the potential effect on local authorities conduct of statutory duties and public health responsibilities of the Government's proposals for 100 per cent business rates retention from 2018-19 and the devolution of the public health grant.
Answered by Marcus Jones
By the end of the Parliament, local government will retain 100 per cent of taxes raised locally, giving councils control of around an additional £12.5 billion of business rates to spend on local services. Councils have long campaigned for this move towards local self-sufficiency. In order that these reforms are revenue neutral, local authorities will have £12.5 billion of additional responsibilities delegated to them. We consulted last Summer on these reforms, including on which additional functions should be delegated, and had over 450 responses. My officials are currently considering all responses and we will publish a summary of the responses and our proposals for the broad way forward in due course.
If public health responsibilities were to be resourced through retained business rates, then this would change the funding mechanism by which the resource is supplied to local authorities, but would not change the legal requirements on local authorities to improve public health.
The legislative framework for public health would remain, including regulations mandating particular services. If public health responsibilities were to be resourced through retained business rates then the Government would also consider whether any adjustments to this framework are necessary, and if required the Government would consult on any proposed changes.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2016 to Question HL3395, if the Government will hold a public consultation on the effect on future arrangements for public health funding of Government proposals on business rate retention by local authorities.
Answered by Marcus Jones
By the end of the Parliament, local government will retain 100 per cent of taxes raised locally, giving councils control of around an additional £12.5 billion of business rates to spend on local services. Councils have long campaigned for this move towards local self-sufficiency. In order that these reforms are revenue neutral, local authorities will have £12.5 billion of additional responsibilities delegated to them. We consulted last Summer on these reforms, including on which additional functions should be delegated, and had over 450 responses. My officials are currently considering all responses and we will publish a summary of the responses and our proposals for the broad way forward in due course.
If public health responsibilities were to be resourced through retained business rates, then this would change the funding mechanism by which the resource is supplied to local authorities, but would not change the legal requirements on local authorities to improve public health.
The legislative framework for public health would remain, including regulations mandating particular services. If public health responsibilities were to be resourced through retained business rates then the Government would also consider whether any adjustments to this framework are necessary, and if required the Government would consult on any proposed changes.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proposals he has to enhance and extend neighbourhood plans.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Government is fully committed to neighbourhood planning and recently introduced regulations that implement powers in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 to speed up and simplify the neighbourhood planning process. To support the Government’s approach, the Neighbourhood Planning Bill, which went through Second Reading in Parliament on 10 October, contains measures to further strengthen neighbourhood planning.
We are also supporting neighbourhood planning through a £22.5 million support programme which has made over 1,500 payments to groups since April 2015. All groups can apply for a grant of up to £9,000. Additional grant and technical support is available to priority groups, including those in urban and more deprived areas. Groups can also access a range of tools and templates, and a dedicated advice service, to help them prepare their plans.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will place in the Library copies of all letters, leaflets and other material from his Department circulated to (a) stakeholders and (b) members of the public on the EU Referendum; what the costs of the production and distribution of that material has been since 1 January 2016; and what he estimates the cost of any further production and distribution of such material will be between 6 May 2016 and 23 June 2016.
Answered by Mark Francois - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Copies of the Government's published documents on the Referendum are available in the Libraries of both Houses. It is not normal practice to publish letters to members of the public and stakeholders. Costs relating to the Referendum will be accounted for in the usual way in Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support the provision of adult social care in the Stockport local authority area.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Government is providing a package of support - worth up to £3.5 billion a year by 2019-20 - to ensure councils are able to support some of their older and most vulnerable residents. This includes an extra £1.5 billion through the improved Better Care Fund, which will continue to bring together funding and services across health and social care to support the provision of integrated care for older and vulnerable people. Councils will also have the additional freedom to introduce a social care precept onto council tax bills, which will raise up to £2 billion. This year alone, Stockport will raise an additional £2,534,000 through the social care precept and receive £21,276,000 through the Better Care Fund.