Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will make an estimate of the number of leaseholders who purchased leases between 14 February and 20 July 2022.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
For information on land purchases I would encourage you to contact HM Land Registry.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that when a building owner enters administration, qualifying leaseholders remain protected from non-cladding remediation costs under the Building Safety Act.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The costs of remediation will only fall on leaseholders in the event some or all of the leaseholders choose to buy the freehold collectively and take over the rights and responsibilities of being the freeholder. Otherwise, the responsibilities will remain with the freeholder or, following the conclusion of any insolvency proceedings, with the party who acquires the freehold following termination of the insolvency. In which case, the leaseholder protections will apply.
As a result, qualifying leaseholders under the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act 2022 will remain protected in law from the costs of non-cladding historical safety defects being passed on to them through the service charge (under the terms of the protections).
Should a building owner become insolvent and enter administration, interested parties including leaseholders can also potentially look to pursue a previous freeholder, developer and any associated company or person for remediation costs through a Remediation Contribution Order and also have the potential to pursue developers, contractors or manufacturers where they are liable for defects which meant one or more dwellings in the building was not fit for habitation when the relevant works were completed.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on the average time taken between a building entering the Cladding Safety Scheme pipeline for investigation and entering the pre-application stage of the scheme.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The time taken to enter the pre-application stage depends on the speed of the applicant providing the necessary information. On average, applicants who enter the pre-application stage of the scheme do so two months after receiving the initial communication from Homes England which requires them to provide information about the status of their building.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to ensure that British citizens with lawful dual citizenship are able to (a) vote and (b) stand for elections in all parts of the UK and overseas territories.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
A British citizen with dual nationality can register to vote and qualify to stand in UK parliamentary, local and police and crime commissioners (PCC) elections as a British citizen, as long as they meet the other qualifying requirements, such as age and residency.
The online Register to Vote service includes information to assist individuals with more than one nationality. On the section of the service requesting nationality information, text below that question advises applicants with more than one nationality to include them all. The same guidance appears on paper application forms.
The Electoral Commission produces guidance for EROs to use when processing applications to register to vote. This guidance advises that when an application is received from a dual national, the ERO “should always process an application in accordance with the nationality that provides the higher level of franchise”.
Elections in UK overseas territories are determined by each territory and the Government has no plans to change this. Each Overseas Territory has its own rules and regulations regarding voting and candidacy eligibility.
The UK Government believes that the current fundamental structure of our constitutional relationships with the Overseas Territories is the right one. Elected governments of the Territories have powers to the maximum extent possible, consistent with the UK retaining those powers necessary to discharge its sovereign responsibilities.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to his Department's quarterly release of EWS1 (or equivalent) lender data on mortgage valuations for flats, published on 21 March 2024, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his Department's policies of the fact that one in six EWS1 requests for mortgage valuations from October to December 2023 were for low rise buildings (1-4 storeys).
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The EWS1 form is not a Government process, and we do not support its use in the mortgage process.
To aid transparency, the department does provide data during the process so that people can see how the use of EWS1 forms has changed over time.
We continue to press the industry to accept other forms of assurance other than EWS1s, such as a comprehensive fire risk assessment including the external wall systems, which building owners are mandated to carry out, under the Fire Safety Act 2021.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the research entitled EWS1 or equivalent lender data on mortgage valuations for flats: October 2023 to December 2023, published by his Department on 21 March 2024, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the proportion of mortgage valuations on high rise flats that required an EWS1 form or equivalent in 2023.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The EWS1 form is not a Government process, and we do not support its use in the mortgage process.
To aid transparency, the department does provide data during the process so that people can see how the use of EWS1 forms has changed over time.
We continue to press the industry to accept other forms of assurance other than EWS1s, such as a comprehensive fire risk assessment including the external wall systems, which building owners are mandated to carry out, under the Fire Safety Act 2021.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of making water companies statutory consultees in planning permission applications for new housing developments.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government committed during the passage of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 to consult on whether water companies should become statutory consultees on certain planning applications, and if so, how best to do this. The Secretary of State has since commissioned Sam Richards to undertake an independent review of statutory consultees within the planning system and the recommendations from this will be published in due course.
In the meantime, it is important that water companies engage local planning authorities on their applications at the right time so they can input effectively and not slow down the application process.
Asked by: Duncan Baker (Conservative - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had discussions with the Minister for the Cabinet Office on the potential merits of designating veterans ID cards as an accepted form of voter identification at polling stations.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government reviewed the list of accepted identification as part of the wider evaluation of the impact and implementation of voter identification at the May 2023 local elections in England. We concluded that, at this time, there are no suitable additions to be made to this list. This review included consideration of the Veteran Card.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Honiton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will have discussions with the Minister for the Cabinet Office on the potential merits of reviewing regulations on online political campaigning before the next General Election.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will publish a revised version of his Department's Planning Policy Guidance to reflect recent changes to the National Planning Policy Framework.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Since 19 December 2023, we have updated Planning Practice Guidance multiple times to include new guidance on Biodiversity Net Gain, and updated existing guidance on the Community Infrastructure Levy, Housing Supply and Delivery, the Green Belt, Natural Environment and Viability. Further guidance updates will be published as necessary in due course.