Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 is taking to increase the number of homes for social rent in Nottingham East constituency.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Data on social housing supply is not held at constituency level.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much and what proportion of levelling up funding allocated to Northern Ireland has been for projects in Belfast South constituency.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Levelling Up funding is not allocated by constituency. In total, Northern Ireland has received £435 million of levelling up funding since 2019. I was delighted to visit the Innovation Factory in Belfast recently and see how the UK Shared Prosperity Fund is benefiting Northern Ireland through projects like Go Succeed.
South Belfast constituency benefits from a share of around £104 million of UKSPF funding for Northern Ireland. This includes, for example, £240,367 for installation of a new path and community garden in the Botanic Gardens.
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, whether he plans to provide cladding remediation funding for (a) leaseholders, (b) shared ownership leaseholders and (c) freeholders who purchased their home under the Right to Buy scheme in timber-frame properties with UPVC cladding.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We are aware of the action being taken by Barnet Council and continue to engage closely with them on the steps they are taking following the Moss Hall Grove fire in June 2023. Department officials met with Barnet Council representatives on 10 April and will continue to discuss with them.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made recent progress on introducing a lifetime deposit for renters.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
As set out in our 2022 White Paper ‘A Fairer Private Rented Sector’, the market has responded to the ambition of our manifesto commitment for a ‘lifetime deposit’.
We continue to monitor the development of commercial lifetime deposit solutions, alongside keeping deposit protection and the broader deposit market under review.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to lay commencement regulations to bring section 115 of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 into force.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Regulations (2024/452) have been laid on 4 April 2024 to commence section 115 of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, and this will come into force on 25 April 2024.
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, whether he has made an estimate of the number of timber-frame homes in England that have similar UPVC cladding installed as the properties involved in the Moss Hall Grove fire in Barnet in June 2023.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We are aware of the action being taken by Barnet Council and continue to engage closely with them on the steps they are taking following the Moss Hall Grove fire in June 2023. Department officials met with Barnet Council representatives on 10 April and will continue to discuss with them.
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 is taking to help support Barnet Council to remediate properties with timber-frames and UPVC cladding in line with (a) PAS 9980 and (b) other applicable standards.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We are aware of the action being taken by Barnet Council and continue to engage closely with them on the steps they are taking following the Moss Hall Grove fire in June 2023. Department officials met with Barnet Council representatives on 10 April and will continue to discuss with them.
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, whether his Department has received advice from relevant stakeholders on the potential risk of timber-frame constructions with UPVC cladding since the fire in Moss Hall Grove in Barnet in June 2023.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We are aware of the action being taken by Barnet Council and continue to engage closely with them on the steps they are taking following the Moss Hall Grove fire in June 2023. Department officials met with Barnet Council representatives on 10 April and will continue to discuss with them.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will introduce a scheme which allows local authorities to purchase properties which frequently flood from their owners.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The department has made no such assessment.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 monitor the interventions made by social housing providers to tackle damp and mould in residential properties.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Secretary of State wrote to all providers of social housing setting out his expectations that they tackle dangerous damp and mould in their properties. We have now introduced ‘Awaab’s Law’, which will set new requirements for social landlords to address hazards such as damp and mould.
We have given local authorities strong enforcement powers that they must use if they identify dangerous damp and mould in privately rented homes and, through the Renters (Reform) Bill, are legislating to apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time. Guidance for local authorities on how to ensure accommodation for homeless applicants is suitable can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homelessness-code-of-guidance-for-local-authorities/chapter-17-suitability-of-accommodation.