Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when the Government will publish the Strategy for Community Spaces and Relationships as committed to in the Levelling Up White Paper published in February 2022.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Since publishing the levelling up white paper we have delivered improvements to communities across the country. From saving community assets through the Community Ownership Fund, and investing in local priorities through the Levelling Up Fund and UK Shared Prosperity Fund, to tackling Anti-Social Behaviour with an ambitious new Action Plan to crack down on issues that blight communities.
Going forward we want to consult and work with local communities and stakeholders to understand how community spaces and relationship could be strengthened. This work will begin in due course.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley 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 increase investment into former coalfield communities.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
This Government is committed to levelling up the UK by spreading opportunity more equally across the country, investing in places that need it most, including coalfield communities.
Several former coalfield communities are benefiting from our Towns Fund, our Community Ownership Fund, and our £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund.
Finally, every area of the UK will receive a share of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund which empowers local places to identify and build on their own strengths and needs. It provides £2.6 billion of new funding for local investment by March 2025.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
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 update the National Planning Policy Framework to (a) reflect the affordability of almshouses and (b) include them in the definition of affordable housing.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Where almshouse organisations are registered with the Regulator of Social Housing and are letting homes at Social or Affordable Rent, or providing low-cost home ownership through shared ownership schemes, those homes are likely to fall within the definition of affordable housing in the National Planning Policy Framework.
As part of the National Planning Policy Framework consultation between 22 December 2022 and 2 March 2023, we sought views on how we can help bring forward more community-led housing, including almshouses. We will be publishing a response to that consultation in due course.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps the Government has taken to help first-time buyers purchase a home.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
This Government is committed to helping to make the dream of homeownership a reality, and operates a range of relevant schemes which aim to make home ownership more affordable. Since spring 2010, over 829,000 households have been helped to purchase a home through Government-backed schemes including Help to Buy and Right to Buy. Current government schemes include First Homes, Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, Shared Ownership and Lifetime ISA. We have also expanded First-Time Buyers Relief on stamp duty, raising the threshold at which it becomes payable from £300,000 to £425,000 - this will apply until 31 March 2025.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide support to first-time buyers by the end of 2023.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government remains committed to making the aspiration of homeownership a reality for as many households as possible.
We operate a range of schemes that aim to increase the supply of low-deposit mortgages for credit-worthy households, including first-time buyers, increase the availability of new housing, and stimulate economic growth. These include the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, which is open until the end of 2023 as well as First Homes and Shared Ownership through the Affordable Homes Programme. The Government also helps first-time buyers to save for a deposit through the Lifetime ISA and Help to Buy: ISA.
We are also investing £11.5 billion to build more of the affordable, quality homes this country needs.
Over 829,000 households have been helped to purchase a home since Spring 2010 through Government-backed schemes, with the annual number of first-time buyers at a 20-year high in 2021.
We have also cut Stamp Duty Land Tax, doubling the threshold at which SDLT becomes due from £125,000 to £250,000 and expanding First-Time Buyers Relief raising the threshold at which stamp duty becomes payable from £300,000 to £425,000. The maximum property value on which First Time Buyers Relief can be claimed has also been lifted from £500,000 to £625,000. These will apply until 31 March 2025 to support the property market.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many staff are working in the Levelling Up Unit in his Department.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
As of 28 April 2023, there are over 700 FTE staff working in the Department’s Levelling Up Group.
To drive delivery of the levelling up agenda, a Director General led group was established under Will Garton, Director General for Levelling Up. The group includes director led units working on strategy and policy, place, delivery, spatial data, funds and area teams based around the country. The group are responsible for work including, but not limited to Investment Zones, Levelling Up Partnerships, Freeports, the devolution agenda in England including the recent Trailblazer agreements secured with Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, the department’s role on Anti-Social Behaviour, the Levelling Up Fund, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the Community Ownership Fund, legacy funds as well as servicing the Levelling Up Inter Ministerial Group and wider cross-cutting Levelling Up priorities (including the Levelling Up Missions). This activity is support by the Spatial Data Unit and the department’s analytical capability.
Other portfolios within the department’s wider senior leadership team also ensure that Levelling Up is the central mission of the department. There are currently Groups covering Local Government, Resilience and Communities; Building Safety, Grenfell and Net Zero; Regeneration (specifically Housing); Finance; and the Union. Further details will be set out in the department’s organogram which will be updated and published in due course on gov.uk
In early 2022, prior to the establishment of the Levelling Up group and the wider departmental reorganisation, the former Second Permanent Secretary led an external recruitment process for Levelling Up Directors. There were over 500 applicants, but – given the wider departmental changes - Ministers have decided not to proceed with the appointment of the directors.
This renewed and significant senior departmental capacity, combined with the progress of the English devolution agenda, means that we believe that we are best placed to deliver levelling up by working directly with Mayoral Combined Authorities, local government, and the devolved administrations. We will continue to co-ordinate government policy via means of specific, targeted placed based interventions. We are grateful for all those who showed an interest in the roles, and for the work of the Civil Service Commissioner who supported this recruitment.
The department will continue to keep under review its staffing dedicated to its priorities including work driving Levelling Up across the whole of the UK.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to help ensure that (a) shared ownership schemes and (b) service charges in such schemes are affordable.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government is clear that service charges should be based on the cost of providing services and that there must a clear route for redress if things go wrong. Shared ownership leases should specify what, if any, service charges are payable.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
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 support shared ownership homeowners.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
As set out previously the Government is taking numerous steps to support shared owners. For example, in April 2021, we introduced a new model of Shared Ownership.
Following discussions with the sector, we are pleased that the majority of providers have confirmed that they will voluntarily limit Shared Ownership rent increases to no more than 7% in 2023-24.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
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 put in place a cap on rental increases for social housing renters; and what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of implementing a cap on those increases for people with shared ownership homes.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Hon. Member to the Autumn Statement’s (Official Report, HC, Volume 722, Column 855) announcement on the cap on social rents. Further, to the answer I gave to Question UIN 173100 on 31 March 2023.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
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 rate of homeownership among people aged 18 to 40.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government has a range of home ownership schemes that are available to 18-40 year olds, including First Homes and Shared Ownership. We have doubled the threshold at which SDLT becomes due to £250,000 and expanded First Time Buyers Relief, raising the threshold at which stamp duty becomes payable from £300,000 to £425,000. The Government's Mortgage Guarantee Scheme also helps first-time buyers by increasing the supply of 95% loan-to-value mortgages for credit-worthy households.