Asked by: Baroness Greengross (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards the formation of the cross-departmental task force on older people’s housing announced in their Levelling Up White Paper, published on 2 February.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
This Government is committed to further improving the diversity of housing options available to older people and boosting the supply of specialist elderly accommodation.
The Older People's Housing taskforce will look at ways we can provide greater choice, quality and security of housing for older people, and support the growth of a thriving older people's housing sector in this country. This work will be taken forward in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care. Further details about the taskforce including panel membership and scope will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Greengross (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) whether capital funding is an effective way to incentivise the supply of housing for older people, and (2) how capital funding interacts with other factors such as planning legislation in this context.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Boosting the supply of a range of specialist housing across the country is key to our aim of ensuring older people can access the right homes to suit their needs. We work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care to provide capital funding to incentivise supply.
Since 2010, we have delivered over 574,100 new affordable homes, including specialist housing for older people, through our investment in affordable housing.
We know that communities would welcome more homes, so long as they are the right sort of homes, are well designed and have the right supporting infrastructure. The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill centres these interests, and will change the plan-making system, creating incentives to have a plan in place, with this plan having more weight in planning decisions. This will give certainty to communities and applicants about what can be built and where, supporting more permissions for development communities want.
Asked by: Baroness Greengross (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that (1) older people, and (2) people with disabilities, can live in suitable housing.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
This Government is committed to ensuring older and disabled people can access homes that best suits their needs.
We work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care to provide capital funding to incentivise supply. This includes investing £11.5 billion in the new Affordable Homes Programme, which includes delivery of new specialist or supported housing for older, disabled and other vulnerable people. We have also committed £573 million for the Disabled Facilities Grant each year from 2022-23 to 2024-25 to support eligible older and disabled people to adapt their homes to suit their needs.
As announced in the Levelling Up White Paper, we will shortly launch a new government taskforce to look at ways we can provide better choice, quality and security of housing for older people.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen the transition points for children between (a) various stages of the child’s life including home and social care, (b) different forms of social care provision and (c) social care and independent living to ensure stability and safety for all affected children.
Answered by Will Quince
The department is clear that children are best looked after within their families, which is why we are investing £695 million over three years in our Supporting Families programme. The programme assigns keyworkers to families to help identify unmet need in the family. They co-ordinate access to services and look out for vulnerable children and young people, to avoid increased risk of abuse of exploitation and preventing them from needing to enter the care system.
Local authorities are responsible for ensuring placements are suitable and take account of children’s longer-term needs. The department is clear that it is unacceptable for any child or young person to be placed in a setting that does not meet their needs. Sometimes, children in their care transition between different placements to ensure their needs are best met, and local authorities must support children and young people as they move between placements.
As a child gets older and begins the transition to adulthood, the department is committed to ensuring they receive the support and skills they need to succeed and achieve their maximum potential in life. Supported accommodation allows young people to live semi-independently and can be the right choice for some older children who are ready for this transition. To improve the quality of this type of provision, we are investing £142 million across the next three years to introduce mandatory national standards, Ofsted registration, and inspection for providers of supported accommodation.
The department is providing £172 million funding over the next three years to support care leavers, with better move-on accommodation and practical and emotional support from a personal advisor. The funding includes £99.8 million for local authorities over the next three years to help care leavers stay with their foster families after they turn 18 in a Staying Put arrangement, so they can continue to benefit from a stable and secure family setting as they transition to independence. Additionally, £36 million will extend the Staying Close programme so that more care leavers leaving children’s homes will be supported with move-on accommodation and support from a trusted adult. Finally, £36.4 million will be provided for Personal Advisors to support care leavers up to age 25. This will help them navigate services such as housing, health, or benefits and in providing practical or emotional support to help them prepare for living independently.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether guidance on housing-with-care provision will be introduced via the task force on older people’s housing announced in the Levelling Up White Paper.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
There are currently no plans to introduce new guidance specifically on housing-with-care provision. The new taskforce on older people’s housing announced on 2 February 2022 will build on the commitments set out in the adult social care reform white paper. The taskforce will review ways to provide more choice, better quality and greater security of housing for older people and support the growth of a thriving older people's housing sector, including housing-with-care.
Asked by: Liam Fox (Conservative - North Somerset)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent progress he has made on forming the cross-departmental taskforce on older people's housing.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As announced in the Levelling Up White Paper, a new taskforce on older people's housing will be launched shortly, looking at ways we can provide greater choice, quality and security of housing for older people. This work will be taken forward in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care.
Further details regarding the remit of the taskforce, as well as the timing and frequency of meetings will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Liam Fox (Conservative - North Somerset)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when the cross-department taskforce on older people's housing will be formed.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As announced in the Levelling Up White Paper, a new taskforce on older people's housing will be launched shortly, looking at ways we can provide greater choice, quality and security of housing for older people. This work will be taken forward in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care.
Further details regarding the remit of the taskforce, as well as the timing and frequency of meetings will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, (a) when the task force on older people’s housing announced in the Levelling Up White Paper will be formally established and (2) what role health and social care will play in that task force.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The new taskforce on older people’s housing, as announced in the Levelling Up White Paper, will look at ways we can provide greater choice, quality and security of housing for older people. This work will be taken forward in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care, building on the commitments set out in their recent white paper on adult social care reform.
Further details regarding the remit of the taskforce, as well as the timing and frequency of meetings will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that 10 per cent of new housing is specifically designed for pensioners.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The National Planning Policy Framework already sets out that local authorities should assess the types of specialist housing needed for older people, and this should be reflected in their local planning policies. We also continue to review the departmental programmes and engage with key stakeholders, ahead of setting out a proposed way forward for the planning reforms.
Furthermore, we have recently announced a new taskforce on the issue of older people's housing, which will look at ways we can provide greater choice, quality and security of housing for older people, and support the growth of the sector in this country. This work will be taken forwards in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care.
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 increase the quantity of homes available for elderly residents to support access to secure accommodation in later life.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The National Planning Policy Framework already sets out that local authorities should assess the types of specialist housing needed for older people, and this should be reflected in their local planning policies. We also continue to review the departmental programmes and engage with key stakeholders, ahead of setting out a proposed way forward for the planning reforms.
Furthermore, we have recently announced a new taskforce on the issue of older people's housing, which will look at ways we can provide greater choice, quality and security of housing for older people, and support the growth of the sector in this country. This work will be taken forwards in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care.