Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the integrity of elections carried out without the requirement for photographic voter identification.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Legitimate electors should not be prevented from voting and we are committed to ensuring that everyone eligible is able and encouraged to do so. We believe it is appropriate to retain the requirement to show ID to protect our electors from the risk of personation, but the current rules are too restrictive.
Allowing the use of UK issued bank cards will improve the policy by increasing accessibility and ease for legitimate electors to prove their identity, while maintaining a proportionate and secure ID check. UK banks conduct a range of rigorous identity verification and anti-money laundering processes before opening bank accounts for their clients and issuing bank cards.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to publish reports by the Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred and Islamophobia.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As noted in the Terms of Reference, the advice provided to government by the independent Working Group will be private. Once the Government has had time to review the advice, it will consider its next steps.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of the United States of America, including the US Embassy in London, relating to the proposed Chinese Embassy development at the Royal Mint in London.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government regularly engages with representatives of foreign governments, including the United States government, to discuss a broad range of issues. The details of these discussions are not made public.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much funding her Department has allocated to preventing Islamophobia.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In 2025/26, up to £650,000 of funding is available to the British Muslim Trust to monitor hate targeting Muslims and facilitate support for victims. The government will provide the police with funding of £80,000 for True Vision, an online hate crime reporting portal, designed so that victims of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the budget is of the Community Cohesion and Resilience Programme in the 2025-26 financial year; what its terms of reference are; and whether local authorities will be required to bid for funding.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Community Cohesion and Resilience Programme made awards to Local Authorities in the 2024-25 financial year. There are no plans to run the Programme again in the 2025-26 financial year.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on 30 June (HC61433), whether the proposed restriction on installing gas boilers for newly constructed dwellings applies to the development of blended green hydrogen and natural gas for heating purposes.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Future Homes Standard (FHS), to be introduced through the Building Regulations in autumn this year, will effectively preclude the use of gas boilers in new homes. A consultation setting out detailed technical proposals for the FHS was published in December 2023 and closed in March 2024. Hybrid and hydrogen-ready boilers would not meet the standards proposed in the consultation. We are carefully considering the feedback we received to the consultation and intend to publish the government response confirming our final position in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the deconstruction of Grenfell Tower on the mental health of children and young people affected by the tragedy or living nearby.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government is committed to ensuring there is appropriate health and wellbeing support in schools for children, young people and the entire school population closely affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy, particularly as we prepare to carefully take down Grenfell Tower in the autumn.
We are working closely with the Department for Education, Department for Health and Social Care, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the NHS Integrated Care Board to discuss appropriate emotional and wellbeing support to local schools.
I appreciate how pressing this matter is and the department continues to work closely with local headteachers, health partners and RBKC to ensure we support children and young people throughout this sensitive period.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many additional units of accommodation have been required to meet the increase in the population of the United Kingdom in the last five financial years.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Estimates vary as to the scale of delivery that is required to meet housing need, however, there is a broad consensus that to address the housing emergency we must deliver well above projections of population growth to deal with decades of undersupply. Increasing housing supply beyond current levels is integral to providing for population growth, moderating the rate of house price growth, and tackling affordability pressures. That is why we have committed to delivering 1.5m homes over this parliament.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to providing protective works for the Wapping Telephone Exchange in deciding whether to grant planning permission for the proposed Chinese embassy at the Royal Mint Court.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
An independent Inspector held a public inquiry into the proposals in question, at which interested parties were able to put forward evidence and representations.
All material planning considerations will be taken into account in reaching a decision on this case.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has put guarantees are in place for using British-made glass in the windows and doors in her Department’s housebuilding programme.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has not stipulated the use of British-made glass in developments funded through housebuilding programmes.