Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the total amount of revenue raised by local authorities via the use of debt recovery agencies in the last 12 months.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government does not collect data on the different collection methods used by councils, or the revenues collected by them. The Government does however publish data on the overall amounts of council tax and business rates collected and the total arrears for each financial year. This data is available here.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make it his policy to require local authorities to put the names of all unadopted roads in their authority on a website with the name of the responsible developer for each road.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I am grateful to my Honourable Friend for his suggestions and it is one we will bear in mind for the future.
Prospective homeowners should be made aware of the financial arrangements and their responsibilities are for the upkeep of any communal areas, whether public or otherwise, prior to purchase. Through the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill, we are taking action to protect homeowners and drive-up awareness of ongoing obligations when buying and selling a property.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many and what proportion of homes that have been recorded as vacant for over two years are categorised as (a) primary residences, (b) second homes, and (c) other properties in each region; and what steps he is taking to bring these homes back into use.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The department publishes live tables on dwelling stock, which includes vacant homes here: Live tables on dwelling stock (including vacants) - GOV.UK. This data is collated from Council Taxbase data, collected by local authorities.
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, when he plans to respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Weaver Vale of 20 December 2023.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Departmental officials are in regular contact with the leaseholders at Agar Grove to discuss the situation. Departmental officials and I are actively discussing the situation at Agar Grove and will write directly to those involved with an update in due course.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
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 Answer of 14 December 2022 to Question 104103 on Social Rented Housing: Rents, if his Department will commission research into the (a) prevalence of tenants in social housing being incorrectly charged for services they do not receive and (b) impact of (i) caretaking, (ii) maintenance of lifts and door entry systems and (ii) other elements previously covered by rent in social housing now being paid for by service charges.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is clear that service charges should relate to costs, and that it would not be acceptable for Registered Providers of social housing to increase service charges simply as a means of boosting rental revenue. Registered Providers (including housing associations) are expected to supply tenants with clear information about how service charges are set.
Where there are concerns about the calculation, collection or communication of service charges, tenants may ask the Housing Ombudsman to investigate their complaint. The Government has strengthened the Housing Ombudsman Service, so tenants of social landlords have somewhere to turn when they are not getting the answers they need from their landlords.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities works closely with the Regulator of Social Housing, and the Department for Work of Pensions to ascertain the impact of social housing rent policy on taxpayers, tenants and providers.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
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 housing associations do not circumvent the 7.7 per cent cap on rent increases in 2024-25 by raising service charges.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is clear that service charges should relate to costs, and that it would not be acceptable for Registered Providers of social housing to increase service charges simply as a means of boosting rental revenue. Registered Providers (including housing associations) are expected to supply tenants with clear information about how service charges are set.
Where there are concerns about the calculation, collection or communication of service charges, tenants may ask the Housing Ombudsman to investigate their complaint. The Government has strengthened the Housing Ombudsman Service, so tenants of social landlords have somewhere to turn when they are not getting the answers they need from their landlords.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities works closely with the Regulator of Social Housing, and the Department for Work of Pensions to ascertain the impact of social housing rent policy on taxpayers, tenants and providers.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of building an additional 1 million homes for social rent in the next 10 years; and whether he has had discussions with the private sector on building homes for social rent.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver thousands of affordable homes for both rent and to buy right across the country.
The Levelling Up White Paper committed to increasing the supply of social rented homes and a large number of the new homes delivered through our Affordable Homes Programme will be for social rent.
Since 2010, we have delivered over 696,100 new affordable homes, including over 482,000 affordable homes for rent, of which over 172,600 homes for social rent.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Government is taking steps to protect the historic county status of (a) Essex and (b) other counties.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government attaches great importance to our country’s history and traditions and encourages recognition of our historic counties, often marked by local celebrations on county days. I write to local leaders to encourage and support these celebrations throughout the year. This year, there are 56 registered historic county flags across Great Britain, which includes the addition of three new flags for Banffshire, Berwickshire and Morayshire. My department proudly flies each registered county flag in Whitehall to mark county days, and this includes flying the flag for Essex.
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 assessment he has he made of the potential merits of developing a plan for cooperation by metro mayors in Yorkshire.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
This Government has devolved powers and funding to the Mayoral Combined Authority areas of South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and York and North Yorkshire, providing them with over £2.5 billion of funding over 30 years. At the 2023 Autumn Statement, we agreed a mayoral devolution deal for the remaining area of Yorkshire - Hull and East Yorkshire - and, subject to final consents and parliamentary approval, a Combined Authority is expected to be established in Autumn 2024 with the inaugural mayoral election in May 2025.
At the Convention of the North, we announced historic Level 4 devolution agreements with both West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. These agreements will deepen the power of the Combined Authorities and the metro mayors, including providing new flexibility over local growth, regeneration and housing funding from the next Spending Review. The Government remains committed to deepening the powers of more mayors over time.
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 help ensure that the whole of Yorkshire benefits from metro mayors.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
This Government has devolved powers and funding to the Mayoral Combined Authority areas of South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and York and North Yorkshire, providing them with over £2.5 billion of funding over 30 years. At the 2023 Autumn Statement, we agreed a mayoral devolution deal for the remaining area of Yorkshire - Hull and East Yorkshire - and, subject to final consents and parliamentary approval, a Combined Authority is expected to be established in Autumn 2024 with the inaugural mayoral election in May 2025.
At the Convention of the North, we announced historic Level 4 devolution agreements with both West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. These agreements will deepen the power of the Combined Authorities and the metro mayors, including providing new flexibility over local growth, regeneration and housing funding from the next Spending Review. The Government remains committed to deepening the powers of more mayors over time.