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 his planned timetable is for responding to his Department's consultation on Alternative cost recovery for remediation works published on 2 February 2023.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government is analysing the responses from the Alternative cost recovery for remediation works consultation and intends to publish the response to the consultation in due course.
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 his planned timetable is for responding to his Department's consultation on building safety directors published on 1 December 2022.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government is analysing the responses from the building safety director’s consultation and intends to publish the response to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of levels of funding for local domestic abuse (a) services, (b) counselling and (c) advocacy support.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Ministry of Justice is quadrupling funding for victim and witness support services by 2024/25. £154 million of funding has been committed per annum across this Spending Review period, totalling a minimum of £460 million over three years (2022/23 to 2024/25 inclusive). This is up from £41 million in 2009/10. This multi-year funding allows victim support services, and those commissioning them, to build resilience into services and ensure consistency in the support that victims receive.
Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 introduced new statutory duties on local authorities to ensure that all victims, including their children, have access to support within safe accommodation when they need it. This includes counselling and advocacy support.
Since 2021, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has committed over £507 million, including £129.7 million in 2024/25, to councils across England to fund this duty. Funding from April 2025 will be determined at the next Spending Review.
This is a locally led duty. Each council must work closely with their Local Partnership Board to assess the needs of victims locally and commission the right safe accommodation support services needed to meet the identified need.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
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 tackle Islamophobia.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer the Hon Member to the oral answer given by my Hon Friend, the Member for Kensington, on 4 March 2024 (Official Report, HC Volume 746, Column 628).
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Justice on the potential impact of the Renters (Reform) Bill on levels of demand on the courts.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
With regards to specialist housing courts and the impact of the Renters (Reform) Bill on levels of demand on the courts, I refer the Hon Member to the answers given to Question UIN 203400 on 26 October 2023 and Question UIN 10066 on 25 January 2024.
The Government monitors possession claim actions in the county courts using the Mortgage and Landlord Possession Statistics published quarterly by the Ministry of Justice. We will set out further details shortly about how we will assess the operation of the courts in the context of the changes to possession processes which we are introducing through the Renters (Reform) Bill.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 introducing specialist housing courts.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
With regards to specialist housing courts and the impact of the Renters (Reform) Bill on levels of demand on the courts, I refer the Hon Member to the answers given to Question UIN 203400 on 26 October 2023 and Question UIN 10066 on 25 January 2024.
The Government monitors possession claim actions in the county courts using the Mortgage and Landlord Possession Statistics published quarterly by the Ministry of Justice. We will set out further details shortly about how we will assess the operation of the courts in the context of the changes to possession processes which we are introducing through the Renters (Reform) Bill.
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, what steps his Department is taking to (a) provide cladding remediation support for buildings under 11 metres and (b) ensure that such support is effectively communicated.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 19958 on 2 April 2024.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate his Department has made of the potential impact of capping ground rents on the public purse.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Government has consulted on a range of options to restrict ground rent in existing leases and asked questions about the effects of these proposals. We received a significant number of responses from a variety of sources. A consultation impact assessment has been published and can be found at Consultation impact assessment - modern leasehold: restricting ground rent for existing leases.
That consultation closed on 17 January, and Government is currently analysing the responses before taking a decision on how to restrict ground rents through the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether regulations are in place to ensure that reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete is not used in the future building of (a) schools, (b) hospitals and (c) public sector buildings.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The manufacture and sale of RAAC panels is covered by construction products regulations 2013 by the designated standard BS EN 12602:2016. Buildings undergoing “building work” must meet the safety and performance requirements in the building regulations no matter how they are constructed or what materials are used, including RAAC.
The Institute of Structural Engineers (IStructE) advise that RAAC can be an appropriate construction material if properly designed, manufactured, installed, and maintained, though they understand that use in UK has declined since 1990.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a statutory definition of co-housing.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We have no current plans to introduce a statutory definition of cohousing.