Asked by: Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to financially support the modern methods of construction sector as part of their housebuilding programme.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Modern methods of construction (MMC) provides an important opportunity to improve productivity in the construction sector, and quickly deliver high quality, energy efficient, homes whilst creating new and diverse jobs in the sector.
We will reflect on views from across the sector to establish how best to increase the use of MMC and will set out more details on this in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Conservative - 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 role modern methods of construction might play in speeding up the delivery of housing.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Modern methods of construction (MMC) provides an important opportunity to improve productivity in the construction sector, and quickly deliver high quality, energy efficient, homes whilst creating new and diverse jobs in the sector.
We will reflect on views from across the sector to establish how best to increase the use of MMC and will set out more details on this in due course.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what changes, if any, they are considering to the 'right to buy' discount scheme for tenants wishing to purchase their council house.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government believe it is right that those social tenants who have lived in their homes for many years retain the right to purchase their property at a reasonable discount. As such, we will not be ending the Right to Buy scheme.
We are, however, committed to better protecting our existing stock of social rented homes and are currently reviewing the increased right to buy discounts introduced in 2012. We will bring forward secondary legislation to implement changes in the Autumn.
We also intend to review Right to Buy more widely, including looking at eligibility criteria and protections for newly-built social housing. A consultation of these wider changes will be brought forward in the Autumn.
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
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 bring forward legislative proposals to make it a statutory responsibility of (a) owners of and (b) responsible persons for residential buildings taller than 11 metres to carry out (i) an EWS1 survey and (ii) a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls to ensure the mortgageability of any leasehold flat in the block.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
An EWS1, which is not a government process or statutory requirement, should not be required for leaseholders in buildings 11 metres and above to re-mortgage or sell their property. As of 18 March 2024, 10 mortgage lenders have signed a joint statement on cladding, confirming they will consider lending on properties in buildings 11 metres and above, regardless of whether works have started.
A Responsible Person is required to ensure that their building has a Fire Risk Assessment, and the Fire Safety Act 2021 clarified that this should include the external walls. In many cases, it will be obvious through inspection that the risk to life from external fire spread is not such to warrant a more detailed Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls. Where a more detailed fire risk appraisal is required, this should follow the British Standards Institution PAS 9980 methodology.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support residents of buildings with unsafe cladding.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to protecting qualifying leaseholders from the costs of fixing historic building safety defects that were not their fault. Legislation has been introduced to ensure that qualifying leaseholders are both protected from costs and can pursue building owners and developers for contributions to fix these issues. Pathways are in place for all residential buildings over 11 meters in England to fix unsafe cladding through government funds, developer contributions, or registered providers of social housing.
Too many buildings still have unsafe cladding, and the pace of remediation has been too slow. Any building owner who fails to make their building safe faces enforcement action. The Code of Practice for the Remediation of Residential Buildings requires all remediation projects to treat residents as key stakeholder in the remediation process.
Government continues to put residents at the heart of the building safety agenda and conducts fortnightly building visits to engage residents to better understand their experiences and to support them.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help increase access to home ownership for (a) homeless and (b) displaced people.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness and rough sleeping levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected.
We are taking action by setting up a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, which the Deputy Prime Minister will chair, to develop a long-term strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness.
We are also taking action to address homelessness by delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and building 1.5 million new homes, as well as abolishing Section 21 'no fault' evictions for renters, and empowering people to challenge unreasonable rent increases.
In addition to increasing the supply of homes of all tenures, we are committed to helping more people into home ownership by introducing a permanent, comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme and to giving first-time buyers the first chance to buy homes.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 plans to provide levelling-up funding for community football grounds in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
At Spring Budget 2024, £2.2 million of levelling up investment was committed to the redevelopment of the South Stand at Crusaders FC. The Chancellor’s July ‘Public Spending: Inheritance’ speech forecasted an overspend of £21.9 billion above limits set by the Treasury in the Spring. We must ensure that we are making responsible decisions on public spending. Decisions that have fallen on this Government to take. In this context, the Chancellor has set out a path to confirming plans for this year and next at the forthcoming Budget on October 30th.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 5 September 2024 to Question 3748 on Private Education: Business Rates and to the Answer of 9 September 2024 to Question 2980 on Private Education: Business Rates and VAT, what other local government finance policy measures will be included in the Local Government Finance Bill.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
There are currently no plans for the referenced Bill to include measures beyond those indicated in the technical note published on 29 July 2024. I refer the hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 3748 on 5 September 2024 and Question UIN 2980 on 9 September 2024.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the report entitled Summary of responses and government’s response to the consultation on proposals to exempt categories of dwellings from the council tax premiums in England, published on 11 March 2024, whether it is her policy to bring forward legislative proposals to provide a 12-month exception to the (a) second home and (b) empty home council tax premium for properties that (i) are actively marketed for (A) sale and (B) let and (ii) have been granted (1) probate and (2) letters of administration.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This Government intends to introduce the exceptions to council tax premiums as set out in the consultation response published on 11 March 2024.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of recipients of the single person discount on council tax are (a) women, (b) over 66 and (c) in households with dependents under 18.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has not historically collected data on the individual characteristics of residents of households receiving a single person council tax discount.