Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to support owner-occupiers to fix safety issues in their homes.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government has made multiple statements and policy announcements on this issue. The Building Safety Act 2022 can be found here: Building Safety Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk).
We continue to update the House on our progress including in Written Ministerial Statements in November 2023 and April 2024.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to establish a national register of community assets as a measure to safeguard against the inappropriate sale or disposal of such assets by local councils.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The department already has mechanisms in place to help with the safeguarding of local assets. A public or privately owned asset can be nominated as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) if its principal use furthers the community’s social well-being. When a listed asset comes to be sold, a moratorium on the sale (of up to six months) may be invoked, providing local community groups with a better chance to raise finance, develop a business and bid to buy the asset on the open market.
The decision of whether an ACV nomination meets the statutory test set out in the Localism Act 2011 is a decision for the local authority and they must publish a list of their decisions. The Government does not hold a central list of this information or become involved in local decisions, as it is appropriate these issues are dealt with at a local level and local authorities are accountable to local people for the decisions they take.
Local groups can also apply to the £150 million Community Ownership Fund to protect treasured local assets which make the biggest difference to their community. We have already invested £103.2 million to support 333 projects across the UK.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reason veteran cards are not acceptable as a form of photo ID for voting in elections.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Further to the answer I gave to Question UIN 902484 on 25 April 2024, when the voter identification policy was being developed and the legislation being written, the Veteran Card – as distinct from the Armed Forces ID card - was a new development. It was not widely distributed, and the application process had not been formalised. For these reasons it was not included at that time.
Asked by: Earl of Lytton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was their rationale for the short duration of the call for evidence in relation to jointly owned leasehold properties, from Thursday 21 March to Friday 5 April.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government has discretion about the length of calls for evidence.
In this instance, the call ran from Thursday 21 March to Friday 5 April 2024 and as a result this was a short duration.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Goss Moor (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of an increase in the non-residential limit for collective enfranchisement on the composition of retail streets in London’s Central Activity Zone.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
An Impact Assessment for the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill was published on 11 December 2023 and is available on the Parliament website at: Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament. The Impact Assessment considers the non-monetised impact of increasing the non-residential for collective enfranchisement claims including the potential impact on freeholders, high streets, and businesses.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Goss Moor (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which overseas investors will benefit from an increase in the non-residential limit for collective enfranchisement under proposed leasehold reforms.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
An Impact Assessment for the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill was published on 11 December 2023 and is available on the Parliament website at: Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament. The Impact Assessment considers the non-monetised impact of increasing the non-residential for collective enfranchisement claims including the potential impact on freeholders, high streets, and businesses.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Goss Moor (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many high streets in local authority ownership will be affected by an increase in the non-residential limit for collective enfranchisement under proposed leasehold reforms.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
An Impact Assessment for the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill was published on 11 December 2023 and is available on the Parliament website at: Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament. The Impact Assessment considers the non-monetised impact of increasing the non-residential for collective enfranchisement claims including the potential impact on freeholders, high streets, and businesses.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the resources available to district councils in England to provide temporary accommodation for people who are homeless or who are at risk of homelessness.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
This Government is committed to tackling homelessness. We are investing over £1billion in the Homelessness Prevention Grant over three years to help councils prevent homelessness and provide temporary accommodation, with a further £120 million UK-wide funding announced at Autumn Statement for 2024/25 to help prevent homelessness.
The Local Authority Housing Fund enables councils in England to buy or build housing stock to obtain better quality temporary accommodation for those owed a homelessness duty and provide a lasting affordable housing asset for the future. We recently announced a third round of funding, bringing the total funding to £1.2 billion.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to help leaseholders with premium insurance rates for multi-occupancy residential buildings affected by (a) flammable cladding and (b) other material safety risks.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government continues to put extreme pressure into ensuring more fair and proportionate premiums for leaseholders living in multi-occupancy buildings with fire safety issues.
The FCA recommended that the insurance industry develop a risk-sharing facility for buildings with fire-safety issues. The Association of British Insurers’ Fire Safety Reinsurance Facility launched on 1 April 2024 in response to this recommendation. We are closely monitoring the Facility to understand the extent to which it improves outcomes for leaseholders.
On 31 December 2023, FCA changes came into force to give leaseholders rights under Fair Value rules and require the disclosure of key policy information. We welcome these changes and expect that they will help reduce the unfair costs facing leaseholders.
On 27 November 2023, the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill was introduced into Parliament. The Bill bans insurance commissions being passed to freeholders and managing agents, replacing these with transparent handling fees. This will stop leaseholders being charged excessive and opaque commissions on top of their premiums.
The Government has also published a commitment by 14 insurance broker companies to cap their commissions to 15%, stop sharing commissions with managing agents, landlords and freeholders, and share policy information with leaseholders when requested. The pledge will benefit leaseholders in buildings over 11 metres (or four storeys) in height with identified fire safety defects, where these details have been made known to the insurance broker.
We will continue to monitor the impact these changes have had on leaseholder premiums, and will remain engaged with industry regarding whether any further steps may be required.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
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 updating the National Planning Policy Framework to enable local planning authorities to use the most recent Office for National Statistics household projections in the standard method of calculating local housing need.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
A review of the standard method formula was undertaken in 2020. As part of the consultation, we asked if we should incorporate more recent household projections data into the formula. Following careful consideration of the responses received, to provide stability and certainty for local authorities and other stakeholders we decided to retain the existing formula.
We have kept the standard method under review. Through a consultation on changes to national policy held in 2022/23 we committed to review our approach to assessing housing needs once new household projections data, based on the 2021 Census, is released in 2025.