Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will require the Planning Inspectorate to reject any local plans which do not include a policy statement and target for wheelchair accessible new homes which are built to M4(3) standards to ensure that there are more wheelchair accessible homes nationally.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government has set out its intention to mandate higher accessibility standards for all new homes by raising the minimum standard in Building Regulations in England in due course. Councils can only adopt a plan that is sound; it should be consistent with national policy, be supported by evidence and take the views of local people into account. Each plan is subject to a public examination in front of an independent Inspector who plays an important role in examining plans impartially to ensure that they are legally compliant and sound.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to raise the regulatory baseline of accessibility for all new homes to the M4(2) accessible and adaptable standards which was announced in July 2022.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government has set out its intention to mandate higher accessibility standards for all new homes by raising the minimum standard in Building Regulations in England in due course. Councils can only adopt a plan that is sound; it should be consistent with national policy, be supported by evidence and take the views of local people into account. Each plan is subject to a public examination in front of an independent Inspector who plays an important role in examining plans impartially to ensure that they are legally compliant and sound.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to implement their plan to make the accessible and adaptable housing design standard the default standard for new homes.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government has set out its intention to mandate higher accessibility standards for all new homes by raising the minimum standard in Building Regulations in England in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether landlords are required to give tenants without fault the booklet How to Rent before seeking to evict them; and if so, whether they can do this at the same time as issuing a Form 6A notice seeking possession of a property let on an assured shorthold tenancy.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Under the Deregulation Act 2015, landlords cannot use the Section 21 possession procedure if they have not provided a copy of the publication “How to rent: the checklist for renting in England” to the tenant. The restriction is lifted as soon as the publication is provided. However, the How to Rent guide should ideally be provided at the outset of the tenancy. Form 6A is the legally prescribed form for serving a notice requiring possession under the Section 21 possession procedure.
In respect of individual cases, it is for a court to decide whether the landlord had complied with the requirements of the Deregulation Act when they served a notice requiring possession using Form 6A, and therefore if that notice is valid. The landlord must provide evidence that they have given the tenant a valid copy of “How to rent: the checklist for renting in England” when they make a claim for possession in the county court.
This requirement applies to tenancies in England which commenced on or after 1 October 2015. It does not apply where a landlord is a private registered provider of social housing or where the tenant entered into occupation of the property under a previous tenancy and the landlord has already provided the tenant with an up-to-date version of the guidance.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why there is no mention of accessible and adaptable homes in the report by the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission Living with beauty: health, well-being and sustainable growth, published on 30 January.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
The independent ‘Building Better, Building Beautiful’ Commission was established in December 2018 to advise the Government on how to improve the design quality of new build homes and neighbourhoods. Its report was published on 30 January 2020. The Government welcomes the report and will provide a response in due course.
Building Regulations include optional technical standards for accessible and adaptable homes and wheelchair accessible homes. The requirements in the regulations are supported by statutory guidance. Government will consult shortly on accessibility of new homes. The consultation will consider making higher accessibility standards mandatory, recognising the importance of suitable homes for the elderly and disabled
The National Design Guide states that well-designed homes and places should be accessible to all, support the health and well being of their users and be adaptable to their changing needs over time. We have delivered over 34,000 new units of supported and sheltered housing since 2011 for older, disabled and other vulnerable people. The Government funding for the disabled facilities grant (DFG) has more than doubled since 2015, rising from £220 million in 2015-16 to £505 million in 2019-20.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards ensuring that new properties are built with good accessibility standards to reflect the needs of older and disabled people.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to consult on mandatory accessible housing standards in building regulations.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by the Minister for Women and Equalities on 7 February (HC Deb, col 405), what steps they are taking to ensure that housing stock across the country can be made more flexible.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Through Building Regulations we set minimum standards of accessibility for all new homes. The revised National Planning Policy Framework introduced an expectation that local housing policies should make use of the Government’s optional technical standards for accessible and adaptable housing which promotes going above the minimum standards.
Through the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG), which helps towards the cost of adapting a home to make it more accessible, the Government has invested more than £2.2 billion, providing around 280,000 adaptations by the end of 2018-19.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support local authorities to meet housebuilding targets; and what guidance they provide to assist local authorities in their negotiations with developers.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Government has already dedicated over £44 billion of investment to help local authorities to deliver the homes communities need. On 14 February, the Government announced nearly £250 million of housing deals which will deliver almost 25,000 more homes. As part of this, the government will be investing £157 million in infrastructure such as building roads and putting natural green space alongside developments.
Last year Government introduced a new approach to viability assessment through the revised National Planning Policy Framework and accompanying guidance. The new approach ensures that developers will have greater certainty about what they are expected to contribute, and that these costs can be reflected in the price paid for land. Local authorities will be better able to hold developers to account and will need to set out more clearly for communities what infrastructure and affordable housing has been delivered through developer contributions.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 4 December 2018 (HL Deb, cols 932–3), when they expect to publish new planning guidance for local authorities on housing for older and disabled people.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
We have strengthened national planning policy so that local planning authorities are expected to have clear policies for addressing the housing needs of older and disabled people. We will publish further planning guidance that will assist councils to put these policies in place, in due course.