Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether it will be possible to take account of geographical coherence when establishing a unitary council.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The statutory invitation letter of 5 February sent to leaders of all councils in two-tier areas and neighbouring unitaries set out the criteria against which proposals will be assessed and decisions made on whether proposals are to be implemented. The criteria includes that proposals should be for a sensible geography which will help to increase housing supply and meet local needs.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether it will be possible to alter existing council boundaries when establishing a unitary council.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Existing council boundaries should be considered the building blocks for new unitary councils, but where there is a strong justification more complex boundary changes will be considered.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the Collection of Client Level Adult Social Care Data (No 3) Directions 2023 state that adult care providers must collect data based on gender, which is defined as "the gender the individual considers themselves to be", and not based on sex, given that sex, not gender, is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act; and what assessment they have made of providers' ability to supply single-sex services if data on sex is not collected.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Client Level Data is the first national collection of individual social care records, and this data is collected by the Department from local authorities, rather than care providers. The purpose of the 2023 Directions is to assist the Department in its functions, in particular by enabling key aspects of adult social care service provision to be analysed and reported on at a national level. Local authorities are required to collect information about gender, but that does not preclude them from collecting other information from service users such as on sex, including where this is necessary for them to discharge legal obligations.
The Department has not made an assessment of care providers’ ability to supply single-sex services. We expect Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulated care providers to adhere to the CQC’s fundamental standards, set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, which require service users to be treated with dignity and respect. The CQC’s guidance on this legislative framework says that “When providing intimate or personal care, providers must make every reasonable effort to make sure that they respect people's preferences about who delivers their care and treatment”. This may include requesting staff of a specific sex.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to issue guidance regarding single-sex provision in social care settings, including nursing homes and people's own homes, for adults with learning difficulties or cognitive impairment who are vulnerable and at increased risk of sexual abuse.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities are under statutory duties to safeguard adults in their area with care and support needs from abuse and neglect. This includes making enquiries, or causing others to do so, if it believes that an adult in its area, with care and support needs, which may include learning difficulties or cognitive impairments or both, is experiencing or at risk of abuse, including sexual abuse, or neglect, and as a result of those needs is, or would be, unable to protect themselves.
Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered care providers are also required to adhere to the CQC fundamental standards, set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, which include that service users must be treated with dignity and respect, and must have their support provided in a way that reflects their preferences. The CQC’s guidance on this legislative framework says that when providing intimate or personal care, a provider must make every reasonable effort to make sure that they respect people's preferences about who delivers their care and treatment. This may include requesting staff of a specific sex.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether regulation of property managers in the private sector would improve standards.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
There is a strong case for greater regulation of managing agents. Too many leaseholders suffer from poor quality services and abuse at the hands of unscrupulous agents, and management of some buildings has become a more complex operation. As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 21 November 2024, the Government will therefore strengthen regulation of managing agents to drive up the standard of their service. As a minimum, this should include mandatory professional qualifications which set a new basic standard that managing agents will be required to meet. We will consult on this matter next year.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of ending the Household Support Fund on 31 March on (1) the number of people experiencing destitution, and (2) wider public services including the NHS, social care, and homelessness services.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
The current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, and the Government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.
The Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families.
Our approach to tackling poverty is based on clear evidence that parental employment, particularly where its full time, reduces the risk of poverty. In the financial year 21/22, children living in households where all adults work were around five times less likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those living in workless households.
The Government is putting significant additional support in place for those on the lowest incomes from April. Subject to Parliamentary approval, working age benefits will rise by 6.7% while the Basic and New State Pensions will be uprated by 8.5% in line with earnings, as part of the ‘triple lock”.
To further support low-income households with increasing rent costs, the Government will raise Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents, benefitting 1.6 million low-income households by on average £800 a year in 24/25. Additionally, the Government will increase the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 years and over by 9.8% to £11.44 representing an increase of over £1,800 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the National Living Wage.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of social homes outside London have a non-British citizen as the lead tenant.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Using English Housing Survey data, we estimate that in 2021-22, 6.8% of social households outside London had a household reference person who was not a UK or Irish national. For London, this figure is 14.7%.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - 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 report of the Home Builders Federation State of Play: Challenges and opportunities facing SME home builders, published on 22 January, regarding the number of small and medium-sized enterprise builders going out of business; what assessment they have made of the impact of this on the supply of new homes; and whether they have plans to support this subsector.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government wants to see a diverse and competitive housebuilding sector. We are aware of the challenges that small and medium sized (SME) housebuilders are facing, which is why we are supporting them through the £1.5 billion Levelling Up Home Building Fund (LUHBF) and the £1 billion ENABLE Build guarantee programme. LUHBF provides loans to SMEs to help build around 42,000 homes across the country. The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act will also help SMEs by making the planning process easier to navigate, faster and more predictable.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much public money has been allocated to promote Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) in the past five years, and whether they intend to publish a strategy to encourage the use of MMC.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is committed to supporting the Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) sector and tackling the barriers to growth it faces. Our support includes funding to build MMC homes through the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme, developing a Publicly Available Specification (PAS) for MMC with the British Standards Institution (BSI), and providing financial support for MMC manufacturers through the £1.5 billion Levelling Up Home Building Fund.
We are considering the Lords’ Built Environment Committee’s recommendations including the recommendation to publish the strategy.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many councils do not have an up-to-date council plan; and, of these, how many have plans that are respectively more than (1) five years, (2) 10 years, and (3) 15 years out of date.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) states that up-to-date local plans should provide a framework for addressing housing needs and other economic, social and environmental priorities.
All the information requested and more, on the status of Local Plan, is published by the Planning Inspectorate can be found on the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-plan-monitoring-progress