Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate the Government has made of the number of children that are (a) homeless and (b) temporarily housed in Bed and Breakfast accommodation in (a) the Wirral, (b) Liverpool City Region, and (c) England.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The Department publishes regular statistics on rough sleeping, statutory homelessness and homelessness prevention and relief. The latest statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has received representations from local authorities on their capacity to implement the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Department’s Homelessness Advice and Support Team made up of experts from local government and the charitable sector, has worked closely with local authorities to help them prepare for and implement the Act and this engagement continues. We have committed to reviewing the implementation of the Act and the new burdens funding within two years of its commencement last month.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 on the prevention of homelessness.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
It is too early to evaluate the impact of the Act following its commencement on 3 April 2018. The Government published its methodology for calculating and allocating £72.7 million of new burdens funding, including assumptions about the expected impact of the Act, on 16 October 2017 and has committed to review the implementation of the Act and the level of new burdens funding within two years of its commencement.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many (a) direct employees, (b) agency staff and (c) outsourced staff working for (i) his Department and (ii) agencies of his Department are paid less than the living wage, as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Answered by Jake Berry
My Department does not employ any staff earning less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
One of our agencies, the Planning Inspectorate, currently has two agency staff employed on a temporary basis earning above the National Living Wage but less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation. These staff will be paid the higher Living Wage Foundation rate after 12 weeks of employment.
Our other Executive Agency, the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, has no directly employed staff paid less than the living wage, as defined by the Living Wage Foundation. On-site catering services are provided under an outsourced contract and the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre has no responsibility for the level of pay determined for those employed as part of this contract.
Cleaning services and security to buildings managed by the Department are provided under outsourced facilities management contracts. Outsourced staff servicing the Department’s buildings that are not in London are currently paid the minimum of the Living Wage Foundation Living Wage.
Cleaning services and security to the Department’s headquarters based in 2 Marsham Street are provided under a contract managed by the Home Office, as major occupiers of this particular site.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate he has made of trends in the number of landlords using (a) licence agreements, and (b) tenancy agreements.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Department has made no estimate. The Government monitors broad trends in housing, including the number of households in rented housing, through the English Housing Survey.
The English Housing Survey Headline Report 2016-17 reported that the private rented sector accounted for 4.7 million or 20 per cent of households. The social rented sector accounted for 3.9 million households or 17 per cent of households. There was no change in the size of either sector between 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has plans to requisition empty (a) flats and (b) houses that have been used for (i) speculation and (ii) money laundering purposes to help reduce street homelessness.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government currently has no plans to requisition empty homes that have been used for speculation or money laundering for this specific purpose.
We are continuing to support local authorities to encourage efficient use of our existing stock, making best use of homes that are long-term empty to increase the supply of housing. At Autumn Budget, we announced proposals to strengthen the powers available to local authorities to tackle empty homes. Local authorities will be able to charge a 100 per cent council tax premium (currently 50 per cent) to homes that have been empty for more than two years.
This Government is also committed to preventing and reducing homelessness in England. That is why we are aiming to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminate it altogether by 2027. We are investing over £1.2 billion to reduce homelessness and rough sleeping in England by 2020. This includes a £100 million programme for low-cost move on accommodation to enable people leaving hostels and refuges to make a sustainable recovery from a homelessness crisis into independent living.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, in how many instances local authorities have exceeded the six-week limit for using bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless families in the most recent 12 months for which data is available; and how many local authorities have so exceeded that limit in that same period.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government publishes regular statistics on rough sleeping, statutory homelessness and homelessness prevention and relief in England. These are published at a local authority level. The latest statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics
England has a strong homelessness safety net, providing protection to the most vulnerable in our society so they always have a roof over their heads.
In 2011, we changed the law so that councils can place families in decent and affordable private rented homes. This now means homeless households should not have to wait as long for settled accommodation.
The law is also clear that households with dependent children should only be accommodated in Bed and Breakfast (B&B) in an emergency and then for no longer than 6 weeks.
Our Homelessness Advice and Support Team, drawn from local authorities and the homelessness sector, is supporting councils throughout England and providing targeted challenge. There are some councils who are successfully reducing the number and length of time families are spending in B&B accommodation; we expect areas in similar situations to follow their example.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the Government's proposals for funding short-term supported housing services from 2020 on the (a) number of and (b) services provided by women's refuges in England.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The government has not proposed to end entitlement to housing benefit or the housing element of universal credit to any individual in refuge. The short-term supported housing funding model will instead ensure that the housing costs for people living in refuges and other forms of short-term supported housing will be met by a grant fund administered by local authorities.
The same amount of funding as would have been available through Housing Benefit in 2020/21 will be made available as grant instead, and will directly fund bed spaces. Everyone who would be eligible under the current system to have their housing costs met by housing benefit will continue to have their housing costs met through the short-term funding model.
We are continuing to listen to the sector and are considering feedback through the current consultation which closed on 23 January, which includes sector comments on the effect of the model on the number of and services women’s refuges in England.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the viability of women's refuges of the Government's proposals to end a woman’s entitlement to (a) housing benefit and (b) the housing element of universal credit when in refuge and instead to devolve that funding to local authorities.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The government has not proposed to end entitlement to housing benefit or the housing element of universal credit to any individual in refuge. The short-term supported housing funding model will instead ensure that the housing costs for people living in refuges and other forms of short-term supported housing will be met by a grant fund administered by local authorities.
The same amount of funding as would have been available through Housing Benefit in 2020/21 will be made available as grant instead, and will directly fund bed spaces. Everyone who would be eligible under the current system to have their housing costs met by housing benefit will continue to have their housing costs met through the short-term funding model.
We are continuing to listen to the sector and are considering feedback through the current consultation which closed on 23 January, which includes sector comments on the effect of the model on the number of and services women’s refuges in England.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has a carer's policy for its employees; and what other steps his Department has taken to support employees with caring responsibilities.
Answered by Jake Berry
As part of its family friendly policies, the department’s staff are entitled to apply for up to 15 days special paid leave and up to 12 months extended unpaid special leave in a 12 month period for domestic purposes to deal with matters such as the illness of a dependent (such as a partner, child, parent or someone who relies on the employee for assistance) or to deal with the unexpected disruption or breakdown of normal care arrangements.
Staff can also apply for unpaid career breaks lasting between one and five years, reviewed and approved subject to operational circumstance. Career breaks are most commonly sought for domestic purposes, notably the care of family members and/or dependants. Staff are able to ask for flexible working arrangements; these can include part time hours, homeworking and flexible start and finish times and such requests are treated seriously and sympathetically.
These measures provide a comprehensive package of support that can be augmented further on a case by case basis and whilst the department does not have a dedicated paper policy, the department is proud of the significant support it offers carers in their crucial roles.