Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to fully implement the changes to the Needs Assessment component of the funding formula made in 2013; and subsequently whether they will increase funding to rural councils to reflect inflation in the years since these changes were made.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 makes available up to £64.7 billion, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion or 7.5% in cash terms on 2023-24. This above-inflation increase demonstrates how the Government stands behind councils up and down the country. Furthermore, we recognise the importance and difficulties of councils serving dispersed populations. That is why we have increased the value of the Rural Services Delivery Grant by over 15%, from £95 million to £110 million in 2024-25. This is the highest increase since 2018-19, and the second successive year of above-inflation increases.
We last calculated the Settlement Funding Assessment in 2013/14. The Government is committed to reforming the local government funding landscape in the next Parliament to deliver simpler, fairer and longer settlements.
The Rural Services Delivery Grant is allocated to local authorities ranking in the top-quartile of sparsely populated areas in England, using the Government’s ‘Super Sparsity’ measure. The methodology is unchanged from 2023-24 and any funding decisions beyond the 2024-25 financial year are a matter for the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of core funding for delivering rural services; and what plans they have to create equitable funding between rural and urban councils.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 makes available up to £64.7 billion, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion or 7.5% in cash terms on 2023-24. This above-inflation increase demonstrates how the Government stands behind councils up and down the country. Furthermore, we recognise the importance and difficulties of councils serving dispersed populations. That is why we have increased the value of the Rural Services Delivery Grant by over 15%, from £95 million to £110 million in 2024-25. This is the highest increase since 2018-19, and the second successive year of above-inflation increases.
We last calculated the Settlement Funding Assessment in 2013/14. The Government is committed to reforming the local government funding landscape in the next Parliament to deliver simpler, fairer and longer settlements.
The Rural Services Delivery Grant is allocated to local authorities ranking in the top-quartile of sparsely populated areas in England, using the Government’s ‘Super Sparsity’ measure. The methodology is unchanged from 2023-24 and any funding decisions beyond the 2024-25 financial year are a matter for the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to extending the Rural Services Delivery Grant to all rural councils in future years.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 makes available up to £64.7 billion, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion or 7.5% in cash terms on 2023-24. This above-inflation increase demonstrates how the Government stands behind councils up and down the country. Furthermore, we recognise the importance and difficulties of councils serving dispersed populations. That is why we have increased the value of the Rural Services Delivery Grant by over 15%, from £95 million to £110 million in 2024-25. This is the highest increase since 2018-19, and the second successive year of above-inflation increases.
We last calculated the Settlement Funding Assessment in 2013/14. The Government is committed to reforming the local government funding landscape in the next Parliament to deliver simpler, fairer and longer settlements.
The Rural Services Delivery Grant is allocated to local authorities ranking in the top-quartile of sparsely populated areas in England, using the Government’s ‘Super Sparsity’ measure. The methodology is unchanged from 2023-24 and any funding decisions beyond the 2024-25 financial year are a matter for the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network World Happiness Report, published on 20 March; in particular, the finding that the happiness of young people under the age of 30 in the UK has declined.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is committed to improving the well-being of individuals in every area of the UK as set out in our (attached) update on the Well-being mission in January 2024. We continue to engage with new data and evidence in the delivery of all Levelling Up Missions, including on how we can improve well-being.
This includes considering the work of Professor Lord Richard Layard, one of the authors of the World Happiness Report, and other experts in our ongoing work on this mission.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to ensure freeholders are held to account for essential services provided to leaseholders.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will ensure that leaseholders receive minimum key financial and non-financial information on a regular basis including through a standardised service charge demand form and an annual report. This will help them scrutinise and more effectively challenge their landlord if they consider their fees are unreasonable.
By law service charges must be reasonable and the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill also improves redress for leaseholders who do not receive acceptable services.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of children living in homes with damp; and the impact of damp and mould on children's health in (1) 2021, and (2) 2022.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The department does not collect data on the number of children living in homes affected by damp and mould. We do, however, have the following information which sets out the proportion of households in each tenure with dependent children and the proportion of each tenure affected by damp. The English Housing Survey, at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/english-housing-survey, found that in 2021 – 2022 46% of mortgaged households, 32% of private renters, 33% of social renters and 7% of outright owners had dependent children. In 2021, 11% of privately renters, 4% of social renters and 2% of owner-occupiers had problems with damp.
Damp and mould has a serious impact on children’s health. Our consolidated guidance, developed with the Department for Health and Social Care (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/damp-and-mould-understanding-and-addressing-the-health-risks-for-rented-housing-providers), assesses this and sets out how landlords should address damp and mould.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what processes are in place for counting and identifying instances of rural homelessness.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government understands rural homelessness presents unique challenges which can differ from urban areas.
We support local areas to put in place robust measures to identify people sleeping rough. This includes collecting monthly management information, alongside the official annual rough sleeping snapshot statistics, which support local authorities to understand better how people experience rough sleeping in their areas so they can design tailored local services.
Homeless Link have been funded by DLUHC since 2010 to provide guidance to local authorities who conduct the snapshot and independently verify all local authorities’ snapshots. This includes advice about how areas should take different approaches depending on the characteristics of their area.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Scott of Bybrook on 11 July (HL Deb col 1673), where the rural proofing reports on the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill have been published.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
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: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the plans to relax nutrient neutrality rules, what (1) statutory, or (2) other, measures, they will take to promote compliance among developers.
Answered by Lord Evans of Rainow - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The amendment in question is not part of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that new builds are accessible to older people and people with disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the Lord Bishop to the answer given to Question UIN HL8422 on 26 June 2023.