Asked by: Lord Goddard of Stockport (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they intend to address inequalities in Fire Authority budgets in (1) the Fair Funding Review, and (2) the 2023/24 Local Government Finance Settlement, to ensure funding is fairly distributed on the basis of (a) local levels of deprivation and need, and (b) rates of price inflation and wage inflation.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is committed to ensuring funding allocations are based on an up-to-date assessment of councils’ needs and resources. We will always work with local partners, including Fire and Rescue Authorities, to take stock of the challenges and opportunities they face as part of any potential reforms to local authority funding.
Asked by: Lord Goddard of Stockport (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to introducing a mandatory requirement to include water capture capabilities in all new build residential properties.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In July 2021 the Government issued a Written Ministerial Statement, which can be found (attached) here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-07-01/hcws140 , on reducing demand for water in response to the Defra consultation on 'measures to reduce personal water consumption'. Within this statement, we committed to developing a roadmap towards greater water efficiency in new developments and retrofits, including the exploration of revised building regulations and how the development of new technologies can contribute to meeting these standards. We will ensure that the underlying legislation can, where appropriate, accommodate any potential future expansion of rainwater harvesting, water re-use and storage options. We plan to publish this roadmap by the end of 2022.
Asked by: Lord Goddard of Stockport (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what impact assessment they have carried out on proposals to strengthen tenants' rights on the stock of private homes available to rent.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
We will publish an impact assessment as the Bill passes through Parliament, which will set out the costs and benefits and overall impact on the sector including both tenants and landlords. Our White Paper is based on a balanced package of reforms that support both tenants and landlords, drawing from the experience of reforms in other parts of the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Lord Goddard of Stockport (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the future demand for homes to rent.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
The English Housing Survey provides information on housing stock. The proportion of Private Rented Sector (PRS) households has remained relatively stable for nearly a decade. The PRS was 19% of stock in 2013-14, increased to 20% in 2015-16 and 2016-17 and then went back to 19% thereafter.
We continue to monitor the Office for National Statistics rental price statistics as an indicator of demand and will evaluate the impact of the private rented reforms on the sector.
Asked by: Lord Goddard of Stockport (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what additional funds they will make available to Housing Associations to enable them (1) to increase their stock of properties ahead of proposals on extending Right-to-Buy, and (2) to offset the impact on their balance sheets.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
This Government is committed to the Right to Buy, which has helped nearly two million social housing tenants to realise their dream of home ownership.
We want housing association tenants to have the same opportunity as local authority tenants and to be able to enjoy the benefits that homeownership brings. That is why the Prime Minister announced on the 9 June 2022 the intention to extend the Right to Buy to housing association tenants.
We will work closely with the housing association sector on the design of the scheme, including consideration of the impact on housing association stock levels and their balance sheets. We will make sure that the scheme is designed in a way that enables the homes sold to be replaced one-for-one, and we will produce a full impact assessment of this policy in due course, ahead of the scheme’s introduction.
Asked by: Lord Goddard of Stockport (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what impact assessment they have carried out on the proposals to extend the Right to Buy of housing association properties on the availability of associations' (1) stock, and (2) homes to rent.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
This Government is committed to the Right to Buy, which has helped nearly two million social housing tenants to realise their dream of home ownership.
We want housing association tenants to have the same opportunity as local authority tenants and to be able to enjoy the benefits that homeownership brings. That is why the Prime Minister announced on the 9 June 2022 the intention to extend the Right to Buy to housing association tenants.
We will work closely with the housing association sector on the design of the scheme, including consideration of the impact on housing association stock levels and their balance sheets. We will make sure that the scheme is designed in a way that enables the homes sold to be replaced one-for-one, and we will produce a full impact assessment of this policy in due course, ahead of the scheme’s introduction.
Asked by: Lord Goddard of Stockport (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the stock of private homes available to rent following changes to regulations regarding buy-to-let accommodation.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Since 2010, there have been a range of policy changes affecting private landlords. These include tax changes for buy-to-let landlords, changes to the Stamp Duty Land Tax, tightening lending criteria on buy-to-let mortgages and the growing role of the build-to-rent sector.
The Private Rented Sector remains an important part of the housing market, with 4.4 million households currently in the Private Rented Sector. The proportion of PRS households has remained relatively stable for nearly a decade, as evidenced through the English Housing Survey. According to the English Private Landlord Survey (2021) over half (57%) of landlords had a buy-to-let mortgage, representing 68% of tenancies, indicating that buy-to-let landlords continue to invest.