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Written Question
Property Management Companies: Fees and Charges
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government what regulatory powers they have to ensure leaseholders are protected from unreasonable charges or inadequate services property management agents.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

By law all variable service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate to works or services, the works or services must be of a reasonable standard and leaseholders may challenge them at the property tribunal. It is also a legal requirement for managing and letting agents in England to belong to one of the two Government approved redress schemes.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will make it easier for leaseholders to scrutinise costs and challenge the services provided by both landlords and property managing agents. The Bill includes measures to require landlords to provide further information to leaseholders upfront and increase the transparency of their service charges and administration charges, as well as providing more information to leaseholders when requested.

For those homeowners on private and mixed tenure freehold estates, the Bill will also give them rights to challenge costs at the tribunal and improved rights of transparency of costs and services.

The Government intends to work closely with stakeholders to determine the detail of how the measures will work to protect leaseholders, which will be set out in secondary legislation.

These measures, alongside existing protections and work undertaken by industry, will make property managing agents more accountable to the leaseholders and homeowners on freehold estates that pay for their services, and we will keep under review the need for further regulation in the sector.


Written Question
Leasehold: Fees and Charges
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to launch a consultation about the experiences of leaseholders in relation to service charges.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

By law all variable service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate to works or services, the works or services must be of a reasonable standard and leaseholders may challenge them at the property tribunal. It is also a legal requirement for managing and letting agents in England to belong to one of the two Government approved redress schemes.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will make it easier for leaseholders to scrutinise costs and challenge the services provided by both landlords and property managing agents. The Bill includes measures to require landlords to provide further information to leaseholders upfront and increase the transparency of their service charges and administration charges, as well as providing more information to leaseholders when requested.

For those homeowners on private and mixed tenure freehold estates, the Bill will also give them rights to challenge costs at the tribunal and improved rights of transparency of costs and services.

The Government intends to work closely with stakeholders to determine the detail of how the measures will work to protect leaseholders, which will be set out in secondary legislation.

These measures, alongside existing protections and work undertaken by industry, will make property managing agents more accountable to the leaseholders and homeowners on freehold estates that pay for their services, and we will keep under review the need for further regulation in the sector.


Written Question
Property Management Companies
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the transparency of ownership structures of freehold property management agents.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

By law all variable service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate to works or services, the works or services must be of a reasonable standard and leaseholders may challenge them at the property tribunal. It is also a legal requirement for managing and letting agents in England to belong to one of the two Government approved redress schemes.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will make it easier for leaseholders to scrutinise costs and challenge the services provided by both landlords and property managing agents. The Bill includes measures to require landlords to provide further information to leaseholders upfront and increase the transparency of their service charges and administration charges, as well as providing more information to leaseholders when requested.

For those homeowners on private and mixed tenure freehold estates, the Bill will also give them rights to challenge costs at the tribunal and improved rights of transparency of costs and services.

The Government intends to work closely with stakeholders to determine the detail of how the measures will work to protect leaseholders, which will be set out in secondary legislation.

These measures, alongside existing protections and work undertaken by industry, will make property managing agents more accountable to the leaseholders and homeowners on freehold estates that pay for their services, and we will keep under review the need for further regulation in the sector.


Written Question
Terrorism: Northern Ireland
Tuesday 13th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of inquests into deaths to the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland that will not have been completed by 1 May.

Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 requires Troubles-related inquests to conclude by 1 May 2024. The legislation provides a limited carve out for any Troubles-related inquests where the hearing of all evidence has finished and where the only matter still to come is the delivery of the inquest’s findings.

The Act contains provisions allowing a coroner to request a review of a death by the ICRIR, led by Sir Declan Morgan as Chief Commissioner, if the inquest has not been concluded via the coronial process by 1 May 2024. Close family members, as well as the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Attorney General for Northern Ireland and the Advocate General for Northern Ireland, can also request a review of a death by the ICRIR.

The case management of inquests is a matter for coroners.


Written Question
Terrorism: Northern Ireland
Tuesday 13th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many inquests into deaths to the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland are still to be completed.

Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

At this time, 37 Troubles-related inquests have not been completed:

  • 18 cases have commenced hearing of evidence;
  • A further two cases have been listed for hearing;
  • Another 17 cases have not been listed for hearing.


Written Question
Corruption: International Courts
Wednesday 22nd November 2023

Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to meet with US Judge Mark Wolf in London during the week of 13 November to discuss progress on proposals for an International Anti-Corruption Court.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I [Lord Ahmad] do not have plans to meet with Judge Wolf during his visit due to prior commitments. As far as we are aware, there are no plans for Ministers from elsewhere in Government to meet with Judge Wolf either. The government outlined its position on this subject matter on 6 July 2023 in the House of Lords [https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2023-07-06/debates/DB0613A7-1D77-482D-A180-20745447DD92/InternationalAnti-CorruptionCourt#contribution-A203485E-C9F6-4E51-BFF6-25D39DBA3826].


Written Question
Coronavirus: Death
Wednesday 25th October 2023

Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many deaths occurred in each of the last 12 months where the cause of death was listed as COVID-19.

Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

The Rt Hon. the Lord Hain

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

20 October 2023

Dear Lord Hain,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many deaths occurred in each of the last 12 months where the cause of death was listed as COVID-19 (HL10538).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for publishing statistics on deaths registered in England and Wales [1]. Figures for Scotland [2] and Northern Ireland [3] are the responsibility of National Records for Scotland and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, respectively.

Causes mentioned on the death certificate are converted to International Classification of Diseases 10th edition (ICD-10) codes, with the underlying cause of death defined as the disease or injury that initiated the events that directly lead to the death. The ICD-10 codes for COVID-19 are U07.1, U07.2, U10.9, U09.9.

Table 1 shows the number of deaths due to COVID-19 registered in England and Wales by month registered between October 2022 and September 2023.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Deaths due to COVID-19 by month and year of registration, England and Wales, registered October 2022 and September 2023 [4,5,6,7,8].

Month of registration

Deaths due to COVID-19

October 2022

1,648

November 2022

1,355

December 2022

1,204

January 2023

2,321

February 2023

1,240

March 2023

1,836

April 2023

1,351

May 2023

868

June 2023

516

July 2023

222

August 2023

438

September 2023

674

Source: Office for National Statistics

[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/

[2] https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths

[3] https://www.nisra.gov.uk/statistics/births-deaths-and-marriages/deaths

[4] Figures are for deaths registered, rather than deaths occurring in each period.

[5] Figures are based on provisional data.

[6] Figures include the deaths of usual residents of England and Wales as well as those of nonresidents.

[7] Figures are based on deaths where COVID-19 (ICD-10 codes U07.1, U07.2, U10.9, U09.9) was the underlying cause of death.

[8] Deaths due to COVID-19 refers to deaths where COVID-19 was the underlying cause of death. The underlying cause of death is defined by WHO as the disease or injury that initiated the train of events directly leading to death.


Written Question
Certification Quality Marks
Tuesday 19th September 2023

Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they made before announcing the decision to continue recognition of the EU's CE mark for many UK companies, replacing plans for the mandatory introduction of the UK Conformity Assessment in 2024.

Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government’s engagement with businesses and organisations in the UK and internationally informed the decision to continue CE recognition of goods on the UK market for regulations owned by the Department for Business and Trade.

The government continues to engage with industry, both domestically and internationally. Businesses and trade associations repeatedly expressed significant concerns with the duplicative costs for placing goods on EU and UK markets, and the lack of business-readiness for compliance with mandatory UK Conformity Assessment, which potentially may have resulted in product shortages in GB or increased costs to GB consumers. Extending CE recognition will help in mitigating these challenges.


Written Question
Certification Quality Marks
Tuesday 19th September 2023

Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether post-Brexit arrangements include recognition by the EU of UK testing facilities for conformity assessment of products; and why some UK firms now need to seek approval from the EU for goods destined only for the UK market.

Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

For most products being placed on the market in Great Britain (GB), products can comply with either GB or EU product regulations. UK Conformity Assessment Bodies can continue to certify goods for the UK market.

The EU does not recognise UK testing facilities for conformity assessment of products. Nevertheless, the UK is committed to exploring available avenues that could facilitate acceptance of EU-UK conformity assessment results and support British businesses.


Written Question
Certification Quality Marks
Friday 15th September 2023

Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government why the use of both the UK Conformity Assessment mark and the EU’s CE mark will be allowed indefinitely for UK companies in the electronic, industrial, consumer and other sectors, but not for construction products produced in the UK.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

As my Rt. Honourable friend the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities set out in his statement of 20 April 2023, the Government is developing proposals for reform of the UK's construction product regime to ensure it is effective in promoting safety and inspires public and market confidence.

Our reforms, which we will set out in due course, will set out the future approach to product marking for construction products. In the meantime, recognition of CE marking will continue until the end of June 2025.