Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker how much additional accommodation or other facility space will become free once the parliamentary archives are removed from Victoria Tower; and on what date the completion of the removal is anticipated.
Answered by Lord Touhig
The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. The Parliamentary Archives will be removed from the Victoria Tower by the beginning of September 2025. The Victoria Tower occupies seven percent of the Palace of Westminster. Future use of the space is yet to be determined.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, while national COVID-19 restrictions remain in force, what powers local councils have to ensure that all those who attend council meetings have tested negative for COVID-19 before they are permitted entry.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Ultimately it is for individual local authorities to satisfy themselves that they have met the requirements for public access and apply the COVID-19 guidance to ensure meetings take place safely. Government has published updated guidance to highlight ways in which councils can, if necessary, minimise the need for, or risks of, face-to-face meetings.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what financial support they will give to local councils to enable them to safely comply with the Government's guidance on returning to holding council meetings in public.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
As councils now need to meet in person, we have published updated guidance on how to minimise the risks of face-to-face meetings, supported by unprecedented emergency funding to manage the impact of the pandemic.
The Government has committed over £45 billion to help local authorities support their communities and local businesses during the pandemic, including over £12 billion directly to councils in England to tackle the impacts of COVID-19. Over £6 billion of this is unringfenced and so, where needed, it can be used to ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place to manage any risks involved in face-to-face meetings while COVID-19 restrictions remain in place.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in relation to establishing housing allocation numbers for local authorities, what is the current assumed net immigration for each of the next 15 years.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government does not set housing allocation numbers. The Government’s Local Housing Need formula, otherwise known as “the standard method” is set out in guidance and is used by local authorities to determine the starting point when planning for housing. Local planning authorities should take into account land supply considerations and environmental constraints (such as Green Belt) before determining the number of homes likely to be delivered in the area.
The standard method is based on the 2014 household projections, these projections incorporate population projections and therefore migration data. Population data is published by the ONS, see attached: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationprojections/bulletins/nationalpopulationprojections/2015-10-29.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the impact of their policy towards immigration from Hong Kong has been incorporated into housing allocation (1) calculations, and (2) provision.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Hong Kong British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) visa route is a positive offer for British National (Overseas) status holders and their dependants. To be eligible for the Hong Kong BN(O) visa route, status holders must prove that they are able to sustain themselves and their families in the UK for six months.
Those on the BN(O) visa route will have a ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) condition attached to their leave, which prevents them from accessing local authority-allocated social housing allocations and homelessness assistance.
After 5 years, Hong Kong BN(O) status holders will be able to apply for settled status, and if granted settled status will then be eligible for both social housing and homelessness assistance on the same basis as British citizens. We will keep the position in relation to social housing allocations under review.
We recognise that local authorities may be expected to provide some form of housing support, for example, in managing tenancies, assessing any eligibility for local deposit schemes and understanding rights and entitlements to housing and welfare support, where it is appropriate. That is why the Government is making over £30 million available to local authorities in England to provide targeted support to Hong Kong British National (Overseas) status holders who need additional English for Speakers of Other Languages and/or destitution support including support with housing costs. This targeted support funding factors in the potential impacts on homelessness, housing and translation services demands.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which 10 councils have the highest number of solar panels installed on council properties.
Answered by Lord Callanan
The Government does not hold information on the number or size of solar PV installations on council properties. This information will be held by individual councils.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which 10 UK hospitals have the highest financial deficit, including debts carried over from previous years.
Answered by Lord Bethell
During the last year, the government agreed a number of measures to improve the finances in the NHS provider sector in England. These included writing off £13.4 billion of NHS debt, as part of a major financial reset for NHS providers; temporary arrangements that saw trusts receive block payments to fund their spending through the pandemic, supported by c£18bn of additional funding to support the NHS response to COVID. As a result, the amount and levels of deficits across in the NHS provider sector fell significantly.
Work is ongoing to support the minority of trusts who ended 2020/21 in a deficit position and to develop solutions to secure future financial sustainability.
Final deficit figures for 2020-21 will be published as part of the NHS’s final accounts in due course.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the annual budget for reception centres for Hong Kong residents seeking to live in the UK; where they plan to locate any such reception centres; and how many, if any, are currently operational.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
MHCLG is providing over £5 million to fund 12 new Welcome Hubs across the UK – nine in England, mapped to the nine English regions, and one each in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. By utilising existing Strategic Migration Partnerships and other important local connections, these hubs will help to ensure a warm welcome for all Hong Kong BN(O) status holders by providing practical advice and assistance to all BN(O)s who require it.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people have been tested for COVID-19 in Nottinghamshire since the announcement of mass testing in November 2020.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The total number of people tested for COVID-19 in Nottinghamshire between 29 October 2020 and 27 January 2021 is 329,057.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people have been employed to assist in the roll out of mass COVID-19 testing in Nottinghamshire since lateral flow tests became available in the UK.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We do not publish data in the format requested.