Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what safeguards are in place to prevent individuals running social housing from abusing the system for personal gain.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Registered providers must meet the Regulator of Social Housing’s economic standards, including the Governance and Financial Viability and Value for Money standards, which require robust governance, internal controls, and management of conflicts of interest to protect social housing assets and prevent misuse for personal gain. All landlords must also meet strengthened consumer standards, notably Transparency, Influence and Accountability, which require openness, fair treatment, and effective complaints handling. The Regulator regulates providers of social housing through monitoring data returns, proactive inspections, and publishing regulatory judgements. It takes appropriate action if the outcomes of the standards are not being delivered.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Regulator of Social Housing about the Eldonian Housing Association case; and what steps they intend to take in response.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Regulator of Social Housing operates independently of Government. The department does not routinely discuss ongoing investigations or operational matters with the Regulator.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of scrutiny involved in decisions by the Regulator of Social Housing to close investigations into regulatory or compliance issues; and what mechanisms exist to review such decisions.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Regulator of Social Housing operates independently of Government.
If the Regulator identifies serious failings in delivering the outcomes required by its standards, it engages intensively until the landlord provides evidence which gives assurance that the relevant weaknesses or failings have been addressed. Once the Regulator is satisfied that sufficient progress has been made, it may reflect this through removing or updating previous regulatory judgments. However, engagement may continue to ensure improvements continue.
Decisions of this nature are a matter for the Regulator. Ministers and the department do not intervene in the regulator’s operational decisions, including its engagement with providers or its approach to resolving non-compliance.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recent study by the University of Manchester, reported in The Guardian, which found that, of 28 liberal democracies, the UK, Ireland and Barbados are the three countries where it is most difficult to register to vote.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is committed to improving electoral registration. We are exploring a wide range of options to deliver on our manifesto commitment, including making greater use of public data and online Government services. Any changes will be based on robust evidence and user research.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reporting by The Sunday Times on 26 January regarding the robustness and transparency of police investigations into allegations of illegal election campaign activities, and in particular, of investigations into election materials produced in the Leicester South constituency in the 2024 general election.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Any individual or organisation wishing to influence the electorate should be prepared to be transparent about their activity. Campaigners are required to include an imprint with their name and address on a wide range of printed and digital election campaigning material in scope of the rules.
It is an offence to distribute printed or digital election campaign material without a correct imprint. There are also strict local campaign spending rules for political parties, candidates and third-party campaigners.
Any offences are a matter for the Electoral Commission or the police to enforce depending on the facts of the case. Police forces and the Electoral Commission are operationally independent of government.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the merits of banning unincorporated associations from donating to political parties in order to increase the level of transparency concerning their funding.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Effective regulation of political finance is crucial for maintaining public trust in our electoral systems and combatting the threat of foreign interference in our democracy. The Government is committed to strengthening our democracy and upholding the integrity of elections. As stated in our manifesto, we intend to strengthen the rules around donations to political parties to protect our democracy. My department is developing proposals to give effect to these commitments and will provide details to Parliament in due course.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to use their powers under section 109 of the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 to require donors to political parties to certify the original sources of donated funds, and whether they consider that this may help to address concerns about potential foreign funding influencing elections in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Effective regulation of political finance is crucial for maintaining public trust in our electoral systems and combatting the threat of foreign interference in our democracy. The Government is committed to strengthening our democracy and upholding the integrity of elections. As stated in our manifesto, we intend to strengthen the rules around donations to political parties to protect our democracy. My department is developing proposals to give effect to these commitments and will provide details to Parliament in due course.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the cost of providing Royal Mail deliveries for candidates in the general elections in (1) 2024, and (2) 2019.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The total cost incurred for the delivery of candidate mailings at the 2019 General Election was £41,161,302. Detailed information on the costs of the 2019 general election is available on Gov.UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/costs-of-the-2019-uk-parliamentary-general-election/costs-of-the-2019-uk-parliamentary-general-election).
The total cost incurred for the delivery of candidate mailing at the 2024 General Election was £60,422,724.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the consequences of the replacement of the supplementary vote system by first-past-the-post in the most recent mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections; and what is their estimate of the cost differential between those two systems.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government published details of its legislative programme alongside the King's Speech. We are committed to strengthening our democracy and upholding the integrity of elections, and our first step will be to ensure every legitimate voter is able to exercise their right to vote. We will consider the Electoral Commission report on the 2024 General Election when it is published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to revert to a preferential voting system for mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government published details of its legislative programme alongside the King's Speech. We are committed to strengthening our democracy and upholding the integrity of elections, and our first step will be to ensure every legitimate voter is able to exercise their right to vote. We will consider the Electoral Commission report on the 2024 General Election when it is published in due course.