Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government when minimum competence standards will be introduced for the management of high-risk residential buildings under the Building Safety Act 2022.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Under the Building Safety Act 2022, every higher-risk occupied building must have at least one named accountable person, who is responsible for managing the fire and structural safety for the building. Accountable persons must have either the relevant competence or appoint someone with the relevant competence to help carry out their duties.
The Building Safety Regulator has published guidance to support accountable persons and this guidance is available on their website. The British Standards Institution (BSI) published standard (PAS 8673) also sets out guidance on competence requirements for the safe management of residential buildings
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential merits of a voucher scheme to encourage cycle ownership for people on low incomes.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government has not made a detailed assessment of the costs and benefits of such a scheme but will consider it carefully as it develops its future plans for active travel.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Crown Estate has notified the Treasury of any risks to its reputation, further to section 15.1 of the Treasury's Framework Document: The Crown Estate, published in June 2023.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Crown Estate provides regular updates to the Treasury on all matters of its business in line with its obligations set out in the Framework Document 2023. This includes notifying Treasury officials of any potential risks to its reputation during regular business engagement.
The Crown Estate meet with Treasury officials on a regular basis, including 6-weekly meetings to discuss business performance. Outside of performance meetings, there are open channels of communications between officials where information is openly shared in a timely manner.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they expect the draft Memorandum of Understanding between the Treasury and the Crown Estates to be published before consideration of the Crown Estates Bill is concluded in the House of Lords.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Yes. As committed at Second Reading of the Crown Estate Bill, the Government will publish a draft Memorandum of Understanding between the Treasury and The Crown Estate by November. This will be before Report stage of the Bill in the House of Lords.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many cars in the Government Car Service are (1) fully electric, (2) hybrid, and (3) petrol or diesel.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government Car Service currently has the following number of vehicles in its operational fleet:
36 fully electric.
51 Hybrid.
20 Petrol or Diesel.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to proceed with the policy of street votes authorised by Chapter 4 of Part 3 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is still reviewing its policy inheritance from the last government, including in relation to street votes, we have announced on the 8 and 30 July the first steps we are taking to fix the planning system and unlock new housing. The Government will set out its plans for further planning reform in due course.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Swinburne on 3 April (HL3354), what infrastructure categories apply to Housing Infrastructure Fund allocations.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) programme has not adopted a prescriptive definition of physical infrastructure. HIF projects cover a range of infrastructure such as transport and travel, utilities, schools, community and healthcare facilities, land assembly and site remediation, heritage infrastructure, digital communications, green infrastructure (such as parks) and blue infrastructure (such as flood defences and sustainable drainage systems).
HIF is a closed programme. Bids were assessed against criteria that can be found in the HIF prospectus.
Introduction to Housing Infrastructure (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria are applied when deciding on Housing Infrastructure Fund allocations.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) programme has not adopted a prescriptive definition of physical infrastructure. HIF projects cover a range of infrastructure such as transport and travel, utilities, schools, community and healthcare facilities, land assembly and site remediation, heritage infrastructure, digital communications, green infrastructure (such as parks) and blue infrastructure (such as flood defences and sustainable drainage systems).
HIF is a closed programme. Bids were assessed against criteria that can be found in the HIF prospectus.
Introduction to Housing Infrastructure (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Leader of the House when they will respond to the Report of the Procedure Committee of the House of Commons Commons scrutiny of Secretaries of State in the House of Lords (1st Report, HC 338).
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Government responded to the House of Commons Procedure Committee Report Commons scrutiny of Secretaries of State in the House of Lords (1st Report, HC 338) on Wednesday 17th April 2024. A copy of the report can be found on the Procedure Committees website on the link below.
https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/126/procedure-committee/publications/
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following statistics published on 21 March showing that the percentage of young carers who missed at least ten per cent of school is almost twice as high as that for pupils without caring responsibilities, what steps they are taking to improve the (1) identification of, and (2) support for, young carers in schools.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Young carers make an enormous contribution by caring for their loved ones. The department wants to ensure young carers are supported in their education and can take advantage of opportunities beyond their caring responsibilities.
The department introduced The Young Carers (Needs Assessments) Regulations in 2015. This is an assessment of needs, conducted by the local authority which must consider whether it is appropriate or excessive for the child or young person to provide care for the person in question, in light of the young carer’s needs and wishes. It also helps to determine whether the care which the young carer provides, or intends to provide, impacts on the young carer’s well-being, education and development.
The department added young carers to the annual school census in 2023 for the first time and identified 38,983 young carers, raising their visibility in the school system and allowing schools to better identify and support their young carers. This is providing the department with strong evidence on both the numbers of young carers and their educational outcomes. This also provides an annual data collection to establish long-term trends.
As this is a new data collection, the department expects the quality of the data returns to improve over time as the collection becomes established. All schools (except nursery schools) must send this information as part of the spring school census. However, the recording and handling of the information is at the school’s discretion. 79% of schools recorded no young carers in 2023.
The department recognises that absence is often a symptom of other problems. The department has a comprehensive support-first strategy to improve attendance, which includes:
The department is also building a system of family help by reforming children’s social care. The £45 million Families First for Children Pathfinder programme is testing how multi-disciplinary family help teams can improve the support that children, families and young carers receive.