Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What steps he is taking to increase the supply of new homes.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
This Government cares deeply about building more homes. Since 2010, we have delivered over 1.8 million new homes, including 542,400 new affordable homes, so homes are there where people need them.
We are investing in supply, with over £12 billion in affordable housing over five years, the largest investment in a decade, and £7.1 billion in the National Home Building Fund, to unlock up to 860,000 homes over the lifetime of the projects, including much-needed new homes on brownfield land.
As set out in the Planning for the Future White Paper, the Government will speed up the planning system, enabling us to build homes more quickly.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the (a) cost to the public purse was of and (b) value of assets was in the Help to Buy scheme in each financial year since 2017-18.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Help to Buy expenditure (equity loans made), redemptions (equity loans repaid) and value of the loan portfolio (loan book) are published each year in Homes England's Annual Report & Financial Statements and are summarised below for the financial years 2017-18 through to 2019-20 expressed in £000’s:
2017/18
Expenditure: £3,048,679 Valuation of assets: £8,314,304
Redemptions: (£492,394)
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/homes-england-annual-report-and-financial-statements
2018/19
Expenditure: £3,530,582 Valuation of assets: £11,083,941
Redemptions: (£714,925)
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/homes-england-annual-report-financial-statements-201819
2019/20
Expenditure: £3,592,940 Valuation of assets: £14,016,314
Redemptions: (£919,840)
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/homes-england-annual-report-financial-statements-201920
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his timeframe is for the next stages of the public consultation for the Parking (Code of Conduct) Act 2019; and if he will he make a statement.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
We are working to improve the regulation of the private parking industry. This year we launched consultations on our proposals for the new Parking Code of Practice and Enforcement Framework, designed to crack down on rogue car parking firms. The consultations closed on 12 October. We are now considering the feedback and will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Planning Act to include the infrastructural requirements of the emergency services.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Emergency services infrastructure is usually consented under the relevant town and country planning legislation. My Department is currently consulting on a new vision for the planning system, which proposes significant changes to the planning process, aiming to offer greater certainty and speed to those who use the planning system, including emergency services.
The Planning Act 2008 established the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects planning regime. This is a separate consenting regime for nationally significant infrastructure projects in the fields of energy, transport, water, waste water and waste.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on additional funding to tackle rough sleeping in the next spending round.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Ministers and officials in my department have regular discussions with counterparts in HM Treasury on a range of issues, including rough sleeping.
The Government has made clear that no one should be without a roof over their head, which is why we have committed to end rough sleeping within this Parliament and to fully enforce the Homelessness Reduction Act.
In 2020/2021 we are providing £437 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. This marks a £69 million increase in funding from the previous year.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Local Government Association Business Rates Avoidance Survey Report 2019, published on 1 January 2020, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of the finding of that report that £250 million is lost to business rates each year; and what steps he plans to take to protect revenue from business rates for local authorities.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
My Department welcomes the Local Government Association’s Business Rates Avoidance Survey, published in January 2020, and will work with the Local Government Association to evaluate its findings and better understand the causes of business rates avoidance.