Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps (a) her Department and (b) the Building Safety Regulator is taking to reduce decision times by the regulator for approving multi-storey residential blocks.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG and the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) both recognise the impact of Gateway delays on the construction pipeline of high-rise projects and are taking action to address the current challenges.
The Department is working closely with the BSR to improve processing times and has already taken several actions. As a new function, the BSR has needed to refine and improve its processes. We have provided funding to the BSR to recruit an extra 30 frontline staff to bolster its capacity. On 14 May, the BSR also launched a campaign to directly recruit Registered Building Inspectors (RBIs) with significant further recruitment planned in June 2025. The impact of these mitigations will scale up in the coming months as the BSR continues to clear applications.
MHCLG and the BSR are also reviewing better ways to access specialist advice on multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) which assess applications to enable faster assessment times.
Whilst the BSR and MHCLG are exploring all possible opportunities to strengthen the new Gateway process and guidance to industry, it is important to recognise that a significant volume of applications continue to be invalidated or rejected for not meeting the legislative requirements. These are buildings that, had they been constructed, might have placed residents at risk and/or living in housing that did not meet long-standing requirements. It is also important to note that additional information requests for missing details in applications can add between at least 4-6 weeks onto the process. In recognition of this, the BSR issued new guidance in March 2025 to assist applications in preparing high quality applications.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of Social Housing Action Campaign's research entitled Tribunals Research Finds Overcharging in 70% of Cases as HA Service Charge Income Soars, published in February 2025; what assessment she has made of trends in the level of service charges being found unreasonable in law; and what steps her Department is taking to prevent unreasonable service charge decisions.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises the considerable financial strain that rising services charges place on leaseholders and tenants. The level of service charge that leaseholders pay depends on a range of factors, including the terms of a lease or tenancy agreement and the age and condition of a building.
By law, variable service charges must be reasonable. Overcharging through service charges is completely unacceptable. Should leaseholders wish to contest the reasonableness of their service charges they may make an application to the appropriate tribunal.
My Department does not hold data on the number of unreasonable service charge challenges that are upheld by the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).
The Leasehold and Freeport Reform Act 2024 includes measures designed to drive up the transparency of service charges to make them more easily challengeable if leaseholders consider them to be unreasonable. Once commenced, these will ensure all leaseholders receive minimum key financial and non-financial information on a regular basis, including introducing a standardised service charge demand form and an annual report.
The government is committed to acting quickly to implement the provisions of the Act. Further detail can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement made on Thursday 21 November 2024 (HCWS244).
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of compliance by social landlords with guidance that service charge increases are restricted in line with rent increases.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government does not regulate the level of service charges for social housing tenants.
Our policy statement on social housing rents states that Registered Providers of social housing should endeavour to keep any service charge increases for tenants within the limit on rent increases, to help keep charges affordable.
Registered Providers are expected to set reasonable and transparent service charges for tenants which reflect the service being provided, and tenants should also be supplied with clear information about how service charges are set.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2024 to Question 10238 on Islamophobia, whether his Department defines anti-Muslim hatred as a manifestation of (a) racial, (b) religious or (c) other discrimination as defined by the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Hon Member to the Secretary of State’s oral statement made on 14 March 2024 (Official Report, HC, Volume 747, Column 452).
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which (a) domestic and (b) international (i) leaders and (ii) experts his Department has sought views from on how religious hatred is experienced by British communities; and what views and perspectives they have shared.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Hon Member to the Secretary of State’s oral statement made on 14 March 2024 (Official Report, HC, Volume 747, Column 452).
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2024 to Question 10238 on Islamophobia, whether the Government has provided funding to organisations other than Tell MAMA to provide support to the victims of anti-Muslim hatred.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Hon Member to the Secretary of State’s oral statement made on 14 March 2024 (Official Report, HC, Volume 747, Column 452).
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on the number of prosecutions for ill-fitting Personal Protective Equipment provided to women workers initiated by local authorities in the last five years.
Answered by Simon Hoare
The department does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2024 to Question 10238 on Islamophobia, whether he has taken steps to develop a definition of anti-Muslim hatred.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 10238 on 23 January 2024.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the document entitled Draft terms of reference for the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, what key priorities the Government has identified in collaboration with the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group; what support other Departments have provided to ensure that recommendations are taken fully to implementation stage; and whether that group has identified any difficulty in delivery of the recommendations since 2019.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government is clear that all forms of racial and religious discrimination are unacceptable, and they have no place in our communities. We continue to take a broad approach to religious hatred which will develop on the work of the previous Antisemitism and Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Groups.
As my Hon Friend the Member for Kensington outlined in the House, we plan to appoint a new independent adviser on anti-Muslim hatred, and we will update the House shortly.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the document entitled Draft terms of reference for the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, what trends in anti-Muslim sentiment and hatred that group has (a) reviewed and (b) identified since 2019; and what appropriate actions it has suggested for (i) the Government and (ii) communities as a result of that review.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government is clear that all forms of racial and religious discrimination are unacceptable, and they have no place in our communities. We continue to take a broad approach to religious hatred which will develop on the work of the previous Antisemitism and Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Groups.
As my Hon Friend the Member for Kensington outlined in the House, we plan to appoint a new independent adviser on anti-Muslim hatred, and we will update the House shortly.