Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of levels of funding for local domestic abuse (a) services, (b) counselling and (c) advocacy support.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Ministry of Justice is quadrupling funding for victim and witness support services by 2024/25. £154 million of funding has been committed per annum across this Spending Review period, totalling a minimum of £460 million over three years (2022/23 to 2024/25 inclusive). This is up from £41 million in 2009/10. This multi-year funding allows victim support services, and those commissioning them, to build resilience into services and ensure consistency in the support that victims receive.
Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 introduced new statutory duties on local authorities to ensure that all victims, including their children, have access to support within safe accommodation when they need it. This includes counselling and advocacy support.
Since 2021, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has committed over £507 million, including £129.7 million in 2024/25, to councils across England to fund this duty. Funding from April 2025 will be determined at the next Spending Review.
This is a locally led duty. Each council must work closely with their Local Partnership Board to assess the needs of victims locally and commission the right safe accommodation support services needed to meet the identified need.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to tackle Islamophobia.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer the Hon Member to the oral answer given by my Hon Friend, the Member for Kensington, on 4 March 2024 (Official Report, HC Volume 746, Column 628).
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has had recent discussions with representatives of the property management industry on maintaining quality and standards of service.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government continues to work with industry on improving best practice across the property agent sector. As part of this, and during development of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill, we have engaged with a range of stakeholders, including representatives from the property management industry. We will continue to do so.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of outsourcing on the quality of service provision.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the Hon Member to the written statement made on 18 December 2023 on the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement (HCWS148). We are seeking views on proposals for the 2024-25 Settlement via a consultation which closes on 15 January.
We will consider all responses before publishing a final settlement early this year. To assess the amount of funding required for local government ahead of fiscal events, we estimate the additional resource required to fund the expenditure needs of local authorities, using a range of forecasts and indices to estimate demographic and unit cost pressures facing local government.
Councils are independent, democratic bodies who are best placed to understand what is needed to deliver local priorities and are accountable to local people.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding levels of local public services.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the Hon Member to the written statement made on 18 December 2023 on the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement (HCWS148). We are seeking views on proposals for the 2024-25 Settlement via a consultation which closes on 15 January.
We will consider all responses before publishing a final settlement early this year. To assess the amount of funding required for local government ahead of fiscal events, we estimate the additional resource required to fund the expenditure needs of local authorities, using a range of forecasts and indices to estimate demographic and unit cost pressures facing local government.
Councils are independent, democratic bodies who are best placed to understand what is needed to deliver local priorities and are accountable to local people.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) providing guidance on best practice and (b) setting standards for local authority tenancy fraud investigations.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Department does not hold information on local authority investigations into tenancy fraud cases involving domestic abuse. Training on this matter is the responsibility of local authorities.
Government takes social housing fraud seriously and introduced the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013 to give social landlords powers to tackle social housing fraud and increased the deterrent to tenants considering cheating the system. Between 2011 and 2015, we provided £19 million of funding to help local authorities, working in partnership with other social landlords, to tackle social housing fraud; and provided funding to support the Chartered Institute of Housing to provide hands-on practical advice to landlords on which policies and procedures work best. We have no plans currently to commission any updated guidance.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department provides training to local authority legal teams on handling cases involving domestic abuse.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Department does not hold information on local authority investigations into tenancy fraud cases involving domestic abuse. Training on this matter is the responsibility of local authorities.
Government takes social housing fraud seriously and introduced the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013 to give social landlords powers to tackle social housing fraud and increased the deterrent to tenants considering cheating the system. Between 2011 and 2015, we provided £19 million of funding to help local authorities, working in partnership with other social landlords, to tackle social housing fraud; and provided funding to support the Chartered Institute of Housing to provide hands-on practical advice to landlords on which policies and procedures work best. We have no plans currently to commission any updated guidance.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on how local authorities investigate tenancy fraud allegations where the perpetrator of fraud is experiencing domestic abuse.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Department does not hold information on local authority investigations into tenancy fraud cases involving domestic abuse. Training on this matter is the responsibility of local authorities.
Government takes social housing fraud seriously and introduced the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013 to give social landlords powers to tackle social housing fraud and increased the deterrent to tenants considering cheating the system. Between 2011 and 2015, we provided £19 million of funding to help local authorities, working in partnership with other social landlords, to tackle social housing fraud; and provided funding to support the Chartered Institute of Housing to provide hands-on practical advice to landlords on which policies and procedures work best. We have no plans currently to commission any updated guidance.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment their Department has made of the potential effect of the merger between Three and Vodafone on their Department's contracts with Vodafone.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Department has no contracts with Vodafone and has therefore made no assessment of the potential effect of the merger between Vodafone and Three.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of (a) the adequacy of processes for alerting the Recovery Strategy Unit of cases where firms are repeatedly refusing to carry out remediation works to buildings and (b) the potential merits of enabling (i) leaseholders and (ii) tenants to contact the Recovery Strategy Unit [directly?] in order to receive its support in those cases.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
It is the responsibility of local authorities and fire and rescue services to ensure that building owners are complying with their legal obligations to keep their buildings safe, and from April 2024 the Building Safety Regulator will enforce fire safety in buildings above 18 metres or seven storeys. Where building owners are stalling remediation progress, the Government expects regulators to take appropriate action. The Building Safety Act 2022 grants regulators additional enforcement powers in the form of remediation orders and remediation contribution orders, which allow them to apply to the First-tier Tribunal for an order requiring a building owner to fix, and pay to fix, their unsafe building.