Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has had discussions with mortgage-lenders on ensuring that existing leaseholders with (a) unregulated and (b) uncapped ground rents are able to secure buyers for their properties.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government remains firmly committed to its manifesto commitment to tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents, and we will deliver this in legislation.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure that existing leaseholders with (a) unregulated and (b) uncapped ground rents are able to secure buyers for their properties.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government remains firmly committed to its manifesto commitment to tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents, and we will deliver this in legislation.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to implement recommendation 58 of the report by the Law Commission entitled Home ownership: exercising the right to manage, published on 21 July 2020.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to enacting remaining Law Commission recommendations relating to the Right to Manage.
On 10 February, we laid regulations in Parliament to implement the reforms contained in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 concerning the Right to Manage and these will come into force on Monday 3 March.
The changes will increase the non-residential limit on Right to Manage claims and remove the requirement for leaseholders to pay the freeholders’ process costs.
Amending the threshold for premises excluded from the Right to Manage will allow more leaseholders in mixed-used buildings to take control of their buildings and bear down on poor service and spiralling costs. Ensuring that going forward both parties to a claim bear their own costs will save leaseholders money and reduce the incentive for freeholders to inflate costs and stifle the process.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to increase the security of tenure of houseboat dwellers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises that while the occupants of residential boats have the benefit of protection under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 and wider consumer protection legislation, they do not enjoy the same level of tenure security as those in the private rented sector.
We will consider what action might be necessary to provide houseboat residents across with greater security in their homes.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when she plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse dated 29 August 2024, reference number MC2024/19996, on support for a public inquiry into the New Providence Wharf fire.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Department provided a response on 6 January 2025.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward regulations on the (a) sourcing and (b) stocking of repair parts for lifts by registered social housing providers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Registered providers of social housing are required to meet the regulatory standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing. The Safety and Quality Standard requires providers to provide an efficient, effective and timely repairs, maintenance and planned improvements service for the homes and communal areas for which they are responsible, which could include lifts.
The Government recently committed to introducing a competence and conduct standard to ensure that social housing staff have the right skills and experience and that social housing tenants can hold their landlords to account for their high quality services and homes. We will also bring forward a consultation as soon as possible setting out plans for a reformed Decent Homes Standard, which will apply to both the social and private rented sectors.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to registered social landlords.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has confirmed that we will take action to introduce new access to information requirements for social housing tenants. This will enable social housing tenants of private registered providers, such as housing associations, to access the information they need about their homes from their landlords. The Government will set out further details of these requirements in due course.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of removing the requirement to register to vote on the level of participation in general elections.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
The Government has no plans to remove the requirement to register to vote and has therefore made no such assessment. The electoral register is the foundation of our democratic processes, showing who is eligible to vote in which elections. The Government is nonetheless committed to improving how registration works, including the use of data and online services to help increase registration levels so that everyone who is eligible to vote can vote.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing guidance to newly-naturalised citizens on the requirement to register to vote before they can participate in general elections.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
The Government is committed to improving electoral registration and is actively exploring ways to do so.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
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
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.