Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - 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 (Independent - 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 (Independent - 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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
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 (Independent - 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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to improving electoral registration and is actively exploring ways to do so.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - 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.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - 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 steps he is taking to tackle Islamophobia.
Answered by Lee Rowley
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 (Independent - 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, 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
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 (Independent - 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 assessment he has made of the potential impact of outsourcing on the quality of service provision.
Answered by Simon Hoare
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 (Independent - 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 assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding levels of local public services.
Answered by Simon Hoare
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 (Independent - 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, 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
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.