Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Standard & Poor’s indication that it will downgrade half the housing associations it rates if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government’s policy remains to leave the EU with a deal.
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has not said that it will automatically downgrade housing associations in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal. The sensitivity analysis it published on 3 December was based on its own simulation of a ‘no deal’ Brexit, but we expect that its actual ratings will depend on how housing associations are affected (and how they respond) in practice. It is important to note that, even in S&P’s ‘no deal’ simulation, housing association ratings remain concentrated in its ‘A’ category.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government to which local authorities in England they have appointed Commissioners; for which areas of service; and for how long each Commissioner has been in place.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
There are currently five Commissioners appointed under section 15 (5) and (6) of the Local Authority Act 1999 in Northamptonshire County Council and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council.
On 10 May 2018, the Secretary of State appointed Tony McArdle (Lead Commissioner) and Brian Roberts as Commissioners to Northamptonshire County Council. Directions charge them to oversee governance and scrutiny, strategic financial management and the appointment of statutory officers. The directions will be in place until 2021.
In Rotherham, three commissioners remain in place until 23 September 2018; Mary Ney (Lead Commissioner), Julie Kenny CBE (Supporting Commissioner) and Patricia Bradwell (Children's Social Care Commissioner). Commissioners Ney and Kenny were both appointed in February 2015, and Commissioner Bradwell was appointed in 2016. As this is a joint intervention with the Department for Education, the Commissioners were all appointed under both the Local Government Act 1999 and section 497 A (4B) of the Education Act 1999.
However, on 18 September 2018 the Secretary of State announced that from 24 September 2018 control of all services will be returned to the council, including children’s social care, and the three commissioners will be withdrawn. The Council must receive an independent review before 31 March 2019. This follows the gradual return of select functions as the Council have improved and made strong progress over the last three years.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to reduce the use of plastic within that Department.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
In our 25 Year Environment Plan, the Government outlined a range of measures on how we will reduce the amount of plastic in circulation through reducing demand for single-use plastic. This included a commitment to removing all consumer single use plastics from the central government estate offices.
At our London headquarters, we have already replaced all single-use plastic coffee cups, food containers and cutlery from our catering services, with compostable alternatives.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of people who are homeless in England.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
One person without a roof over their head is one too many and we are taking a number of actions to prevent and reduce homelessness and rough sleeping. This includes:
implementing the most ambitious legislative reform in this area in decades, the Homelessness Reduction Act, which will mean children and their families will get the help they need sooner;
establishing the Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce, to drive forward the implementation of a cross-Government strategy; and
allocating over £1 billion to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping through to 2020.
As of September 2017, the latest homelessness data available, there were 15,290 household accepted as homeless and 79,190 living in Temporary Accommodation.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government publishes regular statistics on homelessness and rough sleeping which are published at national, London and local authority level. The latest statistics can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the class Q permitted development rights, which allow agricultural buildings to be converted to dwellings.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The agricultural to residential permitted development rights were introduced in April 2014 as an important measure to support our rural communities and help provide new homes. The Department collects data quarterly on the number of prior approvals made under the right at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/644594/TablePDR2.xls
In addition to this, the operation of the right was considered in the context of the Government’s Rural Planning Review. The Government's response to the review, published alongside the Housing White Paper, included proposals to expand the right to provide more homes for local people: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/589763/Summary_of_responses_to_the_technical_planning_consultation.pdf.
This consultation closed in May this year and the Department is currently considering responses.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proposals for large county-based unitary authorities they are considering.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government has received proposals involving county based unitary authorities from Buckinghamshire County Council, from three Oxfordshire Councils, and from six Dorset Councils, which the Government is carefully considering.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many proposals to create new unitary authorities in England they have agreed since 2010; and what will be the names of those new authorities.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Neither this Government, nor the Coalition Government following the election in May 2010, has agreed any proposal to create new unitary authorities in England.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their policy towards the creation of large unitary authorities in English counties where there is significant opposition to that approach.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government has made clear that it will carefully consider any proposal made by one or more councils in an area for reorganising that area's local government, and reach a judgement in the round as to whether the proposal, if implemented, is likely to improve the area's local government, commands a good deal of local support in the area, and whether the area itself is a credible geography for the proposed new structures; that judgement will inform the decision as to whether or not to implement the proposal.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest estimate of the effect on London local authority budgets of the proposed retention of business rates.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
By the end of the Parliament, local government will retain 100 per cent of taxes raised locally, giving councils control of additional £12.5 billion of business rates to spend on local services. To ensure the reforms are fiscally neutral, new responsibilities will be devolved to local authorities. We recently conducted a consultation on our approach to the implementation of 100 per cent Business Rates Retention. There were over 450 responses, including 26 from individual London boroughs and a joint response from the Greater London Authority and London Councils. My officials are currently considering all responses and we will publish a summary of the responses and our proposals for the broad way forward in due course.
In the meantime, we will continue close collaboration with local government in taking this work forward, including through the Business Rates Retention Steering Group, which is jointly chaired by the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). The Steering Group was established to consider the mechanisms needed to set up and run the new business rates system, as well as the timetable and implementation of the reforms. It oversees the work of a set of technical working groups, each looking at particular aspects of the reforms. The Group meets on a regular basis and has done so on 7 occasions since April 2016. All papers for meetings are published here:
http://www.local.gov.uk/business-rates
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the independent research commissioned for the County Councils Network on restructuring two-tier areas.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Whilst the Government has not undertaken any detailed analysis of the two papers published by the County Councils Network on re-structuring two-tier areas, it considers that they will make a useful contribution to the debate on future governance structures across the country.