To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Elections: Proof of Identity
Monday 27th March 2023

Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people in England had applied for the Voter Authority Certificate by 1 March; how many applications had been rejected; how many Voter Authority Certificates had been issued; what estimate they have made of the number of voters that will need a Voter Authority Certificate; and what estimate they have made of the number of people who will apply for a Voter Authority Certificate.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

I refer the Noble Lady to the Commons UQ response here, to the Cabinet Office published survey on levels of ownership of photographic identification, and to the New Burdens funding methodology for the Elections Act 2022 available here.

Information regarding applications for Voter Authority Certificates is published online. The rejection of an application is a matter for the relevant Electoral Registration Officer.

The Association of Electoral Administrators is providing relevant training for Returning Officers.

The Office for Students encourages higher education providers to promote electoral registration. Students can register at their home address or their term-time address or both.


Written Question
Local Government: Elections
Monday 27th March 2023

Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how successfully local authorities will be able to implement the new Voter ID legislation at the local elections in May.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

I refer the Noble Lady to the Commons UQ response here, to the Cabinet Office published survey on levels of ownership of photographic identification, and to the New Burdens funding methodology for the Elections Act 2022 available here.

Information regarding applications for Voter Authority Certificates is published online. The rejection of an application is a matter for the relevant Electoral Registration Officer.

The Association of Electoral Administrators is providing relevant training for Returning Officers.

The Office for Students encourages higher education providers to promote electoral registration. Students can register at their home address or their term-time address or both.


Written Question
Local Government: Elections
Tuesday 21st March 2023

Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government what data will be recorded by polling stations on the impact of the new Voter ID legislation on access to voting; how that data will be recorded; and what plans they have to report that data to parliament after the local elections in May.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

With regards to the Noble Lady’s query on data recorded at polling stations, I refer her to the response given to question UIN 162192 (attached) on 14 March 2023.


Written Question
Social Rented Housing: Young People
Thursday 22nd December 2022

Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the decline in social housing lettings to young people aged 16 to 25 over the last decade; and in any such assessment, what conclusions they have drawn as to the explanation for this.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

The Department does not hold this information in the format requested.

Local authorities are responsible for allocating social housing through schemes they set locally and therefore they ensure that the priority for social housing goes to those who need it most.


Written Question
Social Rented Housing: Young People
Thursday 22nd December 2022

Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many young people aged 16 to 25 are currently on social housing waiting lists in England.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

The Department does not hold this information in the format requested.

Local authorities are responsible for allocating social housing through schemes they set locally and therefore they ensure that the priority for social housing goes to those who need it most.


Written Question
Disadvantaged
Wednesday 23rd December 2020

Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (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 conclusion by the Local Government Association in its report Spending Review 2020: On-the-Day Briefing, published on 25 November, that “no proposals for putting local welfare funding on a more sustainable footing to ensure a consistent approach to locally-led support to address financial hardship and economic vulnerability” are included in their Spending Review; and what plans they have to implement any such proposals after March 2021.

Answered by Lord Greenhalgh

Spending Review 2020 confirmed that local government’s Core Spending Power is forecast to rise by 4.5% in cash terms- a real terms increase. This package means local authorities will be able to access an estimated additional £2.2 billion to support Adult and Children’s Social Care and to maintain universal services.

We have taken unprecedented measures during the pandemic to protect the most vulnerable, and put in place a strong package of financial support to support families and children, including our new £170 million Covid Winter Grant Scheme for local authorities, which is helping tens of thousands of vulnerable children across the country stay warm and well-fed this winter.

Our long-term ambition is to level up opportunity across the UK by helping people back into work as quickly as possible based on clear and consistent evidence around the important role that work can play in tackling poverty. Our £30 billion plans for jobs is the first step on the ladder to achieving this and will support economic recovery through new schemes including Kickstart and Job Entry Targeted Support.


Written Question
Disadvantaged
Wednesday 23rd December 2020

Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide long-term sustainable funding to local government for councils (1) to undertake preventative work to address the causes of hardship and disadvantage, and (2) provide support to those households who need it.

Answered by Lord Greenhalgh

Spending Review 2020 confirmed that Core Spending Power is forecast to rise by 4.5 per cent in cash terms- a real terms increase. This package means local authorities will be able to access an estimated additional £2.2 billion to support Adult and Children’s Social Care and to maintain universal services.

Within their Core Spending Power, councils will have access to an additional £1billion for social care next year, made up of a £300 million increase to the social care grant and 3 per cent Adult Social Care precept. The additional £1 billion of grant funding announced at SR19 for Adult and Children’s Social Care will be continuing, along with all other existing social care funding including the improved Better Care Fund. The Settlement is unringfenced to ensure local areas can prioritise based on their own understanding of the needs of their local communities.

We also recently announced that the Troubled Families Programme, which provides early, effective and joined up support for families with complex needs, will continue into a new phase in 2021-21. Up to an additional £165 million has been available for the programme, which will continue to drive system change, both locally and nationally, to serve vulnerable families with the intensive, integrated support they need to overcome their problems before they escalate


The Troubled Families Programme’s evaluation shows that it has been successful in improving outcomes for vulnerable families and driving progress towards intensive, integrated support services. As of September 2020, the programme had funded areas to work with 439,956 families?in most need of help.?However, we know that local authorities are working in a whole family way with at least 865,000 families. As of September 2020, 382,626 families have made sustained improvements with the problems that led to them joining the programme. In 31,798 of these families one or more adults has moved off benefits and into sustained employment


At the Spending Review we announced an unprecedented package of support for local authorities to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, including measures worth an estimated circa £3 billion of additional support for Covid-19 pressures next year, along with extending the current Sales, Fees and Charges scheme (which refunds 75 per cent of eligible income loss beyond a 5 per cent threshold) into the first three months of 2021-22.

This is on top of the support committed this financial year, including over £7.2 billion for local authorities, even before the extension of the Contain Outbreak Management Fund for those authorities under the highest level of restriction – potentially worth over £200 million a month – announced as part of the Covid-19 Winter Plan. This takes the total support committed to councils in England to tackle the impacts of Covid-19 to over £10 billion.


Written Question
Council Tax: Coronavirus
Wednesday 20th May 2020

Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to provide funding to councils for the provision of payment holidays and forbearance for households unable to pay council tax due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answered by Lord Greenhalgh

Council tax plays a vital role in funding the delivery of essential frontline services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each council has its own local council tax support scheme which provides reductions in council tax for low income residents. The Government has also provided a £500m hardship fund to enable councils to provide further council tax relief. Councils have powers to implement alternative payment arrangements locally and many have used these to help individuals who are struggling to pay.


Written Question
Sleeping Rough: Immigrants
Tuesday 5th May 2020

Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (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 migrants sleeping rough; and what guidance they have issued to local authorities about the provision of emergency accommodation for such migrants.

Answered by Lord Greenhalgh

My Department’s latest official annual Rough Sleeping Snapshot Statistics published on 27 February 2020 provide information about the estimated number of people sleeping rough across all local authorities on a single night between 1 October and 31 November 2019. These statistics provide a way of estimating the number of people sleeping rough across England on a single night and of assessing change over time.

The majority of people sleeping rough on a single night in England in 2019 were from the UK. In 2019, there were 2,735 people from the UK (64 % of the total) estimated to be sleeping rough on single night, 937 people (22 % of the total) who were EU (Non-UK) nationals and 151 people (4 % of the total) who were from outside the EU and the UK. The nationality of 443 people (10 % of the total) was ‘not known’.

For more information please see the following (attached) link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rough-sleeping-snapshot-in-england-autumn-2019/rough-sleeping-snapshot-in-england-autumn-2019.

We are providing £3.2 million in targeted funding to help support individuals who are sleeping rough off the streets, and an additional £3.2 billion for local authorities as part of the wider Government response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is at the discretion of local authorities, using their exiting legal powers, to decide who they can accommodate during the COVID-19 pandemic, whether this is British citizens or foreign nationals.


Written Question
Domestic Abuse: Coronavirus
Tuesday 7th April 2020

Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide additional support to domestic violence refuges during the COVID-19 pandemic in response to any increase in domestic violence and abuse.

Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist

The Government will do everything it can to support refuge service providers to keep these vital services open, up and running.

My Department has been engaging with domestic abuse service providers on a daily basis to understand the additional challenges they are facing and the support needed to ensure essential provision is kept open and available to victims and their children.

We have published guidance to assist domestic abuse service providers in service delivery during these unprecedented times. The guidance, in line with current Public Health England advice, sets out the advice for daily service operation within the context of domestic abuse safe accommodation provision

The guidance can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-domestic-abuse-safe-accommodation-provision/covid-19-guidance-on-isolation-for-domestic-abuse-safe-accommodation-settings

In addition, we have confirmed that front line domestic abuse workers are key workers for the purposes of their children accessing schools, colleges and other educational establishments.