Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that commercial premises that are converted to residential use provide an adequate level of (a) affordable housing and (b) homes for social rent.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Commercial premises can be converted to residential use under permitted development rights. Under current guidance, contributions for affordable housing should not be sought for permitted development.
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 (the 2023 Act) introduces powers to create a new Infrastructure Levy which will reform the existing system of developer contributions in England. It will be possible for the Levy to capture land value uplift associated with permitted development, subject to provision that is made in regulations. Under our current proposals, the Infrastructure Levy will capture value uplift associated with the change of use of commercial buildings to residential use, whilst recognising the need to preserve the viability of brownfield development schemes. We are currently analysing responses to our recent technical consultation which sought views on this proposed approach.
If the Levy is charged on development it can be used to fund social housing within the meaning of Part 2 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, and any other description of housing that Infrastructure Levy regulations may specify. This is set out in new section 204A(4) (in Schedule12 of the 2023 Act). This includes Social Rent homes and Affordable Rent homes.
Following the conclusion of the first two rounds of the Local Authority Housing Fund in 2024, an evaluation will be conducted which will include an assessment on the delivery routes that participating local authorities have taken.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
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 impact of the Local Authority Housing Fund on the number of (a) commercial buildings that have been converted to residential use and (b) long-term empty homes that have been converted to affordable housing.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Commercial premises can be converted to residential use under permitted development rights. Under current guidance, contributions for affordable housing should not be sought for permitted development.
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 (the 2023 Act) introduces powers to create a new Infrastructure Levy which will reform the existing system of developer contributions in England. It will be possible for the Levy to capture land value uplift associated with permitted development, subject to provision that is made in regulations. Under our current proposals, the Infrastructure Levy will capture value uplift associated with the change of use of commercial buildings to residential use, whilst recognising the need to preserve the viability of brownfield development schemes. We are currently analysing responses to our recent technical consultation which sought views on this proposed approach.
If the Levy is charged on development it can be used to fund social housing within the meaning of Part 2 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, and any other description of housing that Infrastructure Levy regulations may specify. This is set out in new section 204A(4) (in Schedule12 of the 2023 Act). This includes Social Rent homes and Affordable Rent homes.
Following the conclusion of the first two rounds of the Local Authority Housing Fund in 2024, an evaluation will be conducted which will include an assessment on the delivery routes that participating local authorities have taken.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to (a) collect and (b) publish data on the number of commercial properties in England that have been vacant for two years or more; and if he will bring forward legislation to require local authorities to report on the number of non-residential buildings they own that have been vacant for two years or more.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
It is for local authorities to decide how to monitor local vacancy rates.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the adequacy of Local Housing Allowance for local authorities to prevent homelessness.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that accessible and adaptable homes are available for older and disabled people.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Planning rules already mean that councils must consider the needs of older and disabled people when planning new homes. The National Model Design Code provides tools and guidance to local councils for producing design codes; it details how the ten characteristics in the National Design Guide can be translated into design standards in local design codes. My Hon Friend will want to know that the Government has set out its intention to mandate higher accessibility standards for all new homes by raising the minimum standard in Building Regulations in England in due course.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans he has to help increase the number of homes built in England.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
We have announced £10 billion of investment in housing supply since the start of this Parliament, with our interventions due to ultimately unlock over 1 million new homes.
We are also investing £11.5 billion in the latest Affordable Homes Programme to provide tens of thousands of new homes across the country.
Annual housing supply is up 10% compared to the previous year with over 232,000 net additional homes delivered in 2021/22. This is the third highest yearly rate for the last 30 years.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure the independence of the PAS9980 framework for fire risk assessment in cases where a developer owns or holds a stake in a company that assesses and signs off on remediation work completed by that developer.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Following a pledge made by major developers last year, 46 developers (as of 18 April 2023) have now signed a contract committing to take responsibility for all necessary work to address life-critical fire-safety defects arising from design and construction of buildings 11 metres and over in height that they developed or refurbished over the last 30 years in England
The developer remediation contract requires that assessments (prior to works being undertaken) and qualifying assessments (to be submitted after works are completed) are carried out by a 'suitably experienced, qualified, independent and competent' fire risk assessor or external wall assessor. The department will have the right to audit those assessments, including (among other things) the right to check whether the assessor meets those criteria. If those assessments or the works themselves fail to meet the requirements set out in the contract, then the developer will be contractually obliged to go back and put things right.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to his Departments policy paper entitled Levelling Up the United Kingdom published on 2 February 2022, when he plans to launch the Task Force on Older People's Housing.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Ensuring older people have access to the right homes that suit their needs can help them to live independently for longer and feel more connected to their communities. Our Government is committed to further improving the diversity of housing options available to older people and boosting the supply of specialist elderly accommodation, including housing with care.
The taskforce on older people's housing, which we announced in the Levelling Up White Paper will explore how we can improve the choice of and access to housing options for older people
Arrangements for the taskforce are still ongoing and further details will be released in due course.
We continue to work in partnership with DHSC colleagues and with housing, health and social care stakeholders to look at how we can further support the growth of a thriving older people's housing sector.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the developer pledge for building safety, whether developers will be required to remediate buildings to the standard required by the Regulator in order that buildings are not fixed initially by the developer and then need further work to satisfy the Regulator.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
We want to make sure that buildings are made safe quickly and proportionately. Over 45 of the largest developers have already signed a pledge to take responsibility for all necessary work to address life-critical, fire-safety defects on buildings 11 metres and over that they had a role in developing or refurbishing.
On 13 July, we published the draft of a contract with developers. The draft contract, once finalised and executed, will turn the commitments made in the pledge into a legally binding agreement.
The draft agreement includes the requirement for developers to ensure that, once the necessary remediation work has been performed, a fire risk assessment and/or a fire risk assessment of external walls (depending on the defects originally identified) signing off that the risks have been satisfactorily addressed is issued.
Whilst it is possible there may be some work for which the original developer is not responsible, the expectation is that developers will fix all life critical fire safety defects arising from the original development or refurbishment. Building works will be overseen by a building control body (although this will always be the Building Safety Regulator for higher-risk buildings) and will need to comply with Building Regulations.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the responses to its consultation on local authority remote meetings, published on 25 March 2022; and whether he has plans to bring forward legislative proposals to permit hybrid in-person and virtual meetings for (a) all council meetings, (b) lower tier parish and town council meetings and (c) planning committee meetings.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
We launched a call for evidence on 25 March 2021 to gather views and inform a longer-term decision about whether to make express provision for councils to meet remotely on a permanent basis.
The Department has considered the responses to the consultation and the Government will respond shortly.