Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support pet owners in the private rented sector following recent revisions to the Model Tenancy Agreement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has revised the Model Tenancy Agreement, the Government’s recommended contract for assured shorthold tenancies in the private rented sector, to remove restrictions on responsible tenants with pets, encouraging landlords who use the Model Tenancy Agreement to offer greater flexibility in their approach to pet ownership. It provides that a landlord should accept a request from a tenant to keep a pet where they are satisfied the tenant is a responsible pet-owner and the pet is of a kind that is suitable in relation to the nature of the premises at which it will be kept. The revision aims to strike the balance between protecting private landlords from situations where their properties are damaged by badly behaved pets whilst ensuring responsible pet owning tenants are not unfairly penalised.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to account for population age in the Covid-19 Relative Needs Formula.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
When developing the Covid-19 Relative Needs Formula, the Government used data provided by councils themselves through monitoring returns. We used this data to test potential drivers of this reported covid-related expenditure. Total population and deprivation, as well as a consideration of how costs of delivery?vary?across the country, were found to have a good statistical fit with this data.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether a risk assessment was carried out in respect of the decision to close places of worship during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown in England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Government has listened carefully to the views of the scientific community, in particular the information from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) when taking decisions on the best way to tackle the pandemic.
In view of the increase in the R Rate, we had to take action to reduce the level of infection to protect our communities and save lives which is why we made the decision to close a broad range of premises, including places of worship for communal prayer. These measures are designed to limit the number of interactions that people have and therefore reduce the risk of spread.
Data and scientific advice informing the fight against COVID-19 are published on gov.uk and specific relevant findings are shared in presentations accompanying significant policy announcements.
The regulations now in force will expire on 2 December, at which point we hope to be able to ease restrictions.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the criteria used for the latest allocation of covid-19 funding to councils in the Liverpool City Region.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
As with the previous funding COVID-19 local authority funding package announced in July, we have used the new COVID-19 Relative Needs Formula, together with an area cost adjustment, to determine funding allocations to councils in England. This means the distribution accounts for population and deprivation, as well as the varying cost of delivering services across the country. Finally, we have taken account of the funding local authorities have already received relative to their assessed needs and applied a minimum funding floor of £100,000 to each local authority – recognising that all local areas are facing pressures especially as we head into winter. This approach ensures the funds are distributed in a way that balances the need to support all areas of our country, whilst maximising efficiency and targeting resources where they are most needed
With national restrictions replacing local ones on Thursday 5 November, Government has confirmed further support for local authorities through the extension of the Contain Outbreak Management Fund, the Additional Restrictions Grant, Business Grants for closed businesses, together with backdated cash grants for businesses in Local Alert Level 2 and 3 areas and additional funding for the clinically extremely vulnerable.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that councils in the Liverpool City Region receive additional funding allocations to offset the shortfalls in funding caused by the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
On Monday 12 October, the Prime Minister confirmed around £1 billion of new funding will be made available to councils across England, with over £900 million of this funding provided to councils for their ongoing work to support communities during the pandemic. Further details of the package were announced on Thursday 22 October. This brings the total funding given directly to councils during the pandemic to £6.4 billion. For Liverpool City Region this includes £59.6 million in un-ringfenced funding, £9 million from the Infection Control Fund and £4.1 million to support Test and Trace. Councils can also separately claim funding through a compensation scheme for lost income from sales, fees and charges.
With national restrictions replacing local ones on Thursday 5 November, Government has confirmed further support for local authorities through the extension of the Contain Outbreak Management Fund, the Additional Restrictions Grant, Business Grants for closed businesses, together with backdated cash grants for businesses in Local Alert Level 2 and 3 areas and additional funding for the clinically extremely vulnerable.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what representations he has received on weddings being held outdoors during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
We have been working with the Places of Worship Taskforce and other government departments to consider how small wedding ceremonies could take place safely in due course. Outdoor ceremonies have been raised in these discussions.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authorities in England awarded a local business rates discount in (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19; which local authorities made those awards; and what the level was of each discount.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
Data on the number of authorities and which authorities awarded a local business rates discount under Section 47 of the Local Government Act 1988 are collected from local authorities as a snapshot each year.
Data as at 31 December 2017 can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/684809/1819_NNDR1_Supplementary_table_web.xlsx
Data as at 31 December 2018 can be found at the following link:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/786864/NNDR1_2019-20_Supplementary_table.xlsx
The Department does not collect data on the level of each discount awarded.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the establishment of a national register of Business Improvement Districts.
Answered by Jake Berry
The Government is committed to supporting Business Improvement Districts, and recognises the important role they play in allowing local businesses to work together to shape and improve their high streets and towns.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December to Question 117028, what assessment he has made of whether alterations made by local authorities to the shape of their green belts have been consistent with the criteria set out in his answer.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Under the National Planning Policy Framework, local authorities can alter the shape of their Green Belt only in exceptional circumstances. They do this through their Local Plan. This involves rigorous consultation in public and consideration by a planning inspector at examination, who then makes a formal determination on whether the submitted Plan is sound. It is for each Plan to be found sound if it is properly prepared, justified, effective and consistent with national policy in the Framework.
In the Housing White Paper, Fixing our broken housing market, we recognised the need for more clarity on the exceptional circumstances in which a Green Belt boundary change can be proposed and consulted on a criteria. We are currently considering the responses and will implement any policy changes in a revision of the National Planning Policy Framework as soon as practicable in 2018.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2017 to Question 111426, on job creation: enterprise zones, what representations he has received from representatives of business organisations about the effectiveness of enterprise zones.
Answered by Jake Berry
I am not aware of any written representations from business organisations to my Department specifically about job creation and the effectiveness of Enterprise Zones.
Businesses generally tell us that Enterprise Zones have been and remain helpful for companies seeking to grow their business and employ more staff. Enterprise Zones have been successful in attracting jobs, businesses and private investment. As of September last year. Local Enterprise Partnerships reported that over 35,000 jobs, 822 businesses and £3.3 billion in investment had been attracted to Zones since 2012.