Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the National Disability Strategy published on 28 July 2021, which of his Department’s commitments in that strategy that have not been paused as a result of legal action have (a) been fully, (b) been partially and (c) not been implemented.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Please find below a table which sets out which of my department’s commitments in the National Disability Strategy published on 28 July 2021 have been fully and partially implemented. The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) had no commitments in the Strategy paused as a result of legal action, and no commitments that have not been implemented.
DLUHC commitments in the National Disability Strategy (2021) | Status of commitment |
DLUHC [formerly MHCLG] will confirm plans to improve the framework to deliver accessible new homes by December 2021. | Fully implemented |
DLUHC [formerly MHCLG] is commissioning new research to develop the statutory guidance on meeting Building Regulations, covering access to and use of buildings (Approved Document M). | Fully implemented |
DLUHC [formerly MHCLG] has commissioned new research to develop robust evidence: - to inform building regulation guidance on the fire safety in new care homes and specialised housing. This will conclude by autumn 2021. - to inform policy in England on the means of escape for disabled people from new buildings. This will conclude by autumn 2021. | Partially implemented |
DLUHC [formerly MHCLG] has committed that 10% of the 180,000 homes built through the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26 will be for supported housing. | Partially implemented |
DLUHC [formerly MHCLG] will make the new Shared Ownership model, including the reduced (10%) minimum initial stake, available to disabled people buying a home under the HOLD scheme. | Fully implemented |
Following an independent review of the Disabled Facilities Grant published in December 2018, DLUHC [formerly MHCLG] and DHSC will jointly publish new government guidance for local authorities in England on effective delivery of the £573 million Disabled Facilities Grant during 2021. | Fully implemented |
DLUHC [formerly MHCLG] will consider how we can support projects that increase high street accessibility for disabled people in the design of any future local growth funding. | Fully implemented |
DLUHC [formerly MHCLG] will make £30 million available from summer 2021 to accelerate delivery of Changing Places toilets in existing buildings in England. | Fully implemented |
DLUHC [formerly MHCLG] will publish a new National Model Design Code in the summer (2021), setting out design considerations for local planning authorities. The department will use guidance supporting the Code to stress the importance of providing accessible and inclusive play spaces and equipment for all. | Fully implemented |
Building on the experience of the Access to Elected Office fund and the EnAble fund, DLUHC [formerly MHCLG] will support a new scheme from April 2022 to support those seeking to become candidates and - as importantly - once they have been elected to public office. | Fully implemented |
The Cabinet Office (now DHLUC for Elections) has introduced the Elections Act which will improve the support provided to voters with disabilities who are voting in polling stations. Returning Officers will have a new responsibility to consider additional support for a range of disabled voters in the polling station. This includes meeting voters’ needs in a more tailored way, and providing equipment and resources that most support voters in their local area. The Act will also remove unnecessary barriers to voting including by widening the pool of people able to provide help to disabled people in casting their vote to any companion who is over the age of 18 in UK Parliamentary elections. The Elections Division also convenes the Access to Elections Working Group which meets with representatives of civil society organisations and charities and the elections sector across the UK to discuss and plan to improve accessibility for all disabled electors. | Fully implemented |
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance has been issued to mortgage lenders on the requirement for an external wall survey for blocks of flats under 18 metres.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
An EWS1 form is not a statutory or regulatory requirement nor a safety ‘test’. The measures in the January Statement, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-sets-out-new-plan-to-protect-leaseholders-and-make-industry-pay-for-the-cladding-crisis, provide a clear framework for proportionate risk assessments whilst encouraging lenders to base their risk management on the presumption that medium risk buildings are safe, unless there is evidence to the contrary.
Government also supports the independent expert statement from July 2021 which was clear that there is no systemic risk of fire in residential buildings under 18 metres and that EWS1s should not be required by lenders on buildings under 18 metres.
We will continue to challenge industry on the use of the EWS1 process, as well as pressing for more data so that we can have greater assurance that EWS1 requests are proportionate, including in buildings under 18 metres.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the nutrient neutrality policies of the local planning authorities around the Solent assist Southern Water in its efforts to control the effect of discharges of sewage into rivers and the sea.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Nutrient Neutrality, through the provision of mitigation, ensures that development does not contribute additional nutrient loads to the Solent catchment, avoiding additional harm and so adverse effects to habitats sites.
My department and DEFRA have established a cross-Government task force to tackle nutrient pollution and enable development to continue. The cross-Government taskforce continues to identify the range of options in the short, medium and long term. Defra having recently published the Strategic Policy Statement to Ofwat, making clear that Ofwat and water companies should consider nutrients pollution in line with their environmental duties, which include duties under the Habitat Regulations; working with wider stakeholders to support efforts to tackle nutrients pollution.
Defra together with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Natural England, the Environment Agency, the Forestry Commission and the Partnership for South Hampshire (PfSH) are working with EnTrade to develop a nutrient trading pilot project in the Solent region. The project aims to connect developers, who need to offset pollution from new developments, with landowners willing to undertake land use change to reduce pollution. This will help to unblock housing delivery whilst avoiding further harm to important protected wildlife sites and delivering wider environmental benefits.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance has been issued to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors on the need for external wall surveys on buildings less than 18 metres high.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
An EWS1 form is not a statutory or regulatory requirement nor a safety ‘test’, it is a form used for valuation and was introduced by The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), together with UK Finance and the Building Societies Association.
Government also supports the independent expert statement from July 2021 which was clear that there is no systemic risk of fire in residential buildings under 18 metres and that EWS1s should not be required on buildings under 18 metres. However, RICS announced in December that they will retain their valuation guidance including for buildings under 18 metres but committed to keep it under review. This is disappointing and we continue to work with RICS to address their disproportionate approach to risk. We must make sure that RICS are equipped to support a solution to this building safety challenge which is why we plan to legislate to allow the Secretary of State to conduct a review into their governance.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2021 to Question HL11693, whether development on Crown Land is exempt from (a) the Habitats Directive and (b) all planning regulations.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Since 2006, development by the Crown has been subject to planning permission under Part 13 of The Town and Country Planning Act 1990. This development is not exempt from the current habitats regulations.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, by what date he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on leasehold reform.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is taking forward a comprehensive programme of reform to end unfair practices in the leasehold market. This includes measures to ban the sale of new leasehold houses, restrict ground rents to zero for future leases, give freehold homeowners equivalent rights to challenge unfair charges, and close loopholes to prevent unfair evictions.
We are also working with the Law Commission to make buying a freehold or extending a lease easier, quicker and cheaper – and to reinvigorate commonhold to provide consumers with a choice of tenure and the Right to Manage to help empower those that wish to, to take on management responsibilities for their properties.
This is a long-term reform programme; it is complex with many interdependencies and will take time to get the detail right. Once it is enacted the effect will be felt for generations and so we are determined this work considers all the implications with care. We will bring forward leasehold legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, by what date the New Homes Ombudsman will be established and taking on cases.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The New Homes Ombudsman scheme will enhance consumer protection for new build homebuyers. Published on 20 July 2020, the draft Building Safety Bill includes provision for the New Homes Ombudsman scheme to resolve disputes between developers and consumers. The legislation has finished pre-legislative scrutiny and we are considering the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committees’ recommendations. Alongside introducing legislation, we continue to stay in touch with the industry-led New Homes Quality Board to consider the appointment of a voluntary New Homes Ombudsman scheme.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of suspending the five year Housing Land Supply for Councils requirement in the Solent Region in response to the need to establish a suitable nitrate mitigation regime.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government recognises the challenges local authorities in the Solent are facing, and officials from across Government and its agencies are working closely together to identify practical ways forward. However, it is important to keep the planning system moving so it can play its full part in the economic recovery to come. We will keep this matter under review.
In the absence of the 5 year land supply, the presumption in favour of housing development will not be at the expense of important protected areas, such as Green Belt, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and irreplaceable habitats.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of whether use of emergency development provisions under the Town and Country Planning Act override the need for nitrate mitigation measures in the Solent region.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Habitats Regulations apply to plans or projects which are likely to have a significant effect on a protected habitats site. All development, whether emergency or not is subject to this requirement, regardless of the legislation under which planning permission is granted.
Where a plan or project is likely to have significant effects on the environment the competent authority will need to undertake an Appropriate Assessment to determine whether development will have an adverse effect on the protected site. The competent authority may only grant consent where adequate mitigation of any adverse effect can be secured to enable development to proceed – such as nitrate neutrality.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether temporary overnight accommodation proposed in the Solent region requires the installation of nitrate mitigation measures before development can commence.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Under the Habitats Regulations, it is for the competent authority to decide, through undertaking an appropriate assessment and considering advice from Natural England, whether a particular application requires mitigation measures and the adequacy of these proposals. It may be possible for individual proposals to advance mitigation schemes other than nitrate neutrality that are sufficient to demonstrate to the competent authority that an individual scheme would not have an adverse effect on the protected habitats sites.