Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of abolishing the requirement for identification at polling stations.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Electoral Commission is the independent electoral regulator and will be reporting on the administration of the May elections and the recent General Election. This will include the proportion of individuals turned away for lack of accepted identification. We anticipate publication of their initial findings on voter ID later this month and their full election report later in the year.
In line with our manifesto commitments, we will carefully review the voter ID rules and evaluate how they impacted citizens during the General Election before bringing forward firm proposals for reform in due course. This will of course include full consideration of the Electoral Commission’s findings.
With regard to postal voting at the 2024 General Election, I refer my Hon Friend to the answer given to Question UIN 199 on 26 July 2024.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many people were turned away from polling stations due to lack of voter identification on 4 July 2024.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Electoral Commission is the independent electoral regulator and will be reporting on the administration of the May elections and the recent General Election. This will include the proportion of individuals turned away for lack of accepted identification. We anticipate publication of their initial findings on voter ID later this month and their full election report later in the year.
In line with our manifesto commitments, we will carefully review the voter ID rules and evaluate how they impacted citizens during the General Election before bringing forward firm proposals for reform in due course. This will of course include full consideration of the Electoral Commission’s findings.
With regard to postal voting at the 2024 General Election, I refer my Hon Friend to the answer given to Question UIN 199 on 26 July 2024.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to remove the requirement for photo ID at elections.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Electoral Commission is the independent electoral regulator and will be reporting on the administration of the May elections and the recent General Election. This will include the proportion of individuals turned away for lack of accepted identification. We anticipate publication of their initial findings on voter ID later this month and their full election report later in the year.
In line with our manifesto commitments, we will carefully review the voter ID rules and evaluate how they impacted citizens during the General Election before bringing forward firm proposals for reform in due course. This will of course include full consideration of the Electoral Commission’s findings.
With regard to postal voting at the 2024 General Election, I refer my Hon Friend to the answer given to Question UIN 199 on 26 July 2024.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information her Departments holds on the leasehold-related costs for the average leaseholder in an apartment block.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The English Housing Survey contains data on service charge costs and ground rents. The latest data available for 2022-2023, published on 18 July 2024, found that owner occupier leaseholders paid on average £419 in ground rent per year and £1650 per year in service charges. This covers leaseholders in both flats and houses. Details can be found at: English Housing Survey data on leaseholders - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Some leaseholders will also pay specific charges like administration, permission and event fees. Leaseholders may also face one-off bills to meet the costs of major works. Obligations to meet these costs will be set out in the lease.
In relation to building safety, under the Building Safety Act 2022 ‘qualifying leaseholders’ in relevant buildings over 11m are protected from costs associated with the remediation of unsafe cladding and non-cladding building safety defects. For qualifying leaseholders, their maximum cap for non-cladding remediation and interim measures is £15,000 in Greater London and £10,000 elsewhere in England.
The Impact Assessment provides further details and can be found at: The Building Safety (Leaseholder Protections) (England) Regulations 2022 - Impact Assessment (legislation.gov.uk)
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his planned timetable is for confirming the levelling up funding for Warrington North.
Answered by Jacob Young
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to create an independent regulator for parking charge notices.
Answered by Jacob Young
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will publish a timetable for the reintroduction of the Parking Code of Practice.
Answered by Jacob Young
The Government is committed to taking action to improve the regulation of the Private Parking Industry and is working with both consumer and industry groups to ensure the Code comes into effect as quickly as possible.
Further steps will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many people were turned away from polling stations due to lack of photo ID during the local elections on 2 May 2024.
Answered by Simon Hoare
I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 24793 answered on 13 May 2024.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make it his policy to ban party political adverts from video streaming services.
Answered by Simon Hoare
Political advertising is a fundamental part of any democratic system and is an established way for political parties and campaigners to connect with the public and have their message heard.
The ban on paid political advertising on television and radio (introduced in the Communications Act 2003) continues to be supported across the political spectrum as it levels the playing field in political campaigning.
The Government remains committed to protecting the integrity of our democracy and continues to keep campaigning rules under close review to ensure that digital campaigning remains transparent and fair.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether people registered as a proxy voter for someone who resides permanently abroad are eligible for single person discount on their council tax.
Answered by Simon Hoare
The legislation does not provide for proxy voting status to be taken into account when determining whether a single person discount should be applied to a council tax bill. The 25% single person discount applies where there is only one liable adult living in a property. Individual councils are responsible for determining whether the discount should be applied to a bill.