Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many requests have been made by local councils for capitalisation directives in the last 12 months; and of those, how many were accepted.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The details of in-principle Exceptional Financial Support agreements with councils are published and available on gov.uk.
Councils are responsible for setting their own budgets and taking decisions around spending. Any decision to issue a Section 114 notice is one taken at a local level and is not a matter for the department. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2023/24 makes available up to £59.7 billion for local government in England, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £5.1 billion or 9.4% in cash terms on 2022/23.
The department maintains a regular dialogue with the sector, and we understand the challenges being faced by local government. It is also the case that there have been local failures in financial management and governance in a small number of Councils in recent years; where this is the case the Government will take action, where necessary, to protect tax payer value for money. We stand ready to speak to any council that has concerns about its ability to manage its finances, whatever the cause.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of councils that will issue a section 114 notice in the next 24 months.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The details of in-principle Exceptional Financial Support agreements with councils are published and available on gov.uk.
Councils are responsible for setting their own budgets and taking decisions around spending. Any decision to issue a Section 114 notice is one taken at a local level and is not a matter for the department. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2023/24 makes available up to £59.7 billion for local government in England, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £5.1 billion or 9.4% in cash terms on 2022/23.
The department maintains a regular dialogue with the sector, and we understand the challenges being faced by local government. It is also the case that there have been local failures in financial management and governance in a small number of Councils in recent years; where this is the case the Government will take action, where necessary, to protect tax payer value for money. We stand ready to speak to any council that has concerns about its ability to manage its finances, whatever the cause.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has plans to resume issuing multi-year financial settlements to local councils.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We know that local authorities value multi-year certainty, as this allows them to plan spending over the longer term. That is why, in 2022, the Government published the local government finance policy statement , providing councils greater certainty on key aspects of their funding for the next two years to the end of this Spending Review. It is the Government’s intention to return to multi-year settlements in the next Parliament, when circumstances allow.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the (a) quality and (b) suitability of temporary accommodation offered to (i) families and (ii) individuals who have become homeless.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 197213 on 11 September 2023.
Local authorities must ensure temporary accommodation is suitable and the Government is taking steps to increase quality and regulation across all housing stock, including temporary accommodation.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many civil enforcement officers were working in local authorities in (a) 2023 and (b) 2010.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington 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 amend planning regulations to strengthen protections for pubs.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government recognises the importance of local pubs to their communities and there are strong protections in place through the planning system. The demolition or change of use of a pub always requires planning permission. Local planning authorities have strong enforcement powers to tackle breaches of planning control, including the ability to issue enforcement notices which can require the construction of a building which, subject to certain conditions, is as similar as possible to the demolished building.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington 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 allocate additional funding to local authorities to hire more civil enforcement officers.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
As per statutory guidance for local authorities in England on civil parking enforcement, this is a responsibility for local government. The statutory guidance can be found here.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what support his Department provides to people living in temporary accommodation who need to store furniture after an eviction.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Where a housing authority owes a household a homelessness duty the housing authority must take reasonable steps to prevent the loss of, or to prevent or mitigate damage to, any personal property of the applicant. Housing authorities may pay for storage of a household's personal property if they are unable to afford to have it stored themselves.
The Government has provided local authorities in excess of £1 billion over the next 3 years through the Homelessness Prevention Grant to carry out their homelessness duties.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to help urban areas adapt to (a) warmer summers and (b) flooding.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government has made clear in the National Planning Policy Framework that local planning authorities plans should take a proactive approach to mitigating and adapting to climate change, taking into account the long-term implications including for flood risk and the risk of overheating.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on the average length of time housing association properties are vacant between tenants.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
During 2021/22 the median number of days a housing association (Private Registered Provider) property was vacant before being let was 20 days. The National Statistics based on this data collection are published on gov.uk here and contain similar figures for different types of social lettings.