Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to promote community cohesion.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has made £15 million available to the places most severely affected by the violent disorder of the summer through the Community Recovery Fund. Officials from my department have also carried out an extensive engagement process with these places to understand and address the underlying causes of the unrest.
This Government is determined to take a long-term, strategic approach to building social cohesion. This is a priority and I have stood up a cross-government Communities & Recovery Steering Group to oversee this work.
This Government is committed to ensuring that communities across Britain are safe, resilient, and united.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that people with disabilities have access to suitable housing.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Hon. Member to my answer to Question UIN 183870 on 11 May 2023, my answer to Question UIN 187138 on 12 June 2023, and the answer given to Question UIN HL8422 on 26 June 2023.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what support his Department provides to people with disabilities to allow them to obtain accessible housing.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Hon. Member to my answer to Question UIN 183870 on 11 May 2023, my answer to Question UIN 187138 on 12 June 2023, and the answer given to Question UIN HL8422 on 26 June 2023.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate his Department has made of the level of accessible housing stock available regionally for people with disabilities.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Hon. Member to my answer to Question UIN 183870 on 11 May 2023, my answer to Question UIN 187138 on 12 June 2023, and the answer given to Question UIN HL8422 on 26 June 2023.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department plans to invest in carbon neutral, climate resilient social homes.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Retrofitting insulation and low carbon heat in social homes is a crucial step in achieving our commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and will contribute towards our Carbon Budget targets and our legally binding fuel poverty targets.
The Government's Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator has awarded £61 million to 18 local authority-led projects across England and Scotland, covering over 2,100 social homes, to test innovative approaches to retrofitting at scale. Beyond these projects up to £160 million total funding will be allocated for the first wave of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund programme in 2021/22. This funding supports the government's commitment to invest in the energy performance of homes.
In the Heat and Buildings Strategy and Net Zero Strategy, launched 19 October 2021, it was announced that a further £800 million has been committed for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund as part of the 2021 Spending Review process.
From 2025, the Future Homes Standard will ensure that new homes produce at least 75% fewer CO2 emissions than those built to current standards.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle the trend of fewer social homes being available due to their sale or demolition than are being built each year.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Since 2010, this Government has delivered over 382,300 affordable homes for rent, of which over 149,400 homes for social rent. We are committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing and are investing over £12 billion in affordable housing over 5 years, the largest investment in affordable housing in a decade.
This includes the new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme (AHP), which will deliver more than double the social rent than the current programme, which are typically 50 to 60% of market prices, with around 32,000 social rent homes due to be delivered. These homes for social rent will be available to deliver across the country, providing secure, affordable housing to families who need it most.
In March 2021, the Government introduced a package of reforms to the use of Right to Buy receipts. These reforms will help local authorities build more homes and make it easier to deliver homes for social rent. This set of reforms, combined with the abolition of the borrowing cap in 2018, gives councils substantially increased flexibilities to build new homes.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to protect homeless women that have suffered domestic violence.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government has introduced the Homelessness Reduction Act, which places a legal duty on councils to provide accommodation support to families and individuals, including women, who are vulnerable as a result of fleeing domestic abuse.
Since 2014 my Department has invested £55.5 million in services to support victims of domestic abuse, including refuges, and we recently announced the successful projects from our 2018/2020 £22 million fund to support victims of domestic abuse. The fund will support 63 projects covering 254 local areas across England and will provide support to over 25,000 victims and their families, and more than 2,200 additional bed spaces in accommodation-based services, including refuges.
We recognise that mainstream provision may not always meet the needs of women who sleep rough. That is why we are providing funding through the Rough Sleeping Initiative to ensure rough sleeping frontline workers receive training to support victims of domestic abuse.
We are also providing funding through the Rapid Rehousing Pathway, for specific, targeted support for women. For example, a new Somewhere Safe to Stay two-hub model in Brighton will include a women only hub, delivered by domestic abuse charity partners RISE, which will focus on , tackling complex needs.
We are also working across government to support vulnerable women such as with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, on this year’s £15 million Tampon Tax Fund, which includes a core theme of female homelessness and rough sleeping.