Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans he has to publish the criteria and framework used to assess successful bids to round 1 of the Levelling Up Fund bid process.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Unsuccessful applicants received a letter from the department informing them of the outcome of the Levelling Up Fund. Officials will be in touch shortly with unsuccessful applicants to offer feedback to those whose bids passed the gateway stage.
All bids were subject to the assessment process detailed in the published Levelling Up Fund Prospectus and the Technical Note. An Explanatory Note detailing the Levelling Up Fund assessment, shortlisting and decision-making processes was published on the 27 October alongside the announcement.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans he has to provide detailed feedback to hon. Members and local authorities who submitted unsuccessful bids for round 1 of the Levelling Up Fund process.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Unsuccessful applicants received a letter from the department informing them of the outcome of the Levelling Up Fund. Officials will be in touch shortly with unsuccessful applicants to offer feedback to those whose bids passed the gateway stage.
All bids were subject to the assessment process detailed in the published Levelling Up Fund Prospectus and the Technical Note. An Explanatory Note detailing the Levelling Up Fund assessment, shortlisting and decision-making processes was published on the 27 October alongside the announcement.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
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 (a) selection criteria, (b) assessment criteria and (c) scoring system for the assessment of applications for the first round of the Levelling Up Fund.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, including regenerating town centres and high streets, upgrading local transport, and investing in cultural and heritage assets.
We have published the following on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/levelling-up-fund-additional-documents. The methodology used to calculate the index of places set out in the prospectus, a technical note setting out further guidance on eligibility, MP support and the application and assessment process for the first round of the Levelling Up Fund.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
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 the proposed merger of Southern Housing and Sanctuary Housing.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Housing associations are independent organisations and Government does not control the way in which they run their businesses. It is for the Board of individual housing associations to carefully consider the merits of such a merger, in consultation with tenants.
Registered providers of social housing are required to comply with the regulatory standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing. These include a requirement that private registered providers deliver their aims, objectives and intended outcomes for their tenants in an effective and transparent manner.
The Department has received no representations on the proposed merger.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect on housing provision of the proposed merger of Southern Housing and Sanctuary Housing.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Housing associations are independent organisations and Government does not control the way in which they run their businesses. It is for the Board of individual housing associations to carefully consider the merits of such a merger, in consultation with tenants.
Registered providers of social housing are required to comply with the regulatory standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing. These include a requirement that private registered providers deliver their aims, objectives and intended outcomes for their tenants in an effective and transparent manner.
The Department has received no representations on the proposed merger.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the needs of Travellers during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government is determined to ensure everyone gets the support they need to look after themselves and their families during the COVID-19 outbreak and are enabled to take the necessary measures to reduce the spread of the virus. We are holding regular discussions with representatives from Gypsy and Traveller communities to understand the issues they are facing, and to understand what guidance and support, including for local authorities, who have a responsibility to look after vulnerable groups. On 11 April, the Communities Minister wrote to local authority Chief Executives to highlight the need to mitigate potential impacts amongst Gypsy and Traveller communities, highlighting that some Gypsies and Travellers may need assistance in accessing basic facilities such as water, sanitation and waste disposal, to enable them to adhere to public health guidelines around self-isolation and social distancing.
On 18 April, the Local Government Secretary announced that councils across England will receive a further £1.6 billion to help them to deal with the immediate impacts of coronavirus. This takes the total funding to support councils to respond to the pandemic to over £3.2 billion.
The Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing also wrote to Caravan Site owners and managers on 27 March to confirm that people who live permanently in caravan parks, or are staying in caravan parks while their primary residence is unavailable, may continue to do so.
Levels of self-employment are high amongst Gypsy and Traveller communities. The Government recently announced a scheme for those who are self-employed to claim a taxable grant worth 80 per cent of their trading profits up to a maximum of £2500 per month for the next 3 months. This may be extended if needed.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of homeless deaths in (a) Chester, (b) England and (c) the UK in each year since 2010.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Every premature death of someone homeless is one too many and we take this matter extremely seriously.?It should not happen that people die prematurely?and on the street?because they are homeless.???
We are absolutely committed to ending rough sleeping by the end of this parliament. To achieve this, we are providing £492 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in 2020/2021.This marks a £124 million increase in funding from the previous year.?
In December 2018, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) began to produce data on deaths of homeless people in England and Wales. The first release showed homelessness deaths in England and Wales from 2013-2017. Deaths of homeless people were identified from the death registration records held by the ONS, and a statistical method called capture-recapture modelling was applied to estimate the most likely number of additional registrations not identified as homeless people.
The ONS now publishes official estimates of the number of deaths of homeless people in England and Wales annually. However, the statistics are still classed as experimental. The latest release was October 2019.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to change building regulations to mandate all new-build homes to be eco-friendly through the installation of (a) solar panels (b) sustainable heat pumps and (c) advanced insulation.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Government has committed to introduce a Future Homes Standard by 2025. This means new homes will be future proofed, with low carbon heating and lower energy use through high levels of energy efficiency. We propose that new homes built to the Future Homes Standard from 2025 should have carbon dioxide emissions up to 80 per cent lower than those built to current building regulations standards.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to prepare the homeless population for the winter months.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
We recognise the challenges that the cold weather poses for those who are sleeping rough. Last month, we launched a second year of the Cold Weather Fund, doubling its funding. This £10 million fund will be available to all local authorities in England to provide a robust, local response to support as many rough sleepers as possible off the streets during the winter period.
In periods of severe weather, Severe Weather Emergency Provision (SWEP) is triggered and local authorities work closely with charities to provide basic emergency accommodation to minimise the risk of harm to individuals who are sleeping rough when the temperature drops. Many local authorities will already make sure warm places to stay are available throughout the winter, not just during times when SWEP is in force.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which contracts awarded by his Department are operated by Capita.
Answered by Jake Berry
The Department currently has no contracts with Capita.