Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Faith New Deal Pilot Fund, for what reason the time taken to award funding to successful applicants has been extended beyond the timeframe initially specified by his Department.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The £1 million Faith New Deal Pilot Fund focuses on strengthening engagement between national government, local government and faith groups. The Fund was formally launched on 9 September 2021 and bids closed on 14 October 2021.
We received a large number of applications for the Fund and officials are now in the final stages of the moderation process. The results and subsequent funding allocations will be announced in due course.
I encourage applicants to monitor the Government’s web pages for further updates: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the status is of the Faith New Deal Pilot Fund; and when his Department plans to notify successful applicants of an award.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The £1 million Faith New Deal Pilot Fund focuses on strengthening engagement between national government, local government and faith groups. The Fund was formally launched on 9 September 2021 and bids closed on 14 October 2021.
We received a large number of applications for the Fund and officials are now in the final stages of the moderation process. The results and subsequent funding allocations will be announced in due course.
I encourage applicants to monitor the Government’s web pages for further updates: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the new UKCA accreditation process, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of enabling a UK approved body to validate type testing reports issued by EU notified bodies for products already placed on the UK market under AVCP system 3.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
A new regulatory goods regime now applies in Great Britain. This gives us an opportunity to make our regulations work in the best interests of consumers and businesses. Government is carefully considering the issue of whether to allow test reports issued by EU notified bodies under AVCP System 3 to be used in support of the UKCA mark. This would require amendments to our construction product regulations.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to establish a UK approved body to facilitate type testing for glass products to help manufacturers meet the deadline for transition to the UKCA marking.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
A new regulatory goods regime now applies in Great Britain. This gives us an opportunity to make our regulations work in the best interests of consumers and businesses. Government is aware that manufacturers of certain glass products are currently unable to get their products tested, and are carefully considering how to make sure all firms are able to comply with the requirements of UKCA marking. The UK Government is not currently in the process of establishing a UK approved body to facilitate type testing for glass products.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens 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 impact on (a) retention and (b) morale of local authority staff delivering homelessness and housing support services of the Government’s decision to fund those provisions on a year-by-year basis rather than through a long-term settlement.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
I would like to personally thank all the housing and homelessness staff in local authorities who have worked so tirelessly during the pandemic and before to support some of the most vulnerable in our society. The Government is committed to tackling homelessness. We are spending more than £750 million this year alone to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. This includes £310 million through the Homelessness Prevention Grant to help local authorities prevent and manage homelessness pressures. Future funding is a matter for the Spending Review.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on support provided to local authorities to fund homelessness and rough sleeping services.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to ending rough sleeping this Parliament and is spending more than £750 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping this year, with the majority of funding going to local authorities.
Funding for future years will be a matter for the Spending Review that is currently underway.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, (a) how many and (b) which local authorities have (i) submitted bids for funding and (ii) have had bids for funding accepted under the Community Champions scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
65 areas were invited to submit an Expression of Interests to the Community Champions programme. 60 applied, of which all 60 were awarded funding.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
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 full criteria used to invite local authorities to apply for inclusion in the Community Champions scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
On 25 January £23.75 million funding was confirmed and allocated to 60 councils and two voluntary groups in England. The funding was to expand work to support those most at risk from COVID-19 and to boost vaccine take up through the Community Champions scheme. This was part of over £7.9 billion government funding provided to councils to help them support their communities during the pandemic. The scheme was specifically targeted at areas where challenges may be greatest due to the local combination of disproportionately impacted groups.
The list of local authorities who were invited to take part in the scheme drew upon a wide range of data sources, including DHSC/PHE long-term data on COVID-19 incidence; data on social integration; and evidence on the prevalence and specific support needs of disabled people in an area.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will issue guidance to local authorities on (a) administering scrutiny and monitoring requirements, (b) responding to freedom of information requests and (c) conducting non-essential business during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The local authority remote meetings regulations made under section 78 of the Coronavirus Act 2020 have enabled local authorities to continue to conduct essential business whilst protecting the health and safety of their members, officers and the public. All local authority meetings in England are in scope of the regulations. There is no barrier to Overview and Scrutiny meetings being held remotely. It is down to the local authority to decide what is appropriate in their specific circumstances.
With regards to responding to freedom of information requests and conducting non-essential business local authority staff are subject to the current “work from home” directive in national Covid-19 guidance and local authority offices are subject to the same workplace safety Covid-19 guidance as any other employer.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
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 latest public health guidance on covid-19 and (a) communal worship and (b) private worship in churches, synagogues, mosques and temples in England.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Our approach has always been guided by scientific and medical advice and we have listened carefully to the views of the scientific community, in particular the information from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and its sub-groups. The number of Covid-19 cases is growing at an exponential rate so we have needed to act to limit our interaction with others.
This has sadly meant that we have had to make the difficult decision to close our places of worship for communal worship as we need to minimise social contact wherever we can for this short period of time.