Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent progress he has made on (a) cladding and (b) non-cladding remediation for residential buildings.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
All residential buildings above 11 metres in England now have a pathway to fix unsafe cladding, through either a taxpayer-funded scheme or developer-funded scheme. I refer the Hon Member to our monthly Building Safety Data Release published on gov.uk for further information on the progress made to fix residential buildings over 11 metres with unsafe cladding in England.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 reduce the number of families in temporary accommodation in (a) Liverpool, Walton constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the Hon Member to my answer to Question UIN 14761 on 26 February 2024.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of section 21 evictions on levels of homelessness.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The department publishes relevant official statistics and these are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to respond to the letter of 14 November 2023 from the Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing of Liverpool City Council about homelessness in Liverpool.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
A response to the letter was issued on 1 December 2023.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 tackle (a) antisemitism and (b) Islamophobia.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
As set out previously, antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred are abhorrent and have no place in our community. No one should be a victim of hatred because of who they are. Since the appalling terrorist attacks of 7 October in Israel we have seen a sharp increase in reported antisemitic incidents here in the UK. We have also seen a rise in anti-Muslim hatred and other racist and religiously motivated incidents.
The Government has announced an additional £3 million for the CST to provide additional security at Jewish schools, synagogues and other sites. Tell MAMA are our key partner working to monitor and support victims of anti-Muslim hatred and we have allocated over £6 million since 2012.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2023 to Question 119055 on Gazumping, what progress his Department has made on (a) evaluating and (b) encouraging the adoption of voluntary reservation agreements.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The government remains committed to improving the home buying and selling process. We are working with industry to ensure potential buyers have access to the critical information they need to know – including tenure type, lease length and service charges – in an accurate and timely digital format. This will help them to make informed decisions about whether to purchase a property, reducing the likelihood of the sale falling through. We will provide further details on our plans to reform the home buying and selling system in due course.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment his Department has made of the implications for its policies of the long-term viability of the buy-to-let sector.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Renters (Reform) Bill Impact Assessment (IA) was submitted to the Regulatory Policy Committee for review before the Bill was introduced and has now been published. The green-rated IA shows that the net cost to landlords of the reforms in the Bill is estimated to be just £10 per rented property annually - approximately 0.1% of mean annual rents. This cost is unlikely to lead to good landlords leaving the sector.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to bring forward legislation to make it illegal for landlords and agents to have blanket bans on renting to tenants (a) in receipt of benefits and (b) with children.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
I refer the hon Member to my comments in the debate of 24 May 2023, titled Private Rented Sector: Regulation (Official Report, Volume 733, Column 125WH).
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent discussions he has had with the Leader of the House on the parliamentary timetable for Second Reading of the Renters (Reform) Bill.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department plans to provide additional funding to local authorities to help enforce the measures set out in the Renters Reform Bill.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Renters (Reform) Bill had its First Reading in the House of Commons on 17 May. I refer the Hon Member to the Written Ministerial Statement (HCWS778) and to the published guide to the Bill.
We have submitted our Impact Assessment for review by the Regulatory Policy Committee. This is a significant document and they now need time to scrutinise it. We will publish it once that process has finished. I look forward to discussing these issues during the passage of the Bill.