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Written Question
Housing: Solar Power
Monday 11th September 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has assessed the potential merits of introducing legislation to make solar panel installation on new build homes compulsory.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

Renewable energy, such as that generated from rooftop solar panels, will make a significant contribution to achieving net zero. In June 2022 an uplift to the energy efficiency standards for new buildings came into force and we will consult this year on the Future Homes Standard. The standards are performance based, meaning we do not mandate any particular technologies, but we expect that in order to comply with the uplift most developers will choose to install solar panels on new homes.


Written Question
Tenancy Agreements
Thursday 15th June 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reasons does the Renters Reform Bill not make reference to three-year fixed rental agreements.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

I refer the Hon. Member to my remarks during the debate titled Private Rented Sector: Regulation on 24 May 2023 (Official Report, Volume 733, Column 123WH).


Written Question
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Innovation
Wednesday 14th June 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many officials his Department employs to work directly on public service innovation.

Answered by Dehenna Davison

Innovation is at the heart of our vision for a modern civil service, in particular finding new ways to solve problems and improve people’s lives, and seizing the full potential of data and technology.

All officials are expected to contribute to public service innovation, whether through the policy they develop or in the services they deliver. This work can range from supporting continuous improvement to leading more radical transformation.


Written Question
Rented Housing: Students
Tuesday 25th April 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of landlords not being able to issue two months' notice to tenants as a result of legislative change on (a) small student lets and (b) HMOs housing students.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The department will publish a full Impact Assessment alongside legislation.


Written Question
Elections: Proof of Identity
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reason certain concessionary identity cards will be accepted as identification for the purpose of voting in future elections whilst others will not.

Answered by Dehenna Davison

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 180947 on the 20th April 2023.


Written Question
Elections: Proof of Identity
Friday 3rd February 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the costs of administering the voter ID requirements for elections will be paid from council budgets or Government funding.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

In line with longstanding government policy, new burdens funding has been provided to local authorities to clear additional costs as a result of these changes.

Electoral fraud undermines the fundamental right to vote in free and fair elections. Photographic voter identification has operated successfully in Northern Ireland since 2003 when introduced by the last Labour Government.


Written Question
Independent Faith Engagement Review
Wednesday 30th November 2022

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

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 when the Independent Faith Engagement Review will be published.

Answered by Dehenna Davison

Announcements will be made in the usual way.


Written Question
Homes for Ukraine Scheme: Bristol City Council
Thursday 17th November 2022

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential financial impact of the potential removal of the Homes for Ukraine scheme tariff on Bristol City Council.

Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

We have provided funding per arrival to councils to enable them to provide support to individuals and families. This is un-ringfenced, which allows councils to use the funding as best suits the local area, including measures to support guests during and post the initial six months of sponsorship.


Written Question
Local Government Finance
Monday 7th November 2022

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

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 Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, whether his Department plans on extending the provision in that Instrument beyond 31 March 2023.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

In 2020, the Government put in place a statutory accounting override that allows local authorities to hold any deficits on their school budgets separately, in accounting terms, from their wider finances. This protects those affected authorities from risks to their financial sustainability or ability to deliver services. The Government is considering carefully the future of the override and will communicate its decision in due course.


Written Question
Ground Rent
Monday 14th June 2021

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to prevent leasehold management companies from imposing five year ground rent review periods which limits the owner's ability to secure a mortgage.

Answered by Eddie Hughes

The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for homeowners and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. We are therefore taking forward a comprehensive programme of reform to end unfair practices in the leasehold market.

We know that high or increasing ground rents are a cause of considerable concern to affected leaseholders. We introduced the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rents) Bill into Parliament last month, which will prevent landlords from including a financial ground rent in new leases.

We also asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate potential mis-selling of homes and unfair terms (such as high and increasing ground rents) in the leasehold sector. On 19 March 2021, the CMA announced that it is requiring the removal of ground rent terms which it thinks are unfair from all existing Countryside and Taylor Wimpey contracts. The companies must also agree not to use the terms again in any future leasehold contracts. The Government strongly welcomes the CMA's efforts to bring justice to homeowners affected by unfair practices and continues to keep a close eye on the CMA investigation. We will consider any next steps once the CMA have progressed their enforcement action.