Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department had with the Scottish Government on provisions in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 which require landlords to install carbon monoxide alarms to all properties that contain fixed-combustion burning appliances; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Barwell
Housing is a devolved issue and therefore the shaping and implementation of all relevant Scottish Housing legislation is at the discretion of the Scottish Government. There is regular dialogue between the four UK administrations, and we will be in further contact with the Scottish Government when we begin the planned review, for October 2017, of the smoke and carbon monoxide alarm requirements on private landlords in England.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the local government finance settlement will be subject to a needs-led review.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The consultation on the provisional local government finance settlement for 2016-17 closed on 15 January. We are considering carefully all the responses and other representations made and will present final proposals soon to enable local authorities to set their budgets for 2016-17.
At the outset of the current system of business rates retention in 2013-14, we said there would be periodic reviews to take account of changes to needs and resources. As part of the move towards 100% business rates retention by the end of this Parliament, we will work with local government on the approach to implementing these reforms, including on the treatment of needs and resources, and will consult on proposed changes.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the results of the Family Test applied to the policies proposed in the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [Lords].
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill is an enabling Bill. The Government will undertake the appropriate tests and publish them before any implementation orders are made.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 1.77 of Autumn Statement, Cm 8961, what progress he has made on further integrating services by developing and extending the principles underpinning the Troubled Families programme approach to other groups of people with multiple needs.
Answered by Greg Clark
The expanded Troubled Families Programme was rolled out in April 2015, to work with up to another 400,000 families with multiple problems - and to help transform the way services work with these vulnerable families. Officials from my Department have also been exploring futher potential opportunities for this approach with other government departments.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Prime Minister's press release of August 2014, what steps he is taking to assess the impact of his Department's policies on the family.
Answered by Mark Francois
The Family Test was announced by the Prime Minister in August 2014 and introduced in October 2014 through the publication of guidance for officials - Family Test Guidance
The objective of the Test is to introduce a family perspective to the policy making process, specifically to make the potential impacts on family functioning and relationships explicit.
DCLG leads on delivery of the Troubled Families Programme which is a leading example of this approach and is working with the Department for Work and Pensions to embed the Test across its wider policy-making process.