Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the exemption in the Renters Reform Bill to allow fixed term tenancies for purpose built student accommodation to include all student accommodation.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department is carefully considering the impact of our reforms on the student housing market. We recognise there is a general annual lettings cycle and are considering solutions, such as a ground for possession that enables landlords to guarantee vacant possession for next year's tenants. Any solution needs to balance the needs of both students and landlords, and we will continue to engage with the sector. I am happy to discuss this matter further with my Hon. Friend.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
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 amount that he (a) has allocated and (b) will allocate to each local authority area from the £10 billion of business rates support.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Government has introduced a range of business rates reforms and measures in England estimated to be worth over £13 billion between 2019-20 and 2023-24. It is not possible to accurately estimate support at a local authority level.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much Lancashire County Council received from the Revenue Support Grant in each of the last three years.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Local authority financing information is available in the revenue outturn statistics
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the funding allocation to the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership has been in each year since its inception; and what that funding allocation is for 2016-17.
Answered by Andrew Percy
Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership is currently directing and influencing a significant growth programme of nearly £1 billion of investment. This includes £69.8 million which was recently announced for its third growth deal, bringing the total award through the Local Growth Fund to £320.9 million for 2015-2021. Further details of this funding are published here:
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of its total annual budget Lancashire County Council received from the Local Government Grant (Local Government Finance Settlement), for each budget heading, in 2016-17; and what such proportion, by budget heading, that council has been allocated to receive in 2017-18.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
For 2016-17, Lancashire received £118.8 million in Revenue Support Grant (RSG) as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. Lancashire had a budgeted Revenue Expenditure of £1.7 billion in 2016-17. RSG was equivalent to 7.1% of this budgeted figure.
For 2017-18, Lancashire is provisionally set to receive £81.5 million in RSG. Local authority budget figures are not available for 2017-18. Budget Revenue Account figures are scheduled to be published in the summer.
Revenue Support Grant is un-hypothecated. The funding has no specific conditions attached to it and any spend on services financed by the grant is not ring-fenced.
Local authorities are best placed to assess, deliver and take decisions on financing the services their communities need, and are locally accountable for those decisions.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much Lancashire County Council received from central government in grants, excluding monies received from the local government finance settlements, in the last financial year.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
In 2015-16, Lancashire County Council received £1.1 billion in central government grants.
This includes Specific and special revenue grants, Local Services Support Grant (LSSG) and Capital grants from central government departments but does not include Revenue Support Grant or the Police Grant which form part of the Local Government Finance Settlement.
The authority may additionally receive grants from other organisations. These would be recorded against the relevant service lines within the Other Income category in the Revenue Outturn statistics.
Central Government Grant Income (excluding Settlement) for Lancashire, 2015-16
|
|
£ million | 2015-16 |
Specific and special revenue grants | 991.1 |
Local Services Support Grant (LSSG) | 2.8 |
Capital grants from central government departments | 129.8 |
Total Grant Income | 1,123.7 |
|
|
Source: Local Authority Revenue Outturn and Capital Outturn Returns 2015-16
The level of non-ringfenced reserves for Lancashire County Council, as of the 31st March 2016, was £314.6 million.
Reserves held by Lancashire, as of 31 March 2016
£ million | 31 March 2016 |
Schools Reserves | 79.8 |
Public Health Reserves | 6.2 |
Earmarked Reserves | 278.0 |
Unallocated Reserves | 36.6 |
Source: Local Authority Revenue Outturn and Capital Outturn Returns 2015-16
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what applications have been submitted to Lancashire County Council to regenerate land in (a) Morecambe and Lunesdale and (b) Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency.
Answered by Andrew Percy
The Department is not aware of any such applications but this question should be addressed to Lancashire County Council.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what applications have been submitted to Lancashire County Council on regeneration in South Heysham.
Answered by Andrew Percy
The Department is not aware of any such applications but this question should be addressed to Lancashire County Council.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps Lancaster City Council has taken to apply for regeneration funding for Heysham South as part of its Lancaster Core Strategy.
Answered by Andrew Percy
My department is not aware of any specific regeneration funding applications from Lancaster City Council.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he has been notified of any funding applications from Lancaster City Council for the West End of Morecambe; and what information his Department holds on progress being made on (a) the Chatsworth Gardens project and (b) any other new housing projects in Morecambe and Lunesdale constituency.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Chatsworth Gardens project, known as West End One, is a flagship private rent project involving refurbishing and remodelling 27 empty properties to create 51 (1, 2, 3, & 4-bed) homes. Work on site commenced in early 2015 and, to date, ten 4-bedroom houses have been completed. The project is supported by £8.3 million of funding from the Homes and Communities Agency and £1.9 million of empty homes funding.
The next release of new homes is expected later this month, with completion of all units by Autumn 2016. West End Two, the adjacent site is to follow on directly creating a further 50 homes for private rent.
The Department does not collect data on all housing developments across the country, but 13 developments, either completed since 2014 or are currently on site, across the Lancaster City Council area have received Social Housing Grant via the Homes and Communities Agency, totalling £8.0 million and are providing a total of 231 new affordable homes.