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Written Question
Local Government: Cybersecurity
Monday 3rd April 2023

Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help protect local authorities from cyber attacks.

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

Local authorities have the primary responsibility for ensuring that their online presence, digital services and internal processes are protected from outside interference. In addition, the Department takes the threat of cyber attacks to councils seriously, including by undertaking a survey of malware and ransomware across all English councils following the previous attack at Redcar & Cleveland and Hackney Councils.


Written Question
Sleeping Rough: Somerton and Frome
Monday 20th March 2023

Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department has taken to support rough sleepers in Somerton and Frome constituency during the winter 2022-23.

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

This Government remains committed to ending rough sleeping and tackling homelessness. In September 2022, we published a bold, new strategy, Ending Rough Sleeping for Good , which is available here. The strategy sets out cross government action and how we are investing £2 billion over three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.

This includes allocating up to £500 million over three years to 303 local authorities across England through the Rough Sleeping Initiative 2022-25. In the financial year 2022/23 Mendip was allocated £398,230 from the Rough Sleeping Initiative. This funding is giving local authorities the resources to offer accommodation, support, and a route off the streets for people sleeping rough in Somerton and Frome.


Written Question
Parking: Codes of Practice
Friday 27th January 2023

Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps his Department has taken in reissuing a parking code of practice.

Answered by Dehenna Davison

I refer my Hon. Friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 54476 on 12 October 2022.


Written Question
Housing Associations: Service Charges
Wednesday 23rd November 2022

Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to support housing association tenants with the rising cost of service charges.

Answered by Dehenna Davison

Following our recent consultation on social housing rent increases, the Government announced at Autumn Statement that it will cap the increase in social rents at a maximum of 7% in 2023-24. In line with the proposal set out in our consultation, we will amend the policy statement to encourage providers to apply the 7% limit to service charge increases in 2023-24.

Our policy statement also states that tenants should be supplied with clear information on how service charges are set, and in the case of social rent properties, providers are expected to identify service charges separately from the rent charge.


Written Question
Social Rented Housing: Somerset
Tuesday 1st November 2022

Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to improve social housing stock in Somerset.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

The Government is implementing an ambitious programme of work, including the Social Housing Regulation Bill to improve the quality and regulation of social housing. This legislation aims to change landlord behaviour to focus on the needs of social housing tenants and ensure landlords are held to account for their performance

The Government has made funding available for social housing providers and local authorities to make energy efficiency upgrades, including for social housing through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. Somerset West and Taunton District Council are partners to a project that has received funding.


Written Question
Refugees: Ukraine
Wednesday 28th September 2022

Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to support the sponsors of refugees from Ukraine who are experiencing delays in finding their own homes.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are working closely with local councils to understand where pressures may be and are actively exploring options to find suitable long-term accommodation for the Ukrainians who are likely to stay in this country beyond their initial sponsorship period.

The updated guidance for the Homes for Ukraine guests, hosts and councils setting out all the support options available to them can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils#four-to-6-months-after-guests-have-moved-to-your-area.


Written Question
Refugees: Ukraine
Wednesday 28th September 2022

Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)

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 with Cabinet colleagues to provide (a) homes, (b) jobs and (c) school placements for refugees from Ukraine.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We continue to review and develop plans to support guests to access the best possible support to during their stay in the UK. We are also providing guidance on navigating the UK housing market and encouraging landlords to support this cohort into accommodation


The government is committed to supporting this cohort into work. DWP is working with Ukrainians and employers to signpost and match job opportunities


Ukrainian parents will be able apply for a school place through the in-year admissions process. The Ukrainian Welcome Pack sets out this process in more detail. Local councils will work with families to enable all children to attend school or early years provision in the local area as soon as possible.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Public Consultation
Wednesday 13th July 2022

Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)

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 ensure that local communities are consulted on the detailed aspects of planning applications.

Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)

Local planning authorities are required to undertake a formal period of public consultation of no less than 21 days, prior to deciding a planning application. Consultees, particularly those living near to the site in question, may offer particular views or detailed information relevant to the consideration of the application. Where relevant considerations are raised by local residents, these must be taken into account by the local authority before they determine an application.

The Government is clear that communities must have the opportunity to have a say on development that affects them. The reforms in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will retain the right for people to comment on planning applications and will make the planning system more accessible, enabling a more consistent, streamlined and digitally enabled approach to the way planning applications are made. This will ensure faster and better decision making that delivers more of the development that communities want.


Written Question
Planning Permission
Wednesday 13th July 2022

Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)

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 improve support for local councils to uphold their decisions when refusing planning applications.

Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)

Due to the quasi-judicial role of Ministers in the planning system, it would not be appropriate to intervene or comment on the planning decisions made by local authorities. When a planning application is refused, local authorities are required by law to set out the reasons for their decision and these will be contained in the decision notice.

The reforms in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will modernise our planning system and make it more accessible, enabling a more consistent, streamlined and digitally enabled approach to the way planning applications are made. This will ensure faster and better decision making that delivers more of the development that communities want. In addition, the Planning Advisory Service works with the Department and provides support to local authorities to deliver good decision making when determining planning applications.


Written Question
Derelict Land: Regeneration
Thursday 7th July 2022

Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)

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 encourage housebuilders to develop brownfield sites.

Answered by Eddie Hughes

This Government strongly encourages the re-use of brownfield land and has introduced a range of measures to support brownfield development and encourage housebuilders to develop brownfield sites.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out that planning policies and decisions should give substantial weight to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements. We have introduced a number of planning measures including uplifting local housing need in the top 20 most populated cities to make the most of brownfield land and existing infrastructure and successfully requiring every local authority to publish a register of local brownfield land suitable for housing.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill sets out planning measures that will support regeneration by enabling more effective use of land, improving land value capture and supporting infrastructure delivery. Reforms, including clarification on the use of compulsory purchase, will make it easier to assemble brownfield land ready for development, whilst locally led Development Corporations will have planning powers to support regeneration and brownfield development. The measures will also create more consistency and certainty in planning decisions, simplifying the system so housebuilders can deliver.

Finally, the Department and Homes England regularly engage with urban areas to support delivery of homes on brownfield. We are putting significant investment into brownfield redevelopment through, for example, the £4.3 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund and £550 million Brownfield Housing Fund to support brownfield development and enable housebuilders to develop brownfield sites, with £1.8 billion in new funding announced at the Spending Review.