Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when the Government plans to respond to the letter of 29 November 2023 from the Hon. Member for Brent Central to the Prime Minister on Islamophobia.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
A response to the Hon Member’s letter was issued by my Hon Friend Baroness Penn on 1 March 2024.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
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 take steps to increase the number of playgrounds that are accessible to disabled children.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Through our national design guidance we encourage public spaces, including play areas, to be designed in an accessible and inclusive way.
The department is investing £9 million through the Levelling Up Parks Fund to regenerate green spaces across the UK as part of our Levelling Up agenda.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will also play a role in enabling local authorities to develop parks and open spaces to create greater pride in place through cleaner, greener and safer spaces, if places chose to fund these interventions.
The Government is currently developing its Disability Action Plan, which will set out the immediate action it will take in 2023 and 2024 to improve disabled people's lives, as well as laying the foundations for longer term change.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
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 funding of UK political parties does not come from foreign citizens.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
UK electoral law sets out a stringent regime of donations controls that bans foreign donations. Individuals must be on the UK electoral roll to make political donations; in the case of companies, they must be UK-registered and properly carrying on business in the UK. There is only a very limited exception to this, whereby for political parties registered in Northern Ireland, permissible donors also include Irish sources provided they meet prescribed conditions. The Government is strengthening the corporate transparency regime, which will support the donations regime. The Elections Act 2022 further closes potential loopholes on foreign spending.
By contrast, the (Labour-led) Welsh Government and (SNP-led) Scottish Government have facilitated donations by foreign citizens in British politics, by extending the devolved franchise to all foreign nationals living in Wales and Scotland respectively.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the total local government finance settlement for London councils was in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2022-23.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The finance and function of local government has changed significantly between 2010-11 and 2022-23, meaning that our measures of local government funding are not consistent over that period. Since the 2016-17 settlement the consistent measure of local government funding is Core Spending Power. In 2022-23, the government made available a total of £10.5 billion in Core Spending Power for London councils. There is no equivalent Core Spending Power measure for 2010-11, but the total Formula Grant received by London councils was £6.5 billion. These figures are not comparable due to the changes in finance and function of local government, including, but not limited to, the introduction of Business Rates Retention and the inclusion of Council Tax and new Central Government grants in the Core Spending Power measure.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many completions of new social housing units there were in London in each of the last 12 years for which figures are available.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The number of completions of new affordable homes in London since 1991-92 is available via the open data published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply
These data include information on provider (including local authorities), whether the homes were delivered by new build or acquisition, and on tenure. Information on provider before 2014-15 is less complete and therefore there is a higher number for which the provider is unknown.
In addition, information by tenure and local authority can be found in live tables 1006C to 1007cC and in live table 1011. These tables are available through the weblink above.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many completions of new council homes there were in London in each of the last 12 years for which figures are available.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The number of completions of new affordable homes in London since 1991-92 is available via the open data published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply
These data include information on provider (including local authorities), whether the homes were delivered by new build or acquisition, and on tenure. Information on provider before 2014-15 is less complete and therefore there is a higher number for which the provider is unknown.
In addition, information by tenure and local authority can be found in live tables 1006C to 1007cC and in live table 1011. These tables are available through the weblink above.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans he has to reform Ground 8 of the 1988 Housing Act; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to delivering a better deal for renters and abolishing section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, alongside strengthening the section 8 grounds for possession so that landlords can get their property back when they have a valid reason to do so. Our 2019 consultation ‘A New Deal for Renting’ sought views on how the new grounds, including ground 8, should operate following the abolition of section 21. This received almost 20,000 responses, which we are carefully considering as we develop our response.
We are also undertaking extensive engagement with stakeholders to inform our plans, ahead of publishing a White Paper this Spring. The White Paper will set out proposals to create a fairer private rented sector and we will bring forward legislation in due course and when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
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 impact of Ground 8 of the 1988 Housing Act on levels of (a) evictions and (b) homelessness.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government publishes data on the causes of homelessness amongst households owed a prevention duty by their local council. Of the 31,210 households owed a prevention duty as a result of being at risk of homelessness in Q3 of 2021, 1,520 were at risk of homelessness due to an assured shorthold tenancy in the private rented sector ending due to rent arrears.
We do not publish data on the number of evictions caused by use of each ground under section 8 of the 1988 Housing Act.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the impact of the no recourse to public funds policy on homelessness levels; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government wants to ensure that local areas have the tools they need to support rough sleepers, including non-UK nationals with restricted eligibility, off the street.
We do not collect data on immigration status but do collect information on the nationality of those on the street. The latest Annual Rough Sleeping Snapshot figures for autumn 2021 showed that 25% (610 people) of those sleeping rough on a single night were from outside the UK. We also collect monthly management information about the support for people sleeping rough which showed that as at the end of December 2021, 33% (1590 people) of those in emergency and short-term accommodation were from outside the UK.
We have committed £2 billion over the next three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping and the Government has been clear that this funding can be used to help anyone, including those with restricted eligibility, as long as the local authority is acting within the law in doing so.
Through the Rough Sleeping Initiative, we have provided over £200 million to local authorities to provide tailored local interventions for rough sleepers in their area. As part of this funding, local authorities can bid for support for individuals to determine or resolve their immigration status.
We remain clear that councils and partners should exhaust all options within the law to support those who are unable to access statutory homelessness assistance as a result of their immigration status and to ensure everyone has a route off the street, including those with an No Recourse to Public Funds condition.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of (a) housing benefit levels and (b) the benefit cap on (i) new starts of social housing and (ii) his Department's homelessness strategy.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Government spends around £30 billion a year on housing support through Housing Benefit and Universal Credit. In April 2020, we boosted investment in the Local Housing Allowance by nearly £1 billion and have maintained LHA rates at this same cash level so that everyone who benefitted from this increase will continue to do so.
The benefit cap provides a strong work incentive and fairness for hard-working taxpaying households and encourages people to move into work, where possible. The proportion of households capped remains low in comparison to the overall working age benefit with a caseload of 2.7%. Further data on the benefit cap can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/benefit-cap-statistics#latest-release
Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) will provide up to 180,000 new homes across the country, should economic conditions allow. Since 2010, we have delivered over 574,100 new affordable homes, including over 403,400 affordable homes for rent, of which over 154,600 are homes for social rent.
We have made excellent progress on our manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping, with the number of people sleeping rough at an 8-year low.
We will deliver a bold, new Rough Sleeping strategy which will set out how we will end rough sleeping, building on recent success ensuring rough sleeping is prevented in the first instance and is effectively responded to in the rare cases where it does occur.