Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
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 implications for his Department's policies of recent trends in levels of Islamophobic amongst the British public.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 94893 on 1 December 2022.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps is he taking to reduce the inflationary pressures on local authority budgets.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2023/24 makes available an additional £5 billion to councils in England, an increase of 9% in cash terms compared to 2022/23.
This builds on the substantial funding made available for this year.
Furthermore, the Energy Bill Relief Scheme is providing a discount on energy prices this winter for councils whose bills have been significantly inflated by the global energy crisis.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
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 implications for his Department's policies of instances of antisemitism towards the Jewish community in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Antisemitism has absolutely no place in our society, which is why we welcome the recent report from Lord Mann, the Government’s Independent Adviser on Antisemitism. We are already taking a strong lead in antisemitism in all its forms. The Home Office is providing £14 million this year through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant to provide protective security measures at Jewish schools, colleges, nurseries and synagogues; the Department is providing £500,000 to the Holocaust Education Trust from 2020/21 to 2022/23 to deliver their Lessons from Auschwitz project, as an example. We will continue to work together with Lord Mann on this vital issue.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate he has made of the number of former Homes for Ukraine participants that are homeless.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
This information is available online and can be accessed here .
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment has he made on feasibility of bringing in Voter ID for local elections in May 2023.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The department is working closely with local authorities, Valuation Joint Boards, and electoral organisations to support the implementation of voter identification in May 2023 and beyond.
In line with longstanding government policy, New Burdens funding has been provided to local authorities to cover the additional costs as a result of the changes.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
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 provide funds to local authorities who have been successful in their levelling up bids.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Successful applicants to the first round of the Levelling Up Fund have received £242 million to date, with a further payment planned this financial year in January.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
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 private renter security during the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We will introduce a Renters Reform Bill in this parliament which will fulfil our manifesto commitment of abolishing Section 21 'no fault' evictions.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
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 implications for his policies of trends in the level of children in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Further to my answer to Question UIN 94905 on 1 December, over 180,000 families with dependent children have been supported to secure accommodation since the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2018.
We also published our strategy 'Ending Rough Sleeping for Good' in September 2022 and this is available here: Ending Rough Sleeping For Good. The strategy sets out cross government action and how we are investing £2 billion over the next three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
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 help support people who are sleeping rough this winter.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Further to my answer to Question UIN 94905 on 1 December, over 180,000 families with dependent children have been supported to secure accommodation since the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2018.
We also published our strategy 'Ending Rough Sleeping for Good' in September 2022 and this is available here: Ending Rough Sleeping For Good. The strategy sets out cross government action and how we are investing £2 billion over the next three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress his Department has made on meeting the twelve Levelling Up missions.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
It is because we are concerned about the impact of inflation and increases in interest rates that the Autumn Statement protected the most vulnerable by uprating benefits and pensions with inflation, strengthening the energy price guarantee, and providing cost of living payments.
We will report on progress towards delivering the missions through an annual report laid before parliament.