Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the signing of the building safety repairs pledge by Crest Nicholson, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of that company's performance in remediating life critical fire safety works in buildings over 11 metres that they (a) developed and (b) refurbished in the last 30 years in Putney constituency.
Answered by Lee Rowley
49 of the largest developers have signed a pledge to take responsibility for all necessary work to address life-critical fire-safety defects on buildings 11 metres and over in height that they had a role in developing or refurbishing. Signatories include Taylor Wimpey, Crest Nicholson, Barratt, Bellway, Persimmon and Berkeley.
We will shortly publish a contract that will make the pledge commitments legally binding, and which we will expect developers to sign as soon as possible. The contract will contain provisions enabling us to monitor and audit the progress being made by developers to meet their remediation commitments.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what provisions there are within the Building Safety Act 2022 to hold cladding remediation companies who installed defective and unsafe cladding to account.
Answered by Lee Rowley
We have brought forward an ambitious toolkit of measures under the Building Safety Act 2022, which enables those responsible for defective work to be pursued. Civil claims can now be brought against manufacturers of, or those who have supplied, defective or mis-sold construction products, or those who have supplied or marketed in breach of regulations, where these products have been incorporated in a dwelling and that has caused or contributed to a dwelling being unfit for habitation. This provision, which applies to all dwellings, has retrospective effect for cladding products with a limitation period of 30 years and prospective effect for all construction products with a limitation period of 15 years.
The Act retrospectively extends the limitation period under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 from six to 30 years and extends the reach of civil liability to associated companies of developers, including trusts, to ensure that those businesses in the sector who have used shell companies and other complex corporate structures can be pursued for contributions towards the remediation of historical safety defects. These provisions will help to ensure that all parties that play a part in creating building safety defects are in line for costs to rectify them.
The Act gives the Secretary of State the power to establish a statutory scheme to distinguish between industry actors that have committed to take responsibility for making buildings safe, including by remedying defective buildings, and those that fail to do so. The Act also gives the Secretary of State powers to prevent those that have failed to take responsibility from carrying out development for which planning permission has been granted, and to prevent them from receiving building control approval on their developments. This means that those that take responsibility and do the right thing can continue to go about their business freely and with confidence, while those that don't may suffer commercial and reputational consequences.
Additionally, anti-avoidance and enforcement provisions - including remediation orders and remediation contributions orders - are included in the Act to ensure that those who are liable to pay under leaseholder protections actually do so. Relevant authorities now have the power to compel responsible entities to fund and undertake the necessary remediation work. Where firms are repeatedly refusing to pay to fix these buildings, the government's new Recovery Strategy Unit will pursue these firms, working closely with other enforcement authorities.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of building new social housing with rents pegged to local income on levels of homelessness.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
We consulted on setting a ceiling on such rent increases at 3%, 5% or 7% and included an impact assessment for each option here. The consultation is closed, and we are considering responses with a view to responding shortly.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of capping social rent increases at three per cent on levels of homelessness.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
We consulted on setting a ceiling on such rent increases at 3%, 5% or 7% and included an impact assessment for each option here. The consultation is closed, and we are considering responses with a view to responding shortly.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the waiting times for social housing for (a) large families and (b) homeless one-person households.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Since 2010, more than 598,900 affordable homes have been delivered, including 157,200 for social rent. We are committed to make funding available to build affordable homes.
In 2012 we abolished open waiting lists and gave local authorities the power to manage their own waiting lists. Since then, waiting lists have decreased by 36%. This is because local authorities are best placed to develop solutions which make best use of local social homes.
The Homelessness Reduction Act places duties on local authorities to try to prevent and relieve a person's homelessness, they are also required to give homeless people priority for social housing.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact extending the right-to-buy scheme on the long-term levels of social housing stock in the UK.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Government remains committed to the Right to Buy, which since 1980 has enabled over two million social housing tenants to become homeowners. In June, the Government announced its intention to extend the Right to Buy to tenants of housing associations.
A full impact assessment of this policy will be produced ahead of the scheme's introduction and will be working closely with the housing association sector on the approach to the scheme, including on ensuring the one-for-one replacement of homes sold. We will announce more details in due course.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of planning laws on the ability of people to install external insulation in conservation areas.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
In the Government's British Energy Security Strategy , published earlier this year, we committed to reviewing the practical planning barriers that households can face when installing energy efficiency measures, including in conservation areas and listed buildings. Work on the review is currently underway and we will make an announcement on the outcome in due course.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of planning laws in conservation areas on the ability of people to insulate their homes.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
In the Government's British Energy Security Strategy , published earlier this year, we committed to reviewing the practical planning barriers that households can face when installing energy efficiency measures, including in conservation areas and listed buildings. Work on the review is currently underway and we will make an announcement on the outcome in due course.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing exceptions in planning laws in conservation areas for planning applications for (a) external insultation and (b) other measures to reduce the energy usage of properties.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
In the Government's British Energy Security Strategy , published earlier this year, we committed to reviewing the practical planning barriers that households can face when installing energy efficiency measures, including in conservation areas and listed buildings. Work on the review is currently underway and we will make an announcement on the outcome in due course.