Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of 31 January 2023 from the hon. Member for Harrow West on the funding of the Inter Faith Network.
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 Scott on 28 February 2024.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has had recent discussions with Harrow Council on the potential impact of bankruptcy at that council on public services; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Local authorities are responsible for setting and maintaining their own balanced budget. Harrow set a balanced budget at Full Council on 23 February and the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2023/24 made available additional funding to Councils to assist in their work.
The Department does not performance manage or inspect the financial position of councils. Officials do talk to local authorities regularly, and any authority worried about its ability to maintain a balanced budget should contact the department.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of average appeal handling times for appeals considered by the Planning Inspectorate; what steps he plans to take to reduce appeal handling times; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
I refer the Hon Member to the monthly statistics published here. The Secretary of State has also recently written to a number of authorities regarding planning performance. Copies of these letters can be found on gov.uk.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many complaints his Department has received against Origin Housing in each of the last five years.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The information requested is not held centrally. Information on the performance of social housing landlords is available on the Housing Ombudsman’s website.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether alternative provision to the Council Tax Disabled Band Reduction Scheme is available for people whose homes have been adapted for use as a result of their disability and who do not meet the criteria for structural changes to a property under the Council Tax (Reduction for Disabilities) Regulations 1992.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The disabled band reduction scheme lowers the council tax band for those householders who, as a result of the disability of one or more occupants, have to create specific facilities in at least one separate room to meet the needs of that individual.
Under section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, local councils have discretion to provide their own council tax discounts where they consider it appropriate.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to Answer of 20 July 2022 to Question 34871, when the cladding remediation fund for buildings between 11 and 18 metres will be launched; when the fund will open for applications; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is launching a new 11-18m cladding remediation scheme to fund work on buildings where a responsible developer cannot be identified. We are planning to open the scheme on an interim basis, initially targeting a small number of high-risk buildings in interim measures. Further details on eligibility and the application process of the 11–18m Remediation Fund will be announced as soon as they are ready. We will make a statement in due course.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing financial support to not-for-profit social housing providers to assist with the funding of mandatory fire safety repairs for buildings they manage; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities operates two schemes offering financial support for registered providers of social housing to remediate unsafe cladding on buildings over 18 metres in height.
Under its Social Sector ACM fund, the Department has committed £400 million to support registered providers of social housing to remove and replace unsafe ACM cladding on buildings over 18 metres, of which £277 million has been allocated.
Under its £4.5 billion Building Safety Fund, the Department has to date committed £133 million to support registered providers of social housing to remove and replace unsafe non-ACM cladding on buildings over 18 metres. Registered providers of social housing are able to apply for support under the Building Safety Fund under the following conditions:
The Department continues to work closely with Registered Providers of social housing to look at ways to make sure that buildings with unsafe cladding are remediated quickly and proportionately.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will (a) encourage the Planning Inspectorate to review the adequacy of local authorities enforcement powers to ensure appropriate remedy in cases where plans submitted by pub chains were inaccurate, (b) take steps to strengthen accountability of (i) pub chains and (ii) their agents submitting planning applications and (c) make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the planning application submitted by agents on behalf of Fullers of London for enlargement of the garden of the Castle pub in Harrow on the Hill; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
While I appreciate the members concerns, and those raised, due to my role within the planning system I cannot comment on the specifics of individual cases.
What I can say is that if a development differs from that shown on the plans approved, and no consent has been given for this change, it may be subject to enforcement action if the local planning authority considers such action to be in the public interest.
The Government has given local authorities a wide range of planning enforcement powers with strong penalties for non-compliance, and that local authorities are best placed to decide what, if any, action to take depending on the particular circumstance of each case
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has had any (a) financial contract and (b) meetings with (i) Clifford Chance LLP, (ii) FTI Consulting and (iii) Fenchurch Advisory Partners in the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Details of Government contracts above £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search.
Details of ministerial meetings are published quarterly and can be found on Gov.uk.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
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 competitiveness on price of companies seeking to secure contracts for mandatory building fire safety repairs; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Building Safety Fund will cover all reasonable costs for eligible works that are necessary to remediate unsafe non-ACM cladding systems on high-rise residential buildings. Reasonable costs must be informed by an industry standard approach to specification and procurement of works, having regard to cost benchmarks established from comparable projects. Higher than expected costs will be challenged and will be subject to further scrutiny, and the level of grant may be reduced.