Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the leader of Lancashire County Council on the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Luke Hall
We have stepped up our preparedness significantly and are speaking regularly to councils and partners, including through a delivery board and a network of nine regional lead chief executives. Every council has designated a Brexit Lead Officer to work with central government to intensify their local preparations and, in total, we have made £77 million available to help local areas get ready for Brexit.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans the Government has for the formation of a Pennine Lancashire unitary authority.
Answered by Luke Hall
It is for those in the area to consider whether a Pennine Lancashire unitary authority would be the best way forward, as my Rt Hon Friend, the then Secretary of State, told the House on 22 July 2019 (HCWS1790). If the area requests that we formally invite councils to submit a proposal for such an authority, we would do so if that request demonstrates local opinion is coalescing around a single unitary option for the area, which would be likely to meet our publicly announced criteria for unitarisation.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of recruiting a new Chair of the Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership.
Answered by Jake Berry
Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) are independent bodies, supported by an accountable local authority. Government ensures uniform standards are met through the National LEP Assurance Framework, which sets out that chairs are expected to be influential local leaders of high integrity. To meet these standards each LEP makes its own decisions locally for recruitment and associated costs which are subject to scrutiny by the accountable body.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the social housing system supports those with mental health problems.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Social Housing Green Paper recognises many landlords play a role that goes beyond their key responsibilities, which includes providing guidance to vital services such as mental health services. Through the Green Paper, we are seeking to gather evidence on the impact of the important role that many social landlords are playing.
Social housing and more widely, supported housing, provides a vital service for vulnerable people, including people with mental health issues. Safeguarding provision and supply of appropriate supported accommodation is a priority for my department and we will continue to provide capital grant funding to promote new supply of supported housing.
Our recent announcement confirming funding for all supported housing will stay in Housing Benefit, will also give confidence to the sector to continue to invest in new supply. We are also reviewing oversight arrangements for all supported housing. As a Government, we are investing record levels in mental health, spending £11.98 billion in 2017/18.