Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on its plans to trial Automatic Voter Registration.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In 2014, the then Coalition introduced Individual Electoral Registration. The Government has no plans to reassess its policy with regard to automatic voter registration for resident UK citizens or for registering UK citizens living abroad. The electoral system in the United Kingdom is trust based and voting is not mandatory. The Government opposes automatic voter registration because such a system would risk increasing errors and inaccuracies in the registers.
The Government understands that the Welsh Government is planning to trial automatic registration for devolved elections and will be paying close attention to any unintended or negative effects on registration for reserved elections.
The UK Government is working with the Electoral Commission to amplify its messaging to increase awareness of the forthcoming removal of the 15-year limit on British citizens’ living abroad and their eligibility to register and vote in UK Parliamentary elections.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will bring forward proposals to make the voluntary rent cap scheme in shared ownership arrangements mandatory.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Most registered providers of social housing chose to limit voluntarily annual rent increases for their shared owners in 2023-24 to no more than 7%. Though the department was clear in its discussions with the sector that we expected them to take reasonable and responsible decisions at a time when many shared owners were facing pressures on their finances, we recognise that the decision to engage in this voluntary arrangement was one for individual providers to take independently. Rent increases for shared owners will continue to be based on the terms of their lease agreements with their providers.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 impact of the cost of living crisis on home-owners whose shared ownership rent increases are not capped by the voluntary rent cap.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Most registered providers of social housing chose to limit voluntarily annual rent increases for their shared owners in 2023-24 to no more than 7%. Though the department was clear in its discussions with the sector that we expected them to take reasonable and responsible decisions at a time when many shared owners were facing pressures on their finances, we recognise that the decision to engage in this voluntary arrangement was one for individual providers to take independently. Rent increases for shared owners will continue to be based on the terms of their lease agreements with their providers.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 implementing the recommendations of the Redmond Review into the effectiveness of local audits.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The challenges facing local audit are complex and require action from organisations across the system. We have worked with key partners to implement the majority of Redmond's recommendations.
We are continuing to deliver reform in this area, including developing the proposals set out in the cross-system statement on local audit delays published in July, and are working with the FRC as it prepares to take on its new role as system leader for local audit.
Local authorities' websites show whether statement of accounts have been audited.
More generally, as you know, the Government is establishing the Office for Local Government (Oflog) so as to improve the accountability for performance across the local government sector, including overspending. Lord Amyas Morse, former Comptroller & Auditor General of the NAO, has been announced as Oflog’s interim Chair.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many and what proportion of local authorities (a) failed to meet the deadline of 30 September 2022 and (b) were still due to provide audited accounts for financial year 2021-22 as of 1 September 2023.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The challenges facing local audit are complex and require action from organisations across the system. We have worked with key partners to implement the majority of Redmond's recommendations.
We are continuing to deliver reform in this area, including developing the proposals set out in the cross-system statement on local audit delays published in July, and are working with the FRC as it prepares to take on its new role as system leader for local audit.
Local authorities' websites show whether statement of accounts have been audited.
More generally, as you know, the Government is establishing the Office for Local Government (Oflog) so as to improve the accountability for performance across the local government sector, including overspending. Lord Amyas Morse, former Comptroller & Auditor General of the NAO, has been announced as Oflog’s interim Chair.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the guidance entitled Local Enterprise Partnerships: integration of LEP functions into local democratic institutions, published on 4 August 2023, how much revenue funding will be re-assigned for local and combined authorities; and whether funding for the activities previously carried out by LEPs will be at the same level in real terms.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
As set out in the 4th August 2023 integration guidance, the Government expects that from April 2024, core LEP functions - namely business representation, local economic planning, and the delivery of Government programmes where directed - will be exercised by upper tier local authorities (working in collaboration with other upper tier local authorities where appropriate), where they are not already delivered by a combined authority, or in areas where a devolution deal is not yet agreed. The Government will provide some revenue funding to local and combined authorities in 2024/25 to support them to deliver these core functions. Details of this support will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on the number of public toilets that are affected by construction with reinforced autoclave aerated concrete (RAAC).
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Individual building owners and managers continue to be responsible for health and safety, including responding to safety alerts such as RAAC.
Building owners must address safety risks of all kinds in their buildings through a risk-based, proportionate and evidence-based approach. On the 1 May 2019, the Standing Committee on Structural Safety issued a safety alert on the failure of RAAC planks. Local authorities, like other building owners, are advised to follow available professional guidance.
The Local Government Association has advised members to check whether any buildings in their estates have RAAC, to ensure it can be identified, assessed, and responded to accordingly. This is accessible on the LGA website and in line with the guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers. If further buildings are identified as having suspected or confirmed RAAC, building owners and managers should follow the guidance to put appropriate mitigation in place.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the number of (a) homes and (b) families that are affected by the use of reinforced autoclave aerated concrete (RAAC) in England.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Individual building owners and managers continue to be responsible for health and safety, including responding to safety alerts such as RAAC.
Building owners must address safety risks of all kinds in their buildings through a risk-based, proportionate and evidence-based approach. On the 1 May 2019, the Standing Committee on Structural Safety issued a safety alert on the failure of RAAC planks. Local authorities, like other building owners, are advised to follow available professional guidance.
The Local Government Association has advised members to check whether any buildings in their estates have RAAC, to ensure it can be identified, assessed, and responded to accordingly. This is accessible on the LGA website and in line with the guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers. If further buildings are identified as having suspected or confirmed RAAC, building owners and managers should follow the guidance to put appropriate mitigation in place.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on the number of local authorities that are responsible for homes affected by reinforced autoclave aerated concrete (RAAC).
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Individual building owners and managers continue to be responsible for health and safety, including responding to safety alerts such as RAAC.
Building owners must address safety risks of all kinds in their buildings through a risk-based, proportionate and evidence-based approach. On the 1 May 2019, the Standing Committee on Structural Safety issued a safety alert on the failure of RAAC planks. Local authorities, like other building owners, are advised to follow available professional guidance.
The Local Government Association has advised members to check whether any buildings in their estates have RAAC, to ensure it can be identified, assessed, and responded to accordingly. This is accessible on the LGA website and in line with the guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers. If further buildings are identified as having suspected or confirmed RAAC, building owners and managers should follow the guidance to put appropriate mitigation in place.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department has taken to estimate the prevalence of the use of reinforced autoclave aerated concrete (RAAC) in housing.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Individual building owners and managers continue to be responsible for health and safety, including responding to safety alerts such as RAAC.
Building owners must address safety risks of all kinds in their buildings through a risk-based, proportionate and evidence-based approach. On the 1 May 2019, the Standing Committee on Structural Safety issued a safety alert on the failure of RAAC planks. Local authorities, like other building owners, are advised to follow available professional guidance.
The Local Government Association has advised members to check whether any buildings in their estates have RAAC, to ensure it can be identified, assessed, and responded to accordingly. This is accessible on the LGA website and in line with the guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers. If further buildings are identified as having suspected or confirmed RAAC, building owners and managers should follow the guidance to put appropriate mitigation in place.