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, pursuant to the Answer of 22 September 2022 to Question 46163 on Social Rented Housing: Air Conditioning, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that social housing built before June 2022 is retrofitted to enable passive cooling.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Government has committed to consider overheating and indoor air quality risks when developing policies to future-proof buildings and continues to undertake relevant research.
Work carried out under current Government retrofit schemes, including the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), must be carried out by a certified installer in accordance with PAS 2035 to ensure that risks, including overheating and ventilation risks, are considered.
The Decent Homes Standard (DHS) already contains certain protections against overheating. The government has committed to review the DHS to ensure that it meets present minimum standards on safety and decency for the social and private rented sectors.
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 people failed to answer the prescribed questions when applying to vote as a proxy.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
As required by paragraph 34 of part 7 of the Voter Identification Regulations 2022, polling station staff were required to collect data regarding the use of identification. This information will be returned to Government and the Electoral Commission in due course, as set out in the UQ response on the floor of the House on 27 April 2023 (Official Report, HC, Volume 731, Column 919).
The Government will be publishing reports as required by section 59A of the Representation of the People Act 1983.
The Electoral Commission will also report on the elections in the usual way.
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 people returned to vote at the recent local elections with the correct form of ID after initially being turned away.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
As required by paragraph 34 of part 7 of the Voter Identification Regulations 2022, polling station staff were required to collect data regarding the use of identification. This information will be returned to Government and the Electoral Commission in due course, as set out in the UQ response on the floor of the House on 27 April 2023 (Official Report, HC, Volume 731, Column 919).
The Government will be publishing reports as required by section 59A of the Representation of the People Act 1983.
The Electoral Commission will also report on the elections in the usual way.
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 people were not permitted to vote due to suspected (a) personation and (b) forgery at the local elections on 4 May 2023.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
As required by paragraph 34 of part 7 of the Voter Identification Regulations 2022, polling station staff were required to collect data regarding the use of identification. This information will be returned to Government and the Electoral Commission in due course, as set out in the UQ response on the floor of the House on 27 April 2023 (Official Report, HC, Volume 731, Column 919).
The Government will be publishing reports as required by section 59A of the Representation of the People Act 1983.
The Electoral Commission will also report on the elections in the usual way.
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 people failed to answer the prescribed questions when applying to vote as an elector.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
As required by paragraph 34 of part 7 of the Voter Identification Regulations 2022, polling station staff were required to collect data regarding the use of identification. This information will be returned to Government and the Electoral Commission in due course, as set out in the UQ response on the floor of the House on 27 April 2023 (Official Report, HC, Volume 731, Column 919).
The Government will be publishing reports as required by section 59A of the Representation of the People Act 1983.
The Electoral Commission will also report on the elections in the usual way.
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 people had their ID checked in private at the local elections on 4 May 2023.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
As required by paragraph 34 of part 7 of the Voter Identification Regulations 2022, polling station staff were required to collect data regarding the use of identification. This information will be returned to Government and the Electoral Commission in due course, as set out in the UQ response on the floor of the House on 27 April 2023 (Official Report, HC, Volume 731, Column 919).
The Government will be publishing reports as required by section 59A of the Representation of the People Act 1983.
The Electoral Commission will also report on the elections in the usual way.
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 people were turned away from the polls at the local elections on 4 May 2023 because they presented unacceptable forms of ID.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
As required by paragraph 34 of part 7 of the Voter Identification Regulations 2022, polling station staff were required to collect data regarding the use of identification. This information will be returned to Government and the Electoral Commission in due course, as set out in the UQ response on the floor of the House on 27 April 2023 (Official Report, HC, Volume 731, Column 919).
The Government will be publishing reports as required by section 59A of the Representation of the People Act 1983.
The Electoral Commission will also report on the elections in the usual way.
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 the shortfall of social housing stock is (a) nationally (b) by local authority.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government is committed to increasing the supply of new homes, including affordable housing, so we can meet our target of 300,000 new homes a year.
As has been the case under successive administrations, it is for Local Authorities to set out their plans to address housing need in their areas, including how much of that should be for affordable housing. Our £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme will deliver tens of thousands of affordable homes.
Data on new affordable housing, including social rent and affordable rent, is collected and published by financial year, and collected by local authority rather than parliamentary constituency. Figures and detail are available here.
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 homes have been built that are (a) affordable (b) for social rent since 1 January 2022.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government is committed to increasing the supply of new homes, including affordable housing, so we can meet our target of 300,000 new homes a year.
As has been the case under successive administrations, it is for local authorities to set out their plans to address housing need in their areas, including how much of that should be for affordable housing. Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver tens of thousands of affordable homes.
Data on new affordable housing, including social rent and affordable rent, is collected and published by financial year, and collected by local authority rather than parliamentary constituency. Figures and detail are available here.
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 people applied for a Voter Authority Certificate in England as of 1 April 2023; and how many and what proportion of these applications were rejected.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Hon. Member to the response given to the Urgent Question on 21 February 2023 (Official Report, HC, Volume 728, Column 138), to Question UIN 165271 on 20 March 2023 and Question UIN 171447 on 31 March 2023.
The Government published an Equality Impact Assessment of the Elections Act. This included consideration of the impact on people with protected characteristics.
The Electoral Commission is responsible for the communications campaign to help voters understand the new requirement to present identification to vote. This has included work with civil society groups and other stakeholders, including organisations that represent disabled people.
As is already publicly available, an easy read version of the application form for the Voter Authority Certificate is on gov.uk and from the Electoral Commission and easy read instructions are available to support people to apply online. The Government has also legislated to require that accessible information be sent with the Voter Authority Certificate to electors that request it, including in easy read.