Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many full time equivalent staff were employed by the Independent Housing Ombudsman in 2018-19; and how many of those staff were (a) caseworkers, (b) adjudicators and (c) review managers.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The full time equivalent of staff employed by the Housing Ombudsman Service in 2018-19 is 67.9.
The number of (a) caseworkers, (b) adjudicators and (c) dispute resolution managers is as follows:
a) Caseworkers (Dispute Resolution Advisors and Adjudicators): 41.6
b) Of which, Adjudicators: 25.6
c) Dispute Resolution Managers: 6.0
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2018 to Question 178312 on Regulator of Social Housing: Public Appointments, whether the recruitment campaign to strengthen the Board of the Regulator of Social Housing has resulted in the appointment of any tenants in the last six months.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We are currently looking to recruit up to three new members to the Board of the Regulator of Social Housing. We have identified that one of these posts should be filled by someone with significant senior level experience of operating in a customer facing environment (ideally in social housing). As set out in the Social Housing Green Paper, we want to ensure that the Board has the right level of experience and skills to ensure landlords deliver a better standard of service to their tenants.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department is making on drafting regulations on mandatory electrical safety checks in the private rented sector; and what consultations his Department is undertaking to inform the drafting of those regulations.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
We are working to bring regulations on mandatory electrical safety checks in the private rented sector into force as soon as possible, subject to parliamentary approval and timetable. As outlined in the Government response to Electrical safety in the private rented sector, published on 29 January 2019, we will work with industry to produce guidance for landlords setting out the skills and qualifications relevant to determining competence of those carrying out electrical inspections. We further intend to work with local authorities in England as we develop the range of sanctions available to them for non-compliance.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, further to the Written Statement of 29 November 2018, Official Report HCWS1126 on Grenfell update, how much money has been allocated to local authorities for remediation; what discussions he has had with the Local Government Association on the issue; and what legal powers local authorities have to recover costs.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
My Department has so far allocated £248 million to remediate 135 high-rise (over 18 metres) social sector residential buildings with unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding systems owned by housing associations and local authorities. We have committed to meeting these costs fully and we will still accept applications from social sector building owners who require funding.
The Local Government Association is a member of the ministerially-chaired taskforce which oversees the remediation of private sector buildings with unsafe ACM cladding systems, which includes establishing a joint inspection team to support local authorities in ensuring and, where necessary, enforcing remediation of private sector high-rise residential buildings with unsafe ACM cladding systems.
The Housing Act 2004 allows local authorities to take enforcement action on buildings which have not yet completed remediation and to recover reasonably incurred expenses, with interest. If local authorities need to take emergency remedial action but are unable to fund this work up front, we will consider requests for funding which would be repaid once the local authorities recover the costs from the building owner.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing free electrical safety checks for vulnerable older people.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government has recently announced that it will introduce new requirements for landlords to conduct electrical safety checks in the private rented sector to help ensure the safety of all their tenants, including older people. In the Social Housing Green Paper we are consulting on whether new safety measures in the private rented sector should also apply to social housing, as well as whether there are any changes needed to the definition of what constitutes a Decent Home.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what help is available to people living in the owner-occupied housing sector who have electrically unsafe properties but are unable to afford essential remedial work.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Department does not run any schemes to provide financial support for electrical safety remedial work in the owner occupied sector.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of preventing landlords from letting properties that are electrically unsafe.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government is committed to offering greater protection to tenants and ensuring that people are living in safe and good quality properties.
The majority of landlords already take the safety of their tenants seriously. Landlords have their electrical installations checked regularly to identify and eliminate possible hazards unseen by the tenant. Existing legislation already requires landlords to keep electrical installations in their property in repair and proper working order and it is currently best practice for landlords to organise periodic inspection and testing and to provide a report to the tenant.
On 19 July 2018, we announced that we will introduce a mandatory requirement on landlords in the private rented sector to ensure electrical installations in their property are inspected every five years. We are working to bring these regulations into force as soon as possible, subject to parliamentary approval and timetable.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent progress his Department has made on introducing mandatory electrical safety checks in the private rented sector; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government is committed to offering greater protection to tenants and ensuring that people are living in safe and good quality properties.
The majority of landlords already take the safety of their tenants seriously. Landlords have their electrical installations checked regularly to identify and eliminate possible hazards unseen by the tenant. Existing legislation already requires landlords to keep electrical installations in their property in repair and proper working order and it is currently best practice for landlords to organise periodic inspection and testing and to provide a report to the tenant.
On 19 July 2018, we announced that we will introduce a mandatory requirement on landlords in the private rented sector to ensure electrical installations in their property are inspected every five years. We are working to bring these regulations into force as soon as possible, subject to parliamentary approval and timetable.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reasons a permanent Housing Ombudsman is not currently being recruited.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The recruitment is being reconsidered in view of the increasing importance of the Housing Ombudsman and we will be advertising the role in due course. Interim arrangements are in place to ensure the continued delivery of the Housing Ombudsman Service.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to his answer of 9 January 2018 to Question 119694 on Housing: Ombudsman, if he will ask the Housing Ombudsman Service to make a statement on the (a) reasons why it did not meet its target that the average time taken to reach a final determination on complaints submitted in 2017-18 should be six months and (b) steps being taken to achieve this target in 2018/19.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The average case time for determining complaints by the Housing Ombudsman service was reduced from a nine month average in 2016-17, to eight months at the end of 2017-18. The Housing Ombudsman reports on determination times in its published Annual Report, which noted difficulty in recruitment and retention of temporary case workers impacting on this delivery. The Housing Ombudsman aims to reduce determination times further and is committed to achieving the six-month target in 2018-19. The steps it is taking to achieve this are set out in the Business Plan 2018-19 published and available on their website: https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Business-plan-2018-19.pdf