Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 and proportion of people sleeping rough that are not British nationals.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The annual rough sleeping snapshot provides information about the estimated number of people sleeping rough on a single night between 1 October and 30 November each year. This is data from local authorities and includes some basic demographic details including nationality. Details can be found at: Rough sleeping snapshot in England: autumn 2023 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate his Department has made of the number of residential properties constructed in South Holland and the Deepings constituency since 2015.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The department’s most comprehensive measure of housing supply is our annual release entitled ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’. This includes estimates of new homes added in each local authority, but does not show figures at the constituency level. You can find data for South Holland District Council here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-net-supply-of-housing.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate he has made of the number of leaseholders in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The department publishes an annual estimate of leasehold dwellings in England.
The most recent data (2021-22) shows there were an estimated 4.98 million leasehold dwellings in England. In the East Midlands, there were an estimated 192,000 leasehold dwellings.
Due to methodological limitations, the statistics cannot show robust estimates at a sub-regional level. The data are published on gov.uk here: Leasehold dwellings.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 is taking to support high street businesses in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
This Government is fully committed to supporting our high-street businesses and communities. The Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities has announced over £62.6 million in targeted funding to South Holland and the Deepings since 2021, including:
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will have discussions with local authorities on the processes used to determine the purposes for which publicly-funded buildings can be used.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Councils are independent, democratic bodies responsible for managing their own estates. Local authorities are best placed to decide how best to use local buildings to benefit communities, and while the government has no involvement in such decisions, we would always seek to ensure that taxpayers receive value for money.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to increase funding for Internal Drainage Boards in the 2024/2025 local government finance settlement.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The provisional local government finance settlement for 2024-25 makes available over £64 billion, an increase in Core Spending Power of almost £4 billion or 6.5% in cash terms on 2023-24. This above-inflation increase demonstrates how the Government stands behind councils up and down the country.
We will publish a final settlement early this year which will be subject to a debate in the House of Commons.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 the number of homes that have been built in areas deemed to be at high risk of flooding from (a) rivers and (b) the sea since 2019.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The department publishes estimates of the proportion of new residential addresses created in areas at Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea, as well as for other designations of interest, in the Land use change statistics series, on Gov.uk at the following link.
In particular, Live Table P320 includes estimates of the proportion of new residential addresses created within areas at Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea for each year from 2013-14 to 2021-22. Separate figures for areas at risk of flooding from rivers and areas at risk of flooding from the sea are not available.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 effectiveness of the Towns Fund in Spalding.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is focused on Levelling Up the UK, which includes supporting places such as Spalding to deliver high value funding which unlocks the potential of local economies and creates visible change within places.
Spalding has been awarded funding from multiple funds, including £20 million from the Long-Term Plans for Towns; £19.6 million in round 1 of the Levelling Up Fund; and £20 million in round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund.
We are committed to ongoing evaluation of these funds. The Department’s Evaluation Strategy DLUHC evaluation strategy - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) which was published in November 2022, sets out our commitment to undertake and learn from evaluation activity across all our policy areas.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps through the National Planning Policy Framework to protect parks and green spaces.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is clear that existing land for open space, sports and recreational buildings should not be built on unless an assessment deems them to be surplus to requirements, or the proposed development ensures equivalent or superior provision in a suitable alternate location.
The NPPF also allows local planning authorities and communities to designate and protect important green spaces by formally designating them as Local Green Space through local and neighbourhood plans, providing formal protection through the framework.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to reduce homelessness in rural areas.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government understands there are housing needs that can be particular to rural areas and that homelessness in rural areas can present different challenges to cities.
Our cross-government strategy, ‘Ending Rough Sleeping for Good’, published in September 2022, sets out how we are investing £2 billion over three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, including over £530 million of Rough Sleeping Initiative 2022-25 funding to local authorities across England. Our funding programmes are based on an approach tailored to local need, providing local authorities with the flexibility to invest in tailored support and services to meet their local area needs.
At Autumn Statement 2023, the Government announced additional funding of £120 million to help councils address Ukraine and homelessness pressures in 2024/25. This will help local authorities deliver statutory duties through providing financial support for people to find a new home, working with landlords to prevent evictions, or providing temporary accommodation, including in rural communities.