Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
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 proposed technical changes to the Building Regulations to mandate the higher M4(2) accessibility standard.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government has commissioned research that includes demographics, ergonomic requirements and experiences of disabled people, as part of a full review relating to Part M of the Building Regulations. Results from that research will be published in due course.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance his Department provides local planning authorities on supporting (a) elderly and (b) disabled people with their housing needs.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that local authorities should assess the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community, including those who require supported housing, and reflect this in planning policies. We also published guidance in 2019 to help councils put policies in place to achieve this.
In addition, as part of our recent consultation on a revised National Planning Policy Framework, we proposed additional wording which would explicitly set out that local authorities should plan for the needs of older people, including for retirement, housing with care and care homes. We will be publishing a government response to the consultation in due course.
The Government has established an independent Older People’s Housing Taskforce and asked it to examine how to improve house options for people in later life and to make recommendations to Ministers. The taskforce is expected to make its report to Ministers in the spring of 2024.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to give greater weight to applications from areas of high deprivation as part of the decision process for the third round of the Levelling Up Fund.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Department undertook a robust assessment and decision-making process for both Rounds 1 and 2 of the Levelling Up Fund, as set out in the published Explanatory Notes.
The third round of the Levelling Up Fund will provide further investment in vital infrastructure projects across the UK. We will set out further details in due course.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
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 implications for his policies of the first two rounds of applications to the Levelling-Up Fund.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Department undertook a robust assessment and decision-making process for both Rounds 1 and 2 of the Levelling Up Fund, as set out in the published Explanatory Notes.
The third round of the Levelling Up Fund will provide further investment in vital infrastructure projects across the UK. We will set out further details in due course.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when the (a) application process will begin and (b) decisions on allocation of funds will be announced for the Levelling-Up Fund Round 3.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The third round of the Levelling Up Fund will provide further investment in important projects across the UK.
We are currently reflecting on the lessons learned from the first two rounds of the Fund, to help inform the design of round three. We will share further details of our approach shortly.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he has made an assessment of the potential merits of altering eligibility requirements so that all recipients of Universal Credit can access Council Tax Reduction.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Councils are required to have a local council tax support scheme to assist residents in financial need. The design of schemes for persons of working age is the responsibility of councils who are able to take account of local factors including the circumstances of those who receive Universal Credit.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the funding allocated to local authorities to make discretionary payments to people needing to self-isolate as a result of covid-19.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
MHCLG Ministers and officials have regular engagement with counterparts in the Department for Health and Social Care, as well as with other government departments and with local authorities, on all matters relating to local authorities’ finances. We have worked closely with the Department for Health and Social Care on the Test and Trace Support Payment Scheme.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much his Department spent on (a) opinion polling and (b) focus groups in each month since January 2019.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The cost of establishing the full spend on opinion polling and focus groups is disproportionate. Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) undertakes many research projects each year using external experts. Some of these projects will include either opinion polling or focus groups. This would form part of a wider package of research and to establish the specific cost of that part of the work across all of the projects would exceed 2.5 working days of effort.
Details of contracts awarded by MHCLG are routinely published on Contracts Finder.
MHCLG is able to provide the following limited information where it is able to identify spend through contracts solely for a) Opinion polling and b) focus groups.
Opinion Polls
Month | Value (excl. VAT) |
May 2019 | £5,000 |
July 2019 | £1,100 |
October 2019 | £825 |
January 2020 | £2,300 |
March 2020 | £2,600 |
June 2020 | £4,000 |
Focus Groups
Month | Value (excl VAT) |
March 2020 | £9,999 |
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the allocation of the covid-19 hardship fund to local authorities will take into account levels of deprivation.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Government will provide English councils with £500 million to support financially vulnerable residents, and expects that most of the funding will be used to provide additional council tax relief.
Further guidance is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/council-tax-covid-19-hardship-fund-2020-to-2021-guidance .
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support his Department is providing to local authorities to support adult social care services through the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The 2020-21 settlement for local government provided local authorities with access to the largest increase in spending power in a decade to help local authorities meet rising demand for adult social care. In total, local authorities will have access to almost £6 billion of dedicated funding across adult and children’s social care in 2020-21.
The Government has also announced additional funding of £2.9 billion to support hospitals, councils and adult social care providers through the COVID-19 outbreak. Of this, £1.6 billion will go to local authorities to allow them to address increased pressures on services in their local areas, including adult social care.