Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will rank each English local authority by the change in the number of social housing units in ach such local authority since (a) 1987, (b) 1997 and (c) 2007.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Between 1997 and 2010, the number of social rented homes fell by 420,000. Since 2010 the stock has increased by 76,000.
Figures for the dwelling stock owned by local authorities in England since 1994 are published by the Department in live table 116. Figures for dwelling stock at local authority level are not available prior to 1994, but are available at England level in live table 104.
Figures for the dwelling stock owned by private registered providers in England since 1997 are available in live table 115.
Where a local authority has undergone a Large Scale Voluntary Transfer (LSVT) authority, its stock would transfer to a private registered provider of social housing and the figure in live table 116 would reduce to zero or a small number.
Each live table can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-dwelling-stock-including-vacants
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the change was in the proportion of homeless household (a) applications and (b) acceptances who were BAME over the last 10 years.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
DCLG publishes regular statistics on rough sleeping, statutory homelessness and homelessness prevention and relief. These are published at a local authority level. The latest statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics.
DCLG records data on decisions taken by local authorities on homelessness applications. The statistics on homelessness decisions by the ethnicity of the main applicant for the last ten years can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness#detailed-local-authority-level-responses
A breakdown of homelessness acceptances by the ethnicity of the main applicant is shown in live table 771, published here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many convictions resulted from offences under (a) Part 1 and (b) Part 2 of the Housing Act 2004 in (i) England and (ii) each local justice area in (A) 2013, (B) 2014 and (C) 2015.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Department does not hold data on such convictions.
The Housing and Planning Bill contains measures to tackle rogue landlords who rent out sub-standard accommodation. Proposals include a database of rogue landlords and property agents, introducing banning orders for serious or repeat offenders, a tougher fit and proper person test, extending Rent Repayment Orders and introducing civil penalties of up to £30,000.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many (a) environmental health officers and (b) other staff in local authorities were responsible for enforcement of provisions in the Housing Act 2004 in (i) 2012-13, (ii) 2013-14 and (iii) 2014-15.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Department does not collect this data. It is the responsibility of local authorities to decide appropriate staffing levels to meet their obligations on enforcement.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what research his Department has conducted on the willingness of landlords to let properties to tenants in receipt of housing benefit; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The English Housing Survey, funded by the Department, published its Headline Report 2014-15 in February 2016 which showed that 27% of privately rented households are in receipt of housing benefit.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the change in real terms spending on children's service (a) overall and (b) per 1,000 head of population aged 0 to 19 was in each local authority between 2010 and 2015.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Expenditure on children’s social care, in 2010-11 (adjusted to real terms) and 2014-15 (the latest year for which figures are available), for each local authority in England, is attached.
Data on children’s social care expenditure is not collected for the age range requested.
Due to differences in definition, it is not possible to compare figures for 2010-11 with 2014-15. In particular, elements of services to young people are now included within education expenditure.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the change was in real terms expenditure on social care (a) overall and (b) per 1,000 head of population aged 65 or over in each local authority between 2010 and 2015.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Expenditure on adult social care, in 2010-11 (adjusted to real terms) and 2014-15 (the latest year for which figures are available), for each local authority in England, is attached.
It is not possible, from the data available, to dis-aggregate adult social care expenditure for the age range requested.
Due to differences in definition and changes to the responsibility of service provision between the NHS and local government, it is not possible to compare figures for 2010-11 with 2014-15. In particular, prior to the introduction of the Public Health Grant, elements of public health expenditure may have been classified as adult social care expenditure within the relevant statistical returns.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the change in the number of BME households who have (a) applied and (b) been accepted for homeless status was in each region and constituent nation of the UK between 2010 and 2015.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The available information on homelessness decisions taken and acceptances for each region in England for each financial year from 2004/05 to 2014/15 is given in the attached table.
Information for other parts of the UK are a matter for the devolved Administrations.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to appoint the Chair of the review of the localisation of council tax benefit; and by what process he plans for that Chair and other people working on that review work to be selected.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The details of the Chair and terms of reference for the independent review of local council tax support schemes will be published in due course. A Review team comprising four full-time equivalents staff has been set up to provide project and analytical support to the Chair.
The Review will be completed by the end of March 2016.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will place in the Library the minutes of the meeting of the Council Tax Partnership Forum in June 2015.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Forum members agreed to to cancel the June 2015 meeting, as there were no substantive agenda times. Therefore there are no minutes available.