Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many £350 optional thank you payments have been made under the Homes for Ukraine scheme; and what the average time taken is for a thank you payment to be made.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Data relating to these payments will be made available in due course.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when additional guidance on rematching when hosting arrangements break down under the Homes for Ukraine scheme will be issued to local authorities.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Guidance has been published at: www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to help Ukrainian refugees under the Homes for Ukraine scheme (a) access bank accounts and (b) apply for national insurance numbers.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Further to the oral statement by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up on 14 March, guidance for local authorities has been published on Gov.uk at www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils . There are also published FAQs available online at www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-scheme-frequently-asked-questions as well as information for sponsors at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-sponsor-guidance . Information is available on safeguarding checks at these links, as well as on eligibility for the scheme. Phase One of the Homes for Ukraine scheme opened for applications on 18 March and is accessible via links from homesforukraine.campaign.gov.uk . Those who had recorded their interest in the scheme were also contacted on that date. Details on future phases of the scheme will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of the staff employed by his Department are apprentices.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
At 31 January 2021, 1.4 per cent of the total staff, or 34 of 2434, employed within the Department were employed as apprentices. The Civil Service continues to publish data on its apprenticeship targets; the data for which can be found below for 2018/19 and 2019/20.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-apprenticeship-data-2018-to-2019
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-apprenticeship-data-2019-to-2020
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
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 implications for his policies of the Friends Families and Travellers 2020 report entitled No place to stop: Research on the five year supply of deliverable Gypsy and Traveller sites in the South East of England.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Planning Policy for Traveller Sites is clear that Local Planning Authorities should set pitch targets for gypsies and travellers and plot targets for travelling showpeople which address the likely permanent and transit site accommodation needs of travellers in their area, working collaboratively with neighbouring local planning authorities. They should identify and update annually, a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide 5 years’ worth of sites against their locally set targets.
Through a Written Ministerial Statement on 6 February 2019 (HCWS1305), local authorities were reminded of their duties to assess the need for transit and permanent sites.
We have committed to a number of measures to support site provision including to finalise the 2016 draft guidance on assessing housing need including for those residing in caravans; and to consider making information on permanent and transit sites in plans freely available in open data format so that there is a single, clear source of data available. We will also consider writing to those authorities who do not have an up-to-date plan for travellers in place.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
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 implications for his policies of the roundtable report entitled Challenging and improving planning policy for Gypsies and Travellers from the all-party parliamentary group on Gypsies Travellers and Roma.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Planning Policy for Traveller Sites is clear that Local Planning Authorities should set pitch targets for gypsies and travellers and plot targets for travelling showpeople which address the likely permanent and transit site accommodation needs of travellers in their area, working collaboratively with neighbouring local planning authorities. They should identify and update annually, a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide 5 years’ worth of sites against their locally set targets.
Through a Written Ministerial Statement on 6 February 2019 (HCWS1305), local authorities were reminded of their duties to assess the need for transit and permanent sites.
We have committed to a number of measures to support site provision including to finalise the 2016 draft guidance on assessing housing need including for those residing in caravans; and to consider making information on permanent and transit sites in plans freely available in open data format so that there is a single, clear source of data available. We will also consider writing to those authorities who do not have an up-to-date plan for travellers in place.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the May 2019 Building a Safer Future: Independent Review of Fire Safety: Final Report, Cm9607, whether the proposed Dutyholders will be the same as provided for in the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has been considering the feedback received from its ‘Building a Safer Future’ consultation carefully, working with other government departments, its delivery partners and stakeholders in the building safety sector to ensure that the reforms brought forward are comprehensive and deliver real change.
We will be shortly publishing our response to this consultation, setting out details of the new regulatory regime, to be legislated for in the Building Safety Bill, that will ensure residents are, and feel, safe in their homes.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the May 2019 Building a Safer Future: Independent Review of Fire Safety: Final Report, Cm9607, whether he plans to extend the requirement that buildings in use have a safety case to (a) residential facilities out of scope of the Independent Review, (b) office premises, (c) sports stadia, (d) transport hubs and (e) other public settings and events.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has been considering the feedback received from its ‘Building a Safer Future’ consultation carefully, working with other government departments, its delivery partners and stakeholders in the building safety sector to ensure that the reforms brought forward are comprehensive and deliver real change.
We will be shortly publishing our response to this consultation, setting out details of the new regulatory regime, to be legislated for in the Building Safety Bill, that will ensure residents are, and feel, safe in their homes.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the Government’s response to the feedback received on the 6 June 2019 consultation entitled Building a safer future: proposals for reform of the building safety regulatory system.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has been considering the feedback received from its ‘Building a Safer Future’ consultation carefully, working with other government departments, its delivery partners and stakeholders in the building safety sector to ensure that the reforms brought forward are comprehensive and deliver real change.
We will be shortly publishing our response to this consultation, setting out details of the new regulatory regime, to be legislated for in the Building Safety Bill, that will ensure residents are, and feel, safe in their homes.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the May 2019 Building a Safer Future: Independent Review of Fire Safety: Final Report, Cm 9607, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of Dutyholders having to ensure that building safety risk is reduced so far as is reasonably practicable compared with as low as reasonably practicable.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has been considering the feedback received from its ‘Building a Safer Future’ consultation carefully, working with other government departments, its delivery partners and stakeholders in the building safety sector to ensure that the reforms brought forward are comprehensive and deliver real change.
We will be shortly publishing our response to this consultation, setting out details of the new regulatory regime, to be legislated for in the Building Safety Bill, that will ensure residents are, and feel, safe in their homes.