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We have committed to a number of measures to support site provision including to finalise the 2016 draft guidance on assessing housing need including for those residing in caravans; and to consider making information on permanent and transit sites in plans freely available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.