Asked by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 July 2024, to Question 1748, on Levelling Up Fund, if she will publish the details of where agreements are in place.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Details of all projects awarded funding through the Levelling Up Fund have been published on gov.uk.
The Chancellor’s July ‘Public Spending: Inheritance’ speech forecasted an overspend of £21.9 billion above limits set by the Treasury in the Spring. We understand that will have caused uncertainty about the status of some projects and the challenge that presents locally. We must, however, ensure that we are making responsible decisions on public spending. Decisions that have fallen on this government to take. In this context, the Chancellor has set out a path to confirming plans for this year and next at the forthcoming Budget on October 30th.
Asked by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to improve voter registration.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Pursuant to the answer to Question UIN 5627 on 9 October 2024, Government is committed to improving electoral registration. We are exploring a wide range of options to deliver on this commitment, including using data and online services with any potential changes based on robust evidence and user research.
Asked by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 565 on Derelict Land, whether grey belt will become a formal designation.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government set out its proposed approach to grey belt in its consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework. The consultation closed on the 24 September and officials in my department are currently analysing responses with a view to publishing a government response before the end of the year.
Asked by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) estimate her Department has made of the cost of and (b) her Department's planned timetable is for providing homes to all veterans; and what are the metrics by which it will be assessed.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to Question UIN 6842 answered on 9 October 2024.
Asked by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans her Department has to ensure that a regulatory impact assessment for the Renters' Rights Bill will include an assessment of that Bill's (a) cumulative potential impact on and (b) potential interaction with the (i) changes to Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards for the private renter sector announced on 23 September 2024 and (ii) technical detail of the Decent Homes Standard for the private rented sector.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government submitted the Impact Assessment for the Renters’ Rights Bill on 16 September 2024 to the Regulatory Policy Committee and we will publish it in due course. The Government has announced its intention to publish a consultation on increasing minimum energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector by the end of the year. Measures to set a decent home standard in the Private Rented Sector are included in the Renters’ Rights Bill and we have made clear we intend to consult on this. The impacts for private landlords will be considered in the respective Impact Assessments.
Asked by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Pursuant to the answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 569 on Affordable Housing: Construction, what the evidential basis is that changes to national planning policy introduced in December 2023 were damaging.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The supply impact of the last government’s approach to planning reform is clear: homes granted planning permission fell to their lowest level in a decade in the last published quarter. The proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework which we have consulted on will reverse the changes made in December 2023 that were disruptive to the sector and detrimental to housing supply.
Asked by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Pursuant to the answer of 25 July 2024, to Question 1010 on Housing: Northstowe, what the site specific reasons that the project was stalled are.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The New Homes Accelerator, in partnership with Homes England, will support the delivery of Phase 2 of the Northstowe scheme in Cambridgeshire, unlocking 3,000 homes and continuing to progress proposals to unlock a further 2,600 homes in Phase 3.
As a result of issues relating to the planning process and delivery partners, Homes England will be taking a stronger leadership and delivery role to make sure that the quality of delivery matches the aspirations of the local community. This phase will include putting the new town centre in place. Homes England is entering into in a new partnership agreement with the private sector to support delivery of the next stage of the scheme. The department will also provide enhanced planning capacity support.
The department will also provide enhanced planning capacity support, through an in-house team consisting of senior multi-disciplinary built environment professionals.
Asked by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 25 July 2024, to Question 1010, on Housing: Northstowe, if she will set out the remit of the accelerator taskforce.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The New Homes Accelerator, in partnership with Homes England, will support the delivery of Phase 2 of the Northstowe scheme in Cambridgeshire, unlocking 3,000 homes and continuing to progress proposals to unlock a further 2,600 homes in Phase 3.
As a result of issues relating to the planning process and delivery partners, Homes England will be taking a stronger leadership and delivery role to make sure that the quality of delivery matches the aspirations of the local community. This phase will include putting the new town centre in place. Homes England is entering into in a new partnership agreement with the private sector to support delivery of the next stage of the scheme. The department will also provide enhanced planning capacity support.
The department will also provide enhanced planning capacity support, through an in-house team consisting of senior multi-disciplinary built environment professionals.
Asked by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 25 July 2024 to Question 1007 on Planning Authorities: Staff, how the 300 planners her Department plans to hire over the next five years will be funded.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department continues to assess options for delivering 300 additional planning officers to ensure their recruitment supports the quality of local planning services, proposed reforms to the system, housebuilding priorities and our manifesto commitments. The recruitment will be overseen by the Department’s dedicated Planning Capacity and Capability team under the Chief Planner in MHCLG, in addition to its wider work to support local planning authorities.
This work includes funding the recruitment of new graduates into local planning authorities across England, and their professional training, through Pathways to Planning; as well as the national roll out of the Public Practice associate programme, which brings mid-career professionals into local authority employment to fill skill gaps in areas such as urban design.
Asked by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to take steps to support self and custom build housing.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The recent consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework included changes designed to strengthen support for self and custom build housing by means of encouraging mixed tenure development and strengthening the small sites policy.
The consultation closed on the 24 September and officials in my department are currently analysing responses with a view to publishing a government response before the end of the year.