Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his planned timetable is for repealing the Vagrancy Act 1824.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is unacceptable that the antiquated Vagrancy Act 1824 remains on our statute book. The legislation does nothing to target the root causes of homelessness. That is why we are committed to repealing this punitive legislation.
We will commence the repeal once replacement measures in the Crime and Policing Bill come into force next year.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of implementing a Dispute Resolution Scheme, similar to the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, to resolve service charge disputes between landlords and tenants in social housing.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
By law, variable service charges must be reasonable. Overcharging through service charges is completely unacceptable. Should tenants of private registered providers of social housing wish to contest the reasonableness of their service charges, they may make an application to the appropriate tribunal.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 includes measures designed to designed to drive up the transparency of service charges and to make them more easily challengeable if leaseholders consider them to be unreasonable.
On 4 July, my Department published a consultation on Strengthening Leaseholder Protections for charges and services. It can be found on gov.uk here.
The consultation seeks views on how to implement the relevant measures in the Act, and includes proposals to extend aspects of it to social housing tenants.
I otherwise refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 4 July (HCWS780).
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of extending the SEND Deficit Override until 2028 on (a) local authority finances and (b) local authority reserves.
Answered by Jim McMahon
This government recognises the pressures local authorities are facing because of their Dedicated School Grant (DSG) deficits, as well as the impacts on local authority reserves. The extension to the DSG Statutory Override is part of a phased transition to a reformed Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system. The Department for Education Spending Review settlement confirmed funding for SEND reform, details of which will be set out in a White Paper in the autumn. As part of this transition process, the government will provide more detail by the end of the year on the plan for supporting local authorities with both historic and accruing deficits. We will set out more detail at the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
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 implement a statutory code of conduct for parking operators.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 42709 on 7 April 2025.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
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 22 July 2024 to Question 207 on Vagrancy Act 1824, whether it is her Department's policy to de-criminalise homelessness.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is clear that homelessness has a devastating impact on those affected.
We need to take a long term approach and to tackle the different factors that can cause people to become homeless.
We will consider these issues carefully and, working with Mayors and councils across the country, develop a new cross-government strategy to put Britain back on track to ending homelessness. This will include consideration of any relevant legislation.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her policy is on repealing the Vagrancy Act 1824.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
The Government is clear that homelessness is too high and can have a devastating impact on those affected.
We need to take a long term approach and to tackle the different factors that can cause people to become homeless.
We will consider these issues carefully and, working with Mayors and councils across the country, develop a new cross-government strategy to put Britain back on track to ending homelessness. This will include consideration of any relevant legislation.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her Department's policy is on increasing county council funding for (a) social care services, (b) SEND services and (c) road maintenance.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The Government recognises the pressures that local authorities are facing and is committed to getting councils back on their feet, by providing multi-year funding settlements, ending competitive bidding for pots of money and reforming the local audit system.
Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement. The department will work with local government leaders to ensure they are better able to fulfil their statutory duties.
The Government’s manifesto set out our intention for a programme of reform to create a National Care Service to deliver consistency of care across the country. We will work with the Department for Health and Social Care to engage local government on the development of this.
On SEND services, we are committed to taking a community-wide approach, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs.
We will also work constructively with the Department for Transport with a view to ensuring local authorities have sufficient revenue funding within their settlement to carry out vital cyclical repairs to their network.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment on the potential impact of increased service charges on (a) leaseholders and (b) local authorities in Oxfordshire.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Service charges should be transparent, reasonable and there should be a clear route to challenge or redress if things go wrong and the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will help make this reality.
The Government has set out its position on leasehold reform as part of progress on the Leasehold and Freehold reform Bill. Full details of the measures can be found here: Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to ensure low income households can appeal increased service charges.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Service charges should be transparent, reasonable and there should be a clear route to challenge or redress if things go wrong and the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will help make this reality.
The Government has set out its position on leasehold reform as part of progress on the Leasehold and Freehold reform Bill. Full details of the measures can be found here: Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to ensure that British citizens with lawful dual citizenship are able to (a) vote and (b) stand for elections in all parts of the UK and overseas territories.
Answered by Simon Hoare
A British citizen with dual nationality can register to vote and qualify to stand in UK parliamentary, local and police and crime commissioners (PCC) elections as a British citizen, as long as they meet the other qualifying requirements, such as age and residency.
The online Register to Vote service includes information to assist individuals with more than one nationality. On the section of the service requesting nationality information, text below that question advises applicants with more than one nationality to include them all. The same guidance appears on paper application forms.
The Electoral Commission produces guidance for EROs to use when processing applications to register to vote. This guidance advises that when an application is received from a dual national, the ERO “should always process an application in accordance with the nationality that provides the higher level of franchise”.
Elections in UK overseas territories are determined by each territory and the Government has no plans to change this. Each Overseas Territory has its own rules and regulations regarding voting and candidacy eligibility.
The UK Government believes that the current fundamental structure of our constitutional relationships with the Overseas Territories is the right one. Elected governments of the Territories have powers to the maximum extent possible, consistent with the UK retaining those powers necessary to discharge its sovereign responsibilities.