Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of unsecured personal debt on the Government's levelling up agenda.
Answered by Lia Nici
The heart of the Government's Levelling Up White paper is focused on building successful and strong places, which are more economically resilient by nature and able to respond to changing economic trends. Alongside this long-term plan, the Government is also delivering national measures to continue to help people in problem debt. Key initiatives include:
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether it is his policy to bring forward legislative proposals to ban second homes being used as holiday lets.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Government recognises that large numbers of second homes concentrated in a single area can have a negative effect on local communities and has introduced measures to help mitigate those effects, including introducing higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax for those purchasing additional properties, and powers in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill which will enable councils to introduce a council tax premium on second homes of up to 100%.
We continue to keep the position under review.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many applications have been received for the positions of (a) North East Levelling Up Director, (b) North West Levelling Up Director, (c) Yorkshire & The Humber Levelling Up Director, (d) East Midlands Levelling Up Director, (e) West Midlands Levelling Up Director, (f) East of England Levelling Up Director, (g) London Levelling Up Director, (h) South East Levelling Up Director, (i) South West Levelling Up Director, (j) Scotland Levelling Up Director, (k) Wales Levelling Up Director and (l) Northern Ireland Levelling Up Director.
Answered by Lia Nici
We are in the process of recruitment and more details will be available in due course.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps his Department has taken to help support private renters in the context of the rising cost of living.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. That is why the Government has taken action to support those who need it most worth over £37 billion in 2022-23.
While three quarters of private renters find no difficulties in keeping up with their rent, we understand that affordability may be an issue for some and that they may require additional support.
The Government has supported private renters vulnerable to the rise in the cost of living by maintaining the Local Housing Allowance uplift in cash terms in 2022/23, which has already benefitted 1.5 million households by £600 on average over 20/21; providing £100 million in 2022/23 for Discretionary Housing Payments on top of almost £1.5 billion in Discretionary Housing Payments to Local Authorities since 2011; and also providing over £300 million for the Homelessness Prevention Grant in 2022/23 to help people find a new home, access support for unexpected evictions, and secure temporary accommodation where needed.
This is in addition to support provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme, Council Tax rebates, and an expansion of the Household Support Fund.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2022 to Question 16928 on Right to Buy Scheme, what assessment he has made of the potential effectiveness of the extension of the Right to Buy scheme to housing associations in the context of the funding arrangements intended for that scheme; and when he plans to publish the full details of the scheme.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Right to Buy has helped nearly two million council tenants to become homeowners since 1980, and we want to give housing association tenants the same opportunity. We want the scheme to work effectively for tenants and housing associations, and we will be working closely with the housing association sector as we develop the scheme.
The scheme will be funded from within the overall envelope of Government spending. We will announce further details in due course.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much his Department has spent on rebranding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government since 19 September 2021.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The information requested will be published on Gov.uk in due course as part of the department’s transparency data.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dluhc-departmental-spending-over-250
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2022 to Question 2468 on Social Rented Housing: Construction, how many of the 180,000 new homes provided under the Affordable Homes Programme will be for affordable and social rent.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government's £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme for 2021-2026 is expected to deliver around 32,000 new social rent homes. We have not set a specific target for the numbers of affordable rent homes.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether a regulatory impact assessment had been made of the Government's policy to extend the Right to Buy scheme to housing associations prior to the announcement of the policy in the Prime Minister's speech on housing of 9 June 2022.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government is committed to the Right to Buy, which has helped nearly two million council tenants to realise their dream of home ownership.
As the Prime Minister has announced, we want housing association tenants to have the same opportunity as local authority tenants to be able to enjoy the benefits that homeownership brings.
The scheme will be funded from within the overall envelope of Government spending, and we will be working closely with the housing association sector as we develop the scheme. We will also ensure that one-for-one replacement of all homes sold is central to the scheme design and will announce more details in due course.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the total cost of the extension of the Right to Buy scheme to housing associations; and whether that cost will be met through new money from the Treasury, reductions to existing Government departmental budgets or another means.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government is committed to the Right to Buy, which has helped nearly two million council tenants to realise their dream of home ownership.
As the Prime Minister has announced, we want housing association tenants to have the same opportunity as local authority tenants to be able to enjoy the benefits that homeownership brings.
The scheme will be funded from within the overall envelope of Government spending, and we will be working closely with the housing association sector as we develop the scheme. We will also ensure that one-for-one replacement of all homes sold is central to the scheme design and will announce more details in due course.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the extension of the Right to Buy scheme to housing associations on the total stock of social housing; and what estimate he has made of the number of new homes that will need to be built to replace homes that have been sold under that expanded scheme.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government is committed to the Right to Buy, which has helped nearly two million council tenants to realise their dream of home ownership.
As the Prime Minister has announced, we want housing association tenants to have the same opportunity as local authority tenants to be able to enjoy the benefits that homeownership brings.
The scheme will be funded from within the overall envelope of Government spending, and we will be working closely with the housing association sector as we develop the scheme. We will also ensure that one-for-one replacement of all homes sold is central to the scheme design and will announce more details in due course.