Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 continuing thank you payments following the end of the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) scheme allows existing Ukraine scheme visa holders to apply for further permission to remain in the UK for an additional 18-months. To support Ukrainians who are still in Homes for Ukraine sponsorship arrangements as they transition to living independently, the government has also extended thank you payments for 18-months under the UPE scheme only.
The UPE visa period provides guests and sponsors with time to plan to live independently and, if needed, to secure independently funded accommodation.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many Ukrainian households with dependent children in Wales received homelessness assistance from their local authority in 2022.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Local authority homelessness assistance is a devolved matter in Wales, but the UK Government works closely with colleagues in the Welsh Government and local authorities in Wales on the delivery of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
As part of that scheme, local authorities receive funding – a tariff – per arrival which includes resource to allow local authorities to provide statutory homelessness services if required.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many Ukrainian households in Wales received homelessness assistance from their local authority in each month of 2022.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Local authority homelessness assistance is a devolved matter in Wales, but the UK Government works closely with colleagues in the Welsh Government and local authorities in Wales on the delivery of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
As part of that scheme, local authorities receive funding – a tariff – per arrival which includes resource to allow local authorities to provide statutory homelessness services if required.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 it his policy to allow those currently on the Ukraine Family Scheme to switch to the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Ukraine Family Scheme was set up to act as a light touch, temporary alternative to the existing family migration routes which existed before the Ukraine conflict.
The UK-based family member is expected to provide support and accommodation for those coming to join them under the Family Scheme. We are aware however that in some cases, living arrangements for those on this scheme have not been able to be maintained.
We have been engaging with stakeholders in local government, the devolved administrations, and the voluntary and community sector in order to inform the consideration of our options for the Ukraine visa schemes.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the parity of funding and support available from the Government for individuals on the Ukraine Family Scheme compared to those on the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Ukraine Family Scheme is intended as a light touch, temporary, alternative to the existing family routes which existed before the Ukraine conflict, where public services are funded out of council budgets and the same principle is applied here
The UK-based family member is expected to provide support and accommodation for those coming to join them, who in turn benefit from the wider integration advantages in joining an existing family network.
Homes for Ukraine on the other hand is a unique scheme that has been set up specifically to support those escaping the conflict in Ukraine who are not able to rely on family support. The Government is providing additional funding to local councils which includes resource to enable them to carry out sponsorship-specific functions such as safeguarding checks and property checks, administering payments, as well as providing support such as English language training to help their integration into communities.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department has taken to verify the authenticity of organisations that contact sponsors directly under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
It has not proved possible to respond to the rt. hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 of the implications for his policies on future building standards for communal areas in blocks of flats of the need to protect occupants from infection with covid-19, in particular where some of the flats are used as holiday lets.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
COVID-19 has shown the importance of ventilation in reducing the spread of infection. In England, it is through Part F of the Building Regulations that we set minimum ventilation standards for new buildings, or when work is done to an existing building. We have recently published our response to the Future Buildings Standard Consultation which sets out new guidance on Part F, to come into force in June 2022. The new guidance includes measures to mitigate the risks of airborne infection in new buildings, including CO2 monitoring and updated specifications for systems that recirculate air between rooms.
Buildings should be provided with an adequate means of ventilation as a requirement of the Building Regulations. The updated guidance for shared communal rooms (such as laundry rooms or communal gyms) in flats is provided in Approved Document F2. This states that rooms in new buildings where aerobic exercise is likely to take place, such as communal gyms, should have CO2 monitors installed, which allow air quality to be monitored.
Building regulations apply when a new building is erected, or when building work is done to an existing building. They apply equally to buildings irrespective of tenure, including those that are let for short periods of time, such as holiday lets.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether there are regulations in place to regulate the implementation of ventilation and other covid-19 safety measures in communal areas of residential blocks of flats which include a mix of permanent tenants and holiday lets.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
COVID-19 has shown the importance of ventilation in reducing the spread of infection. In England, it is through Part F of the Building Regulations that we set minimum ventilation standards for new buildings, or when work is done to an existing building. We have recently published our response to the Future Buildings Standard Consultation which sets out new guidance on Part F, to come into force in June 2022. The new guidance includes measures to mitigate the risks of airborne infection in new buildings, including CO2 monitoring and updated specifications for systems that recirculate air between rooms.
Buildings should be provided with an adequate means of ventilation as a requirement of the Building Regulations. The updated guidance for shared communal rooms (such as laundry rooms or communal gyms) in flats is provided in Approved Document F2. This states that rooms in new buildings where aerobic exercise is likely to take place, such as communal gyms, should have CO2 monitors installed, which allow air quality to be monitored.
Building regulations apply when a new building is erected, or when building work is done to an existing building. They apply equally to buildings irrespective of tenure, including those that are let for short periods of time, such as holiday lets.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has plans to start collecting data on the number of former armed service personnel who are (a) homeless, (b) rough sleepers and (b) in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Our veterans play a vital role in keeping our country safe and many have dedicated their lives to the services. For those who fall on hard times it is only right that we give them all the support they need to put a roof over their head.
In April 2018, MHCLG introduced a new homelessness data collection called Homelessness Case Level Information Collection (H-CLIC). H-CLIC captures information on all those who engage with local authority homelessness services, including those eligible for temporary accommodation and collects information on the support needs of a household, including support need resulting from being in the armed forces. These show that during October to December 2018, of the 61,410 households owed a homelessness duty in England, 440 required additional support because they formerly served in the armed forces. There are no plans to expand this collection to cover all former armed service personnel to include those who don’t require additional support.
The majority of data collected by MHCLG from local authorities for households in temporary accommodation pre dates the reporting changes in the H-CLIC data collection introduced in April 2018. This means data on armed forces support needs of those in temporary accommodation is not available for MHCLG to collect.
The latest statistics are available here:
The annual single night snapshot of people sleeping rough across all local areas in England provides some basic demographic information (age, gender, nationality).
The latest statistics are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rough-sleeping-in-england-autumn-2018
The Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) is a multi-agency database which records information about people seen rough sleeping by outreach teams in London across the year. Overall, 6 per cent of people seen sleeping rough by outreach workers across London during 2018/19 had served in the armed forces at some point in their lives. 2 per cent of these were UK nationals - around 115 people. The latest statistics are available here:
https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/chain-reports
Whilst we have a programme of work underway to improve the broader evidence base for homelessness and rough sleeping, we are not planning any major changes to the single night snapshot methodology but continue to encourage users to provide feedback on how these statistics are used and how well they meet their needs
MHCLG is actively encouraging local authorities with significant numbers of rough sleepers to improve their year-round data on rough sleeping and is working collaboratively with local authorities to develop improved homelessness data and outcomes that can measure progress in reducing rough sleeping and homelessness. We are also establishing local data pilots which will seek to improve the data collected by a wide range of services which people who sleep rough access.
This Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy which sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period. This year, Rough Sleeping Initiative investment totals £46 million and has been allocated to 246 areas – providing funding for an estimated 750 additional staff and over 2,600 bed spaces.
In March, we allocated an additional £1 million of bespoke funding to support former members of the armed forces who are or are at risk of becoming homeless. The funding has been allocated between the Combined Authorities and the Greater London Authority, and will be used to develop new services and support them in engaging with existing service provision.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the Barnett Consequentials for Wales of the new support for domestic abuse survivors, announced on 13 May 2019.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
On 13 May 2019, we launched a consultation on support for victims of domestic abuse in safe accommodation. This includes proposals for a statutory duty on local authorities in England to provide support. This consultation will help determine the level of funding required to support the new statutory duty. We estimate an early broad annual cost of around £90 million which the Secretary of State communicated to the House of Commons on the 13 May. The full costs will be informed by the consultation and taken into the Spending Review. We will consider any increase in funding for Devolved Administrations under the Barnett methodology once decisions have been taken on how to operate and fund the new duty.
My officials have discussed proposals for a duty with colleagues in the Welsh Government and will continue to work closely with them.