Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing consumer standards in social housing by conducting proactive and regular inspections.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Nothing is more important than ensuring people are safe in their homes. Residents’ voices need to be heard to ensure proper standards are maintained and that where things are going wrong they are picked up and addressed. We want to ensure that there is a coherent and consistent approach to regulation to deliver these objectives, and achieve the best deal for tenants and landlords. Our review of social housing regulation is exploring the most appropriate way of doing so, and we will publish the results of that review in due course.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the recommendations for a new social housing regulator made by Shelter in their report entitled A Vision for Social Housing.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Nothing is more important than ensuring people are safe in their homes. Residents’ voices need to be heard to ensure proper standards are maintained and that where things are going wrong they are picked up and addressed. We want to ensure that there is a coherent and consistent approach to regulation to deliver these objectives, and achieve the best deal for tenants and landlords. Our review of social housing regulation is exploring the most appropriate way of doing so, and we will publish the results of that review in due course.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of creating a new consumer protection regulator for social renters alongside an economic Regulator of Social Housing, as set out in the Shelter report entitled A Vision for Social Housing.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Nothing is more important than ensuring people are safe in their homes. Residents’ voices need to be heard to ensure proper standards are maintained and that where things are going wrong they are picked up and addressed. We want to ensure that there is a coherent and consistent approach to regulation to deliver these objectives, and achieve the best deal for tenants and landlords. Our review of social housing regulation is exploring the most appropriate way of doing so, and we will publish the results of that review in due course.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of East Sussex Country Council on that council's financial situation.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
We have regular discussions with local authorities on a range of issues.
As part of the 2019-20 Local Government Finance Settlement, and more broadly, all councils including East Sussex have the opportunity to engage with the Department.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
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 effect on the provision of services by East Sussex County Council of the imposition of a statutory minimum budget by that council.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The majority of the funding available to East Sussex through our Local Government Finance Settlement is non-ringfenced. This allows East Sussex to manage their budgets in line with local priorities, and they are accountable to their local electorate for the decisions they take over the provision of services.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to prevent East Sussex County Council going bankrupt.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
Through the Local Government Finance Settlement, East Sussex Council will have available over £1.8 billion of core spending power over the spending review period (2015/16 to 2019-20). Funding provided through the settlement is largely unringfenced. Decisions about funding priorities for local services are rightly for local areas to take.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to section 185 of the Localism Act 2011, whether his Department has issued guidance to local authorities on the (a) exemptions and (a) application of selective licensing on fully mutual housing co-operatives.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Section 185 of the Localism Act 2011 amends Schedule 14 of the Housing Act 2004 to exempt fully mutual housing co-operatives from mandatory houses in multiple occupation licensing, this section does not apply to selective licensing. The Government has not issued guidance to local authorities on a) exemptions or b) the application of selective licensing on fully mutual housing co-operatives. Fully mutual housing co-operatives are still subject to local authority selective licensing schemes.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will ask the Local Government Boundary Commission for England to review the boundary between Lewes District and East Sussex County Councils and Brighton and Hove City Council in order to re-unify Saltdean for the purposes of local government administration.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Local Government Boundary Commission for England may undertake a boundary review following a request from the councils concerned, the Secretary of State, or on its own initiative. Our policy is that all local government structural or boundary changes should be locally-led, and hence it would not be appropriate for the Secretary of State to request a review of the boundary between Lewes District and East Sussex County Councils, and Brighton and Hove City Council – any such request should be made by the councils concerned.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will assess the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to permit a parish or community council to be established covering an area that is continuous over two primary local authority areas.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The ability to create, amend or abolish parish and community councils was devolved to local government by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. Central Government therefore has no remit for involvement in such an issue.
However, as a local matter, the parties concerned should contact the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, which has powers to recommend boundary changes between principal local authorities, and consequential changes to parish arrangements to the Secretary of State. A review of this kind is known as a Principal Area Boundary Review (PABR).
The Commission’s current policy is that it would only agree to carry out a PABR if there was support from all authorities involved in the potential boundary change, that the proposal represented value for money for local taxpayers and there is evidence of public support for the proposition.