Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is an cap on the borrowing that local authorities can undertake; if so, what the basis for this cap is; and what powers they have to step in should borrowing be excessive, including through the Public Works Loan Board.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Under Local Government Act 2003, local authorities have the freedom to borrow and invest, without government consent, provided that their borrowing is affordable. As part of this ‘prudential’ framework, every local authority is required to set its own borrowing limit, which must be approved by full Council or the equivalent at least annually. The Government has backstop powers to set national borrowing limits at times of economic crisis, which would override the normal prudential freedoms. These powers have never been used.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their guidance to council tax payers in cases where a monitoring officer has not intervened when councillors who have not paid their own council tax take part in the council's annual budget meeting.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
If a local resident has a concern with the actions of their local monitoring officer, they should use the council’s formal complaints process, so that the council becomes aware of the problem and can take appropriate action. Councils are independent and responsible for their own staff management and disciplinary procedures.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consequences a local authority monitoring officer would face, under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 or other relevant laws, if he or she allowed an elected member who had not paid their council tax to vote on the council budget.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 makes it an offence for a councillor in council tax arrears (with at least two months unpaid bills) to vote at a meeting of the council where financial matters relating to council tax are being considered.
Monitoring Officers have a specific duty to report on any matters they believe are, or may be illegal. A failure to report any illegal activity would be a disciplinary matter for the relevant local authority.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
Her Majesty's Government what guidance is available for local authorities on the arrangements they should make in the event that a chief executive stands down temporarily.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government has not issued guidance for local authorities on this matter. It is for each local authority to decide for itself what arrangements it should put in place.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
Her Majesty's Government what procedures and actions are in place to check the cladding of private multi-storey residential buildings and public buildings.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Testing is underway for social housing providers, private landlords and across the public sector in relation to cladding on tower blocks over 18 metres in height. Testing is being undertaken by the Building Research Establishment where Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding is identified. If the screening tests indicate that such cladding would not meet the limited combustibility requirements of the current Building Regulations guidance, local authorities and housing associations, in conjunction with the fire and rescue service, will determine the best course of action, communicating closely with residents. Where we have results for specific areas, and tenants have been informed of the action to be taken, then further details are being released publicly.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many rough sleepers there were in the UK for each of the last three years; and what plans they have to tackle this issue.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
One person without a home is one too many and we are committed to doing all we can to prevent homelessness. This government is determined to help the most vulnerable in society, which is why we're investing £550 million until 2020 to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
As part of this, in December we announced 84 successful bids to our £50 million Homelessness Prevention Programme. This will help those people at risk of becoming homeless, already sleeping rough or those with complex needs, to get back on their feet.
We are going even further and changing the law by backing Bob Blackman MP's Homelessness Reduction Bill. This will mean that people across the country get the help they need to avoid becoming homeless in the first place.
DCLG publishes annual statistics on the number of people seen sleeping rough on a single night in England by local authority. These are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics
As Housing is a devolved matter, rough sleeping statistics for Wales are available here:
https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Housing/Homelessness/Rough-Sleepers
Rough sleeping statistics for Scotland can be found here:
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/RefTables
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of (1) Liverpool City Council support for the Project Enterprise Village initiative, and (2) the Insolvency Service investigation and subsequent disqualification undertaking banning Shazan Qureshi from acting as a company director, whether they will issue guidance to local authorities to ensure that a local authority acting as an accountable body in any private company-led funding application undertakes full background and bankruptcy checks on all company directors.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
All local authorities should act responsibly when entering into business with, or supporting, independent organisations or businesses. Local authorities are stewards of public assets, including taxpayers’ money, and should demonstrate due diligence and secure value for money for the taxpayer when using public funds.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 13 July (HL1065), which are the 24 local authorities that have adopted new green belt boundaries and what is their estimate of (1) the subsequent loss of greenbelt land, and (2) how much greenbelt land has been lost in England during the last five years.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The list of 24 local authorities (see below) that have adopted new Green Belt boundaries in the last five years will be placed in the Library of the House. This includes an estimate of the increase or decrease in Green Belt area in each case. Over the last five years the area of Green Belt nationally decreased by 0.2 per cent , and overall the Green Belt is larger than it was in 1997 if we disregard land re-classified as national park.
2014-15 | Area of designated Green Belt land 2014/15 (hectares) | Change from 2013/14 (hectares) | |
Bath and North East Somerset | 24,690 | -100 (0%) | -100 |
Bolton | 7,230 | -50 (-1%) | -50 |
Broxtowe | 5,130 | -20 (0%) | -20 |
Cheshire West and Chester | 39,170 | -60 (0%) | -60 |
Christchurch | 3,270 | -200 (-6%) | -200 |
East Dorset | 16,720 | -160 (-1%) | -160 |
Gateshead | 8,530 | -150 (-2%) | -150 |
Newcastle upon Tyne | 3,980 | -410 (-9%) | -410 |
Rushcliffe | 16,570 | -670 (-4%) | -670 |
Solihull | 11,870 | -40 (0%) | -40 |
Three Rivers | 6,720 | -110 (-2%) | -10 |
2013-14 | Area of designated Green Belt land 2013/14 (hectares) | Change from 2012/13 (hectares) | |
Rochford | 12,570 | -190 (-2%) | -190 |
South Gloucestershire | 23,030 | -210 (-1%) | -210 |
West Lancashire | 34,470 | -150 (0%) | -150 |
2012-13 | Area of designated Green Belt land 2012/13 (hectares) | Change from 2011/12 (hectares) | |
Ealing | 310 | -20 (-6%) | -20 |
Manchester | 1,280 | -430 (-25%) | -430 |
Purbeck | 8,200 | +460 (+6%) | 460 |
Wakefield | 23,500 | -400 (-2%) | -400 |
2011-12 | Area of designated Green Belt land 2011/12 (hectares) | Change from 2010/11 (hectares) | |
Chelmsford | 12,850 | -35 (0%) | -35 |
Hyndburn | 3,990 | -41 (-1%) | -41 |
Thurrock | 11,920 | -51 (0%) | -51 |
2010-11 | Area of designated Green Belt land 2010/11 (hectares) | Change from 2009/10 (hectares) | |
Enfield | 3,060 | -30 (-1%) | -30 |
Vale of WH | 8,310 | +5 (0%) | 5 |
Slough | 860 | +30 (+3%) | 30 |
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many changes to green belt boundaries have been made in the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Between 2010/11 and 2014/15, 24 local authorities adopted new boundaries for the designated Green Belt.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they are taking to ensure widespread access to reasonably priced accommodation for students in London and other metropoles.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government recognises the need for a diverse housing stock, providing students with a choice of accommodation to suit their individual needs. Our national planning guidance encourages local authorities to plan for sufficient student accommodation whether it consists of communal halls of residence or self-contained dwellings, and whether or not it is on campus.
The key to improving affordability is to build more homes. We are working to increase supply by accelerating the development of a new market for private renters, including our £1 billion build to rent fund and the £3.5 billion private rented sector debt guarantee scheme.