Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Marsha De Cordova and Rachel Blake

Thursday 22nd May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Marsha De Cordova]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. Justice must be served regardless of the institution a crime is committed in.

[Rachel Blake (Cities of London and Westminster) (Lab/Co-op)]

7. What steps the Church Commissioners are taking to ensure value for money for leaseholders.

[Marsha De Cordova]

The Church Commissioners property team regularly meets and engages with residents associations, as part of its programme of support for its tenants, to ensure best value for money for leaseholders.

[Rachel Blake]

I thank my hon. Friend for the time she spent with me and my constituents of the Hyde Park estate to discuss tackling some of the high service charges they are facing. Does she agree that it is vital that the Government continue to make progress on the regulation of managing agents so that these high costs are clamped down on and there is more accountability for leaseholders?

[Marsha De Cordova]

I commend my hon. Friend for all the work she is doing on this important issue, which affects many constituencies, and it was a pleasure to meet her and members of that residents association. We all know that many managing agents behave in ways that are not fit for purpose. It is absolutely right that we need legislation to deal with unscrupulous managing agents, because things cannot continue in the current vein. I thank her for all the work she is doing.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Marsha De Cordova and Rachel Blake

Thursday 16th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Marsha De Cordova]

Independent scrutiny of the Church’s safeguarding work is extremely important. The Church commissioned a series of audits on dioceses and cathedrals by independent safeguarding experts, and several have been completed and published. The independently chaired national safeguarding panel, which includes victims and survivors among its members, currently scrutinises safeguarding, but as I have already pointed out, proposals to strengthen scrutiny in the Church will be voted on at the Synod next month, and the Church will then have to create a plan for implementation once the right model has been approved at that General Synod in February.

[Rachel Blake (Cities of London and Westminster) (Lab/Co-op)]

3. What steps the Church is taking to improve the maintenance of the Hyde Park Estate.

[Marsha De Cordova]

The Hyde Park estate has been managed by the Church Commissioners for over 150 years, and they are committed to its long-term stewardship. As responsible landlords, the commissioners are committed to adopting best practice and have continuous investment programmes for the management of buildings on the estate to ensure that they remain fit for purpose both now and in the future.

[Rachel Blake]

I have been working for months with residents of the Quadrangle, the Water Gardens and Connaught Village on the scale of their service charges. They have managed to reduce their service charges by 10%. Will my hon. Friend join me in congratulating them on their hard work and agree that they should not have had to work that hard? Will she join me in a meeting with the Church Commissioners to improve the transparency and monitoring of service charge levels?

[Marsha De Cordova]

Of course I congratulate the residents on their hard work. I know from my constituency about the challenges around increases in service charges; it is so important that they are transparent to everybody. I would be happy to join my hon. Friend in a meeting with her residents on this issue, and I would recommend including those from the Church Commissioners’ property services team. I hope that will be okay.