Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
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 impact of her Department's proposed office closures on (a) disabled staff, (b) neurodiverse staff, (c) staff with caring responsibilities and (d) staff with other protected characteristics.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer my hon Friend to my answer to Question UIN 19288 on 17 December 2024.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has met with trade union representatives for staff in her Department since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer my hon Friend to my answer to Question UIN 19288 on 17 December 2024.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her oral Answer to the Question from the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend of 2 December 2024, Official Report, column 11, if she will publish the initial equality impact assessment.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department prepared an initial equality impact assessment in advance of the announcement of the location strategy, in line with our responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty. The Department is now consulting trade unions and staff. The consultation is considering the impact on the individuals affected by the decision to close six of our offices, with a view to informing the measures to mitigate those impacts and enable those individuals to continue to perform their roles effectively.
The equality impact assessment is being updated throughout that consultation process, to include the feedback from staff, including those with protected characteristics. The latest version has been shared with the trade unions.
The final version will be published following completion of that consultation process. My officials have met with trade union representatives on a regular basis and will continue to meet with them throughout the consultation and implementation process.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what account her Department took of the public sector equality duty in taking the decision to close six offices across its estate.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department prepared an initial equality impact assessment in advance of the announcement of the location strategy, in line with our responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty. The Department is now consulting trade unions and staff. The consultation is considering the impact on the individuals affected by the decision to close six of our offices, with a view to informing the measures to mitigate those impacts and enable those individuals to continue to perform their roles effectively.
The equality impact assessment is being updated throughout that consultation process, to include the feedback from staff, including those with protected characteristics. The latest version has been shared with the trade unions.
The final version will be published following completion of that consultation process. My officials have met with trade union representatives on a regular basis and will continue to meet with them throughout the consultation and implementation process.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of social housing waiting lists on the capacity of homelessness services.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We recognise England is in an acute housing crisis, with the social housing waiting list standing at 1.29 million in March 2023, and there is insufficient social housing to meet demand.
This Government will deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, and has already set out a number of steps - Housing targets increased to get Britain building again - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). We will be providing £450 million to enable councils to acquire and create homes for families at risk of homelessness and more widely we will develop a long-term strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness.
Local authorities are required by law to give priority to certain categories of people when allocating social housing, this includes people who are homeless.
In addition, when designing their allocation scheme local authorities must consider their homelessness strategy. Where a Private Registered Provider has been requested by a local authority to assist them in the discharge of their homelessness functions, it must cooperate to such extent as is reasonable in the circumstances in offering accommodation to people with priority under the authority’s allocation scheme.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department plans to take to support local authorities to provide temporary accommodation services alongside local authorities' efforts to increase housing supply in line with mandatory house building targets.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness levels are far too high. We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The Government will look at these issues carefully and will develop a new cross-government strategy, working with mayors, councils and key stakeholders across the country to get us back on track to ending homelessness once and for all.
More widely, we are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness. This includes delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, building 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament, and abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions which will prevent private renters being exploited and discriminated against and empower people to challenge unreasonable rent increases. The Government has also confirmed £450 million for a third round of the Local Authority Housing Fund which will support local authorities to obtain better quality temporary accommodation for homeless families. The Government continues to support councils to deliver the Homelessness Reduction Act, including through the £440 million Homelessness Prevention Grant in 2024/25.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment her Department has made of the sustainability of the homelessness sector.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness levels are far too high. We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The Government will look at these issues carefully and will develop a new cross-government strategy, working with mayors, councils and key stakeholders across the country to get us back on track to ending homelessness once and for all.
More widely, we are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness. This includes delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, building 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament, and abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions which will prevent private renters being exploited and discriminated against and empower people to challenge unreasonable rent increases. The Government has also confirmed £450 million for a third round of the Local Authority Housing Fund which will support local authorities to obtain better quality temporary accommodation for homeless families. The Government continues to support councils to deliver the Homelessness Reduction Act, including through the £440 million Homelessness Prevention Grant in 2024/25.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of 7 November 2022 from the Hon. Member for North Tyneside.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I apologise for the delay in responding to the Hon Member’s correspondence. The Department attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from Honourable Members. A response was issued on 19 January 2023.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make the accessible and adaptable standard M4(2) Category 2 the mandatory baseline for all new homes.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Government will consult shortly on accessibility of new homes. The consultation will consider making higher accessibility standards mandatory, recognising the importance of suitable homes for older and disabled people.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many staff at which grades his Department requires to undertake work on leaving the EU without an agreement in the Departmental Operations Centre during standard daytime working hours.
Answered by Jake Berry
A dedicated Departmental Operations Centre (DOC) will manage and lead preparations in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Staff working in the DOC will also manage work associated with the UK's exit from the EU in any other scenario. We do not routinely separately record no-deal work from other Brexit work. MHCLG’s normal operations include some out of hours working alongside standard daytime working hours.
To support this pattern, we currently estimate the Department will require approximately 200 FTE, using a mix of grades but coming mainly from HEO and Grade 7 staff. This estimate will be subject to on-going review to ensure it reflects any change in circumstances or requirements