Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has had recent discussions with Durham County Council on its projected budgetary deficit.
Answered by Paul Scully
My department regularly speaks to councils across the country about a wide variety of issues including their financial position. I can confirm that my officials met with officers from Durham County Council earlier this year, as part of this regular programme of engagement.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his department plans to open a help desk on the Parliamentary Estate to manage queries about the Homes For Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Home Office, supported by DLUHC officials, has been running a walk-in hub at Portcullis House to answer queries from MPs and caseworkers.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
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 potential merits of extending the remit of the Local Government Ombudsmen to include parish councils.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman published its Triennial Review of their complaints and public accountability framework on 2 December. The Review made a number of recommendations to refine their legal framework. Recommendation 1.2 proposes that a pilot is developed to explore bringing a subset of the largest town and parish councils within the Ombudsman’s remit. The Government is considering the Review’s recommendations and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans his Department has to reform parish council governance.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
Parish councils have an important role in improving the quality of life and wellbeing of their communities. The Levelling Up White Paper will outline the UK Government’s plans for strengthening communities and supporting local leadership. We will be working with organisations in the sector to develop and take forward these plans.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
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 adequacy of social housing provision in County Durham.
Answered by Lord Gove
This Government is conscious that we need to do more to support social housing. That is why have created the new Affordable Homes Programme, which will deliver up to 180,000 affordable homes, if economic conditions allow. Across the North East, £213 million investment from this programme will help to create 4,000 new homes across the region.
This builds on are progress of delivering over 4,000 affordable homes across County Durham since 2010, almost 3,000 of which have been for social and affordable renters.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what proportion of the £4.8 billion in new local authority grants, announced at the Spending Review on 27 October 2021, will be used to address the £573 million funding gap in disabled children’s social care identified by the Disabled Children’s Partnership and Scope’s October 2021 report, The Gap Widens.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The Government is providing around £1.6 billion additional grant to local authorities in each year over the Spending Review period. In addition, local authorities can expect rising income from local taxation. This will allow councils to increase their spending on the vital public services they provide, such as children’s social care, and will ensure those services can respond effectively to rising demand and cost pressures.
More detail on how the funding announced at the Spending Review will be distributed will be given as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. The department believes it is right for local authorities, who know their areas’ needs best, to make decisions about the allocation of funding within their local areas.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his timeframe is for bringing forward legislative proposals to enact the leasehold reform proposals announced by the Government on 7 January 2021.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for homeowners and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. We are taking forward a comprehensive programme of reform to end unfair practices in the leasehold market. On January 7 the Government announced reforms to enfranchisement valuation, 990-year leases, removing the retirement exemption from zero ground rent measures and established a new Commonhold Council as a partnership of industry, leaseholders and Government that will prepare homeowners and the market for the widespread take-up of commonhold. This was the first part of the Government’s response to the Law Commission’s reports on enfranchisement, Right to Manage.
The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill currently in Parliament will put an end to ground rents for new residential leasehold properties as part of the most significant changes to property law in a generation. The Bill's provisions will lead to fairer, more transparent homeownership for thousands of future leaseholders. This will be the first part of seminal two-part reforming legislation in this Parliament.