Asked by: Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Central Digital & Data Office's guidance entitled, Guidance on the Legacy IT Risk Assessment Framework, published 29 September 2023, how many red-rated IT systems are used by his Department as of 21 November 2023.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
There are no IT systems used by the department that would fall into the category of Legacy IT under the Legacy IT Risk Assessment Framework.
The department does not operate infrastructure from prior to 2013.
The department does not hold information relating to legacy IT infrastructure for each year since 2010 centrally.
Further details of government expenditure are published regularly.
Asked by: Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what is the annual cost to the public purse of his Department's expenditure on (a) IT infrastructure, (b) IT infrastructure purchased prior to 2013 and (c) legacy IT infrastructure for each year since 2010.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
There are no IT systems used by the department that would fall into the category of Legacy IT under the Legacy IT Risk Assessment Framework.
The department does not operate infrastructure from prior to 2013.
The department does not hold information relating to legacy IT infrastructure for each year since 2010 centrally.
Further details of government expenditure are published regularly.
Asked by: Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what support his Department provides to Ukrainian refugees in Reading East constituency.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Homes for Ukraine arrivals will be able to live and work in the UK for up to three years and have access to benefits, healthcare, employment, and other support. We are providing funding to councils at a rate of £10,500 per guest to enable them to provide support to individuals and families to rebuild their lives and fully integrate into communities.
We are also providing sponsors with £350 monthly 'thank you' payments for up to 12 months to help with the associated costs of opening their home. DWP is working with Ukrainian guests and employers to signpost and match job opportunities.
Work is also underway with BEIS and DHSC to engage larger employers through round table discussions. DfE is improving signposting of and ensuring accessibility of childcare options
We have made amendments to eligibility criteria to ensure arrivals from Ukraine under one of the Government's schemes are now eligible for housing assistance from day one of their arrival.
Asked by: Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to ensure local communities have the ability to preserve buildings and landmarks of local historical significance.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Government recognises the importance of identifying and managing those parts of the historic environment which are valued by local communities. Plan-making bodies can therefore identify locally important heritage assets in their area. Such assets are covered by national planning policy and must be taken into account when determining planning applications. We have recently provided funding of £1.5 million to 22 areas in England to help local authorities, working with their communities, to update and develop their local heritage lists. Good practice and lessons learned from those projects will be shared with all local authorities.
Asked by: Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if the Government will amend the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme so that people who have already arrived in the UK but meet the other eligibility requirements for that scheme can be granted permission to stay in the UK.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 148272 on 31 March 2022.
Asked by: Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions his officials have had with successful applicants to run freeports on their ongoing pension liabilities.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Freeport model will comprise a broad coalition of local partners, including businesses, local authorities and ports. Trustees and employers have a wide range of legal duties in respect of workplace schemes, including and are responsible for compliance with legislative funding requirements. The Pension Regulator is the regulator of work based pension schemes, and has a range of powers that it may use to intervene, and to take action, primarily against trustees and employers, where they do not comply with their duties.
As set out in the Bidding Prospectus, each Freeport was asked in their bid proposals to summarise their preferred governance structure. The Freeport Governance Body will need to meet core standards and criteria on governance, including compliance with MHCLG requirements on monitoring and evaluation. The Government is assessing the proposals and will work with the Freeports to ensure that governance is robust. The relevant public body (Local Authority or Authorities or Mayoral Combined Authority) of the Freeport Governance Body will be accountable to MHCLG for the expenditure and management of public money.
The Freeport Governance Body will be responsible for the effective delivery of the Freeport according to the economic strategy determined through the bidding process and the Freeport Governance Body will work with Government to ensure the Freeport stays aligned with national policy and delivers on its monitoring and evaluation commitments.
The Government recognises rigorous monitoring and evaluation will be key to the success of the Freeports. The Government fully intends to evaluate the impact of Freeports and will be publishing its monitoring and evaluation strategy in due course.
Asked by: Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will carry out a review of the pension liabilities of firms selected to operate freeports; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Freeport model will comprise a broad coalition of local partners, including businesses, local authorities and ports. Trustees and employers have a wide range of legal duties in respect of workplace schemes, including and are responsible for compliance with legislative funding requirements. The Pension Regulator is the regulator of work based pension schemes, and has a range of powers that it may use to intervene, and to take action, primarily against trustees and employers, where they do not comply with their duties.
As set out in the Bidding Prospectus, each Freeport was asked in their bid proposals to summarise their preferred governance structure. The Freeport Governance Body will need to meet core standards and criteria on governance, including compliance with MHCLG requirements on monitoring and evaluation. The Government is assessing the proposals and will work with the Freeports to ensure that governance is robust. The relevant public body (Local Authority or Authorities or Mayoral Combined Authority) of the Freeport Governance Body will be accountable to MHCLG for the expenditure and management of public money.
The Freeport Governance Body will be responsible for the effective delivery of the Freeport according to the economic strategy determined through the bidding process and the Freeport Governance Body will work with Government to ensure the Freeport stays aligned with national policy and delivers on its monitoring and evaluation commitments.
The Government recognises rigorous monitoring and evaluation will be key to the success of the Freeports. The Government fully intends to evaluate the impact of Freeports and will be publishing its monitoring and evaluation strategy in due course.
Asked by: Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what ongoing monitoring and evaluation processes he has put in place in respect of the (a) financial sustainability and (b) pensions obligations of firms selected to operate freeports.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Freeport model will comprise a broad coalition of local partners, including businesses, local authorities and ports. Trustees and employers have a wide range of legal duties in respect of workplace schemes, including and are responsible for compliance with legislative funding requirements. The Pension Regulator is the regulator of work based pension schemes, and has a range of powers that it may use to intervene, and to take action, primarily against trustees and employers, where they do not comply with their duties.
As set out in the Bidding Prospectus, each Freeport was asked in their bid proposals to summarise their preferred governance structure. The Freeport Governance Body will need to meet core standards and criteria on governance, including compliance with MHCLG requirements on monitoring and evaluation. The Government is assessing the proposals and will work with the Freeports to ensure that governance is robust. The relevant public body (Local Authority or Authorities or Mayoral Combined Authority) of the Freeport Governance Body will be accountable to MHCLG for the expenditure and management of public money.
The Freeport Governance Body will be responsible for the effective delivery of the Freeport according to the economic strategy determined through the bidding process and the Freeport Governance Body will work with Government to ensure the Freeport stays aligned with national policy and delivers on its monitoring and evaluation commitments.
The Government recognises rigorous monitoring and evaluation will be key to the success of the Freeports. The Government fully intends to evaluate the impact of Freeports and will be publishing its monitoring and evaluation strategy in due course.
Asked by: Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what due diligence assessment was carried out on the pension liabilities of applicant firms as part of the Freeports bidding process.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Freeport model will comprise a broad coalition of local partners, including businesses, local authorities and ports. Trustees and employers have a wide range of legal duties in respect of workplace schemes, including and are responsible for compliance with legislative funding requirements. The Pension Regulator is the regulator of work based pension schemes, and has a range of powers that it may use to intervene, and to take action, primarily against trustees and employers, where they do not comply with their duties.
As set out in the Bidding Prospectus, each Freeport was asked in their bid proposals to summarise their preferred governance structure. The Freeport Governance Body will need to meet core standards and criteria on governance, including compliance with MHCLG requirements on monitoring and evaluation. The Government is assessing the proposals and will work with the Freeports to ensure that governance is robust. The relevant public body (Local Authority or Authorities or Mayoral Combined Authority) of the Freeport Governance Body will be accountable to MHCLG for the expenditure and management of public money.
The Freeport Governance Body will be responsible for the effective delivery of the Freeport according to the economic strategy determined through the bidding process and the Freeport Governance Body will work with Government to ensure the Freeport stays aligned with national policy and delivers on its monitoring and evaluation commitments.
The Government recognises rigorous monitoring and evaluation will be key to the success of the Freeports. The Government fully intends to evaluate the impact of Freeports and will be publishing its monitoring and evaluation strategy in due course.
Asked by: Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many enforcement notices were served by local authorities in England in respect of new build homes in (a) 2018 and (b) 2019.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government is clear that effective enforcement is important to tackle breaches of planning control, including against new built homes which do not conform to the planning permission. Local authorities already have a wide range of planning enforcement powers, with strong penalties for non-compliance, and as the Planning for the Future White Paper highlighted, we want to strengthen these powers and sanctions.
The National Planning Policy Framework emphasises that effective enforcement is important to maintain public confidence in the planning system, and further guidance on enforcement for local planning authorities is set out in our planning practice guidance.
My Department does not collect data on enforcement notices served against different types of development so has no data available about enforcement action against new built homes.