Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what type of accommodation for homeless people will meet the threshold for safety set out in his Department's guidance entitled Covid-19: provision of night shelters.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
We have worked extensively with Public Health England (PHE) to provide Operating Principles for the sector to help them open shelters as safely as possible where necessary, when self-contained accommodation cannot be made available and when local partners agree that it is the right thing to do.
The type of accommodation to which these principles refer is clearly set out within the guidance, this can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-provision-of-night-shelters.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled Covid-19: provision of night shelters, whether communal shelters for homeless people will be able to open in winter 2020-21.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
We have worked extensively with Public Health England to provide Operating Principles for the sector to help them open shelters as safely as possible where necessary, when self-contained accommodation can’t be made available and when local partners agree that it is the right thing to do
On 13 October, we announced further funding which will give local areas the tools they need to support vulnerable rough sleepers this winter. This includes a £10 million Cold Weather Fund for local areas to bring forward self-contained and COVID secure accommodation this winter and £2 million funding for the faith, communities and voluntary sector to transform their traditional rough sleeping services into self-contained and COVID secure accommodation.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when the application process for the Cold Weather Fund will open; and when organisations will be informed about the allocation of that funding.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government recently announced a new £10 million Cold Weather Fund to support councils in helping rough sleepers off the streets during the winter by assisting them in providing more self-contained accommodation.
This is alongside an additional?£2 million for faith and community groups to help them provide secure accommodation?for rough sleepers, and comprehensive guidance to the sector, produced with Public Health England, Homeless Link and Housing Justice to help shelters open more safely, where not doing so would endanger lives.
We will be setting out how local authorities can access the Cold Weather Fund shortly.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many people were presented as homeless to all councils in England between July 2020 and October 2020.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
We do not currently hold statutory homelessness statistics for the exact period stated. Data for July to September 2020 is expected to be published at the beginning of next year.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that building developers engage with settlement claims for building safety defect remediation works in a timely manner.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Settlement discussions are a matter for the appropriate parties and not for the Secretary of State. However, we have engaged with developers and building owners, and the remediation of over 50 per cent of privately owned high-rise residential buildings with unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding will be paid for by building owners and developers, or through warranty or insurance claims - without passing the cost to residents. Those applying to the Private Sector ACM Fund to remediate a high-rise residential building with unsafe ACM cladding and/or those applying to the Building Safety Fund to remediate unsafe non-ACM cladding are also required to demonstrate that they have taken all reasonable steps to recover the costs of replacing the unsafe non-ACM cladding from those responsible through insurance claims, warranties or legal action.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to develop guidance for mortgage lenders and insurers to ensure that requests for External Wall Fire Review assessments are not delayed or disrupted as a result of a lack of available qualified fire engineers to conduct inspections.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Assessments of External Wall Systems are required by some mortgage lenders to assist in the valuation of high-rise residential buildings for mortgage purposes. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) designed and implemented the EWS1 form in conjunction with mortgage lenders to assist with this. Use of the EWS1 form is determined by the lending policies of banks and building societies. RICS have issued guidance on the use of the EWS1 form.
The Department is aware that there are capacity challenges with the availability of professionals to undertake fire safety assessments of external wall systems. We are working with professional bodies to increase the number of skilled professionals who can undertake external wall assessments where one is required.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the level of qualified fire engineers on buildings that fall out of warranty while awaiting an inspection for their external wall fire review assessment.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The EWS1 form and process is not a government regulatory requirement. It is not a building safety certificate. If an assessment reveals issues that might fall under the warranty, these should be raised by the leaseholder or building owner in the usual way.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to release the £13.5 million in Next Steps Accommodation funding that has been allocated to enable local authorities to tackle new or emerging challenges.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
We are in the process of considering the next steps for this funding as part of our preparation for the winter period. We will announce more information in due course.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure (a) mortgage lenders and (b) insurers do not refuse (i) mortgage applications or (ii) valuations due to requests for (A) external wall fire reviews and (B) the production of EWS1 certificates on buildings outside of the scope for these inspections, as defined by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The EWS1 process was introduced by industry to assist in the valuation of high-rise residential buildings for mortgage purposes. Not all lenders request an EWS1 form and the Government does not support a blanket approach in EWS1 for lower risk properties. The Department is encouraging lenders to accept a broader range of evidence to assure themselves of a building’s safety. This could include a fire risk assessment that includes external walls or a recent building control certificate.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if his Department will help more people to qualify to be able to undertake External Wall Fire Review assessments.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
I recognise concerns about the capacity within the sector for assessing external wall systems. My Department is working with the sector, including the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Institution of Fire Engineers, to develop a strategy that will boost capacity of professionals able to undertake these assessments.