Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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 is taking to support councils to reduce social housing waiting lists.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.
On 30 July we announced a number of changes in planning policy designed to support the delivery of affordable homes. We also confirmed a range of new flexibilities for councils and housing associations, both within the Affordable Homes Programme and in relation to how councils can use their Right to Buy receipts, and a further £450 million for councils through the Local Authority Housing Fund enabling councils to grow their housing stock.
At the Budget on 30 October, the Chancellor set out details of an immediate one-year cash injection of £500 million to top up the existing Affordable Homes Programme which will deliver up to 5,000 new social and affordable homes. This comes ahead of the multi-year Spending Review next spring, where the Government will set out details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme.
The Chancellor also confirmed that we will reduce Right to Buy discounts to their pre-2012 regional levels and allow councils to retain 100% of the receipts generated by Right to Buy sales.
In addition, the government will consult on a new 5-year social housing rent settlement to provide the sector with the certainty it needs to invest in new social housing.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she plans to take to consult local communities on (a) definition of the green belt and (b) planning reforms.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has set out changes to how we plan for the homes we need and in relation to grey belt and the Green Belt as part of the consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework launched today.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the availability of homes in Cumbria.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government is providing £212 million from the Housing Infrastructure Fund for Cumbria County Council’s Carlisle Southern Link Road, which intends to support the delivery of up to 10,325 new homes in Carlisle.
In Barrow-in-Furness, the Government is spending to support the delivery of over 800 new homes at Barrow Waterfront, including up to £24 million from the Brownfield Infrastructure and Land Fund, and £1.5 million from the Brownfield Land Release Fund to support the release of land at Marina Village.
To the end of March 2023 £4.4 million has been allocated to Cumbria from the Affordable Homes Programme (2021-126) to deliver 74 new affordable homes. Overall, since 2010, 4,400 affordable homes have been delivered in Cumbria (3,100 for rent, of which 1,200 for social rent).
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help support Ukrainian refugees living in the UK.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
As set out previously, local authorities will continue to receive a tariff payment to support our Ukrainian guests. Sponsors are also eligible for an ‘Thank You payment’ of £350 per month for the first 12 months of a Ukrainian guest’s stay in the UK and £500 thereafter.
We recognise through engagement with guests, other government departments, local councils, VCS organisations and sponsors that English is one of the main barriers to employment, so we announced £11.5 million in the Spring Budget 2023 to fund intensive English language courses and employment support for up to 10,000 eligible individuals under the Ukraine visa schemes.
This programme provides free online English lessons and employment support to Ukrainian arrivals to help them improve their job prospects.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what support his Department is providing to people who have purchased properties through the Help to Buy Scheme with rising interest rates.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Help to buy Equity Loan Scheme has helped over 369,000 households to own their own home and will continue to help many people until March 2023.
To support Help to Buy customers, the loan scheme is already interest free for five years. We are actively supporting customers who are struggling to make their interest repayments so if customers are in this position they are encouraged to speak to Target about options available to manage these.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of second homes in Cumbria in each year between 2010 and 2022.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department collects data on second homes classified for the purposes of council tax at the local authority district level on an annual basis, which can then be aggregated to cover the area of Cumbria.
The time series can be compiled from the published local authority level datasets which can be found at the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/council-taxbase-statistics
for each year. Line 11 relates to second homes and the local authority level can be found in the ‘Data’ tab. The latest data is taken from a snapshot in October 2021.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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 trends in the level of second homes in Cumbria between 2010 and 2022.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department collects data on second homes classified for the purposes of council tax at the local authority district level on an annual basis, which can then be aggregated to cover the area of Cumbria.
The time series can be compiled from the published local authority level datasets which can be found at the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/council-taxbase-statistics
for each year. Line 11 relates to second homes and the local authority level can be found in the ‘Data’ tab. The latest data is taken from a snapshot in October 2021.