Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
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 the Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill, what definition her Department is using of mainly, in the context of schools that are mainly concerned with the provision of education to children with an education, health and care plan.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The Bill sets out that where a private school is wholly or mainly concerned with providing education for pupils with an Education, Health and Care plan they will be exempt from the measure and therefore retain eligibility for business rates charitable relief. The wholly or mainly test is one which is common across various parts of business rates and local authorities are accustomed to applying it. Wholly or mainly is generally taken to mean 50% or more.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to amend the National Planning Policy Framework to allow almshouse charities that are not registered providers to receive Section 106 funds for the provision of affordable housing.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 8305 on 18 October 2024.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when her Department plans to publish the Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill; and what discussions she has had with the Leader of the House on making parliamentary time for that Bill.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 7625, on the 14 October 2024. We will announce further details in due course.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Act 2023 to initiate high street rental auctions; and what steps he has taken to support local authorities to use these powers.
Answered by Jacob Young
The framework of the High Street Rental Auction policy is set out in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, which is now law, however many aspects need to be defined by secondary legislation before local authorities can begin to use the power. The Government is working to introduce the associated statutory instruments.
We recognise the resource constraints faced by local authorities and have considered how the burden on local authorities can be reduced. We are providing up to £2 million of financial support to make sure that areas which need this the most are not priced out by prohibitive refurbishment costs to bring the properties up to standard. We will also publish guidance for local authorities and relevant stakeholders to support them in implementing High Street Rental Auctions.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress he has made on putting the New Homes Ombudsman on a statutory footing.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government legislated in the Building Safety Act 2022 to establish a statutory New Homes Ombudsman. They will provide dispute resolution for, and determine complaints by, buyers of new build homes against developments.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many staff in his Department have job titles which include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all activities that support the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) of the workforce, through the review of EDI spending announced last June. As stated in the Autumn Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Minister for Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities currently has three employees working in roles with job titles including the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gen-der, (e) LGBT and (f) race.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many staff in Homes England have job titles which include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all activities that support the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) of the workforce, through the review of EDI spending announced last June. As stated in the Autumn Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Minister for Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course.
There is one member of staff in Homes England with the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race included in their job title.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to help prevent unreasonable service charges on freehold estates.
Answered by Lee Rowley
This Government is implementing significant reforms to support homeowners through the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.
As part of this, we will introduce measures to enable homeowners to hold estate management companies to account for what they spend.
This includes giving homeowners more information on what they are paying for, and the ability to challenge the reasonableness of their costs.
As Continued at Report Stage, the Government understands the strength of feeling on this issue, and we are considering it further.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many equalities impact assessments his Department completed in each of the last five years for which data is available.
Answered by Simon Hoare
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what number and proportion of general needs housing lettings were to non-UK nationals in each year since 1994.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The information requested can be derived from the published table 3e on the Tenants data tables as part of the 2021/22 statistics release: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/social-housing-lettings-in-england-april-2021-to-march-2022. We do not hold data before 2007/08.