Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when will phase two of the Homes for Ukraine scheme begin.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Details of announcements will be made in the usual way and on Gov.uk.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with officials in his Department on the regulation of the managing agent sector prior to Building Safety Fund monies being dispersed to managing agents for building remediation.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Building Safety Fund will cover all reasonable costs for eligible works that are necessary to remediate unsafe non-ACM cladding systems on high-rise residential buildings, including a range of direct project costs such as professional team fees and managing agents' fees in respect of administering qualifying expenditure.
Reasonable costs must be informed by an industry standard approach to specification and procurement of works, having regard to cost benchmarks established from comparable projects.
Higher than expected costs will be challenged and will be subject to further scrutiny, and the level of grant may be reduced. The Government is considering the recommendations in the report on the regulation of property agents from the working group chaired by Lord Best, and we will continue to work with the industry on improving best practice.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will introduce a set of flood resilience baseline building regulation standards for new properties and properties that have been flooded which are being reinstated.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Statutory guidance to the Building Regulations in Approved Document C Site preparation and resistance to contaminants and moisture already promotes the use of flood resilient and resistant construction in flood prone areas
National planning policy is clear that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided. Where development is necessary, it should be made safe and resilient – and without increasing flood risk elsewhere. Mitigation measures such as defences, landscaping or raising floor levels can sometimes make development acceptable in such areas. Such measures can be made a requirement of any planning consent.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to embed sustainable transport provision in the planning process.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government is taking a number of steps to embed sustainable transport provisions in the planning process. Last year the Government consulted on the Planning for the Future White Paper which made clear that our planning reforms will seek to reduce our reliance on carbon-intensive modes of transport. Alongside this, the Government intends to publish the Transport Decarbonisation Plan in the Spring and will ensure this aligns with any outcomes from the Planning for the Future White Paper.
The National Planning Policy Framework already actively promotes sustainable transport, and Planning Practice Guidance is also being updated in line with this. In addition, the Government has committed to updating Manual for Streets guidance to ensure the principles of good street design play a key role in creating sustainable communities and are embedded in the planning process, particularly the National Model Design Code.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what additional funding he will make available to businesses affected by unsafe cladding who have a shortfall in funding as a result of the effect of state aid de minimis rules.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
In order to operate funds for the remediation of unsafe cladding prior to the end of the United Kingdom and European Union transition period on 1 January 2021 the Government was required to adhere to EU State aid rules. As set out in the answer to the Hon Member’s previous question of 11 March 2021 (UIN 167376), the EU State aid De Minimis rules includes a maximum threshold of €200,000 that a business can receive in funding over a three year period. EU State aid rules no longer apply in the United Kingdom, except for aid in scope of the Northern Ireland Protocol, and so do not apply to applications for Government funding for cladding remediation made after 1 January 2021. The Department has written to applicants detailing the implications of the new subsidy control regime on their applications, and will publish updated guidance shortly. We continue to process applications in adherence with the new subsidy rules.
We are aware of instances where State aid rules have resulted in deductions to the funding provided through the remediation fund for applications before 1 January 2021, and are working closely with applicants to ensure unsafe cladding is remediated as quickly as possible. It is not permitted to provide additional funding to businesses to compensate for deductions which have been made in order to adhere to State aid rules.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the Government's timeframe is for bringing forward legislative proposals to make it easier for leaseholders to buy their homes, and to extend leases by 990 years.
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.
Under the current system, too many leaseholders find the process for extending their lease or buying their freehold (a process known as enfranchisement) too complex, lacking transparency and prohibitively expensive.
We will reform the process of enfranchisement valuation that leaseholders must follow to calculate the cost of extending their lease or buying their freehold. The Government will abolish marriage value, cap the treatment of ground rents at 0.1% of the freehold value, prescribe rates for the calculations at market value, and introduce an online calculator.
Through our reforms, the length of a statutory lease extension will increase to 990 years, from 90 years (for flats) and 50 years (for houses). Leaseholders will be able to extend their lease with zero ground rent on payment of a premium. Leaseholders will also be able to voluntarily agree to a restriction on future development of their property to avoid paying ‘development value’.
We will translate these measures into law as soon as possible, starting with legislation to set ground rents on newly created leases to zero in the upcoming session. This will be the first part of major two-part legislation to implement leasehold and commonhold reforms in this Parliament.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what additional funding he will make available to businesses affected by a shortfall in funding as a result of the effect of state aid de minimis rules.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Covid-19 business grant schemes form part of unprecedented package to assist those business who are mandated to close and are severely impacted by restrictions, supporting businesses to reopen as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted in the coming months. From the 4 March, subsidy allowances for the Covid-19 business grant schemes have been increased, so more businesses can access grants during this challenging time.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will extend the section 21 notice period extension beyond 31 March 2021.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We are continuing to require landlords to provide tenants with six months’ notice before eviction in all but the most serious cases until the end of May 2021. This includes Section 21 notices. This means that most renters served notice during April and May will be able to stay in their homes until October and November, except in the most serious cases such as anti-social behaviour and serious rent arrears
The Government will consider the best approach to tapering down notice periods after 1 June, taking into account public health requirements and progress with the roadmap out of lockdown.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
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 state aid de minimis rule limits on businesses in commercial premises that are affected by cladding issues.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The EU State aid rules no longer apply in the UK, except for aid in scope of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Subsidies must instead comply with our international commitments on subsidies in the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation agreement (TCA), and other trade agreements, as well as the World Trade Organisation rules on subsidies.
However, where the award of funding for cladding remediation funding was made prior to 1 January 2021 on the basis of the De Minimis rules there is still need to comply with those rules, including a maximum threshold of €200,000 that a business could receive in funding over a three year period.
We are aware of instances where state aid rules have resulted in deductions to the funding provided through the remediation funds, and are working closely with applicants to ensure unsafe cladding is remediated as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the results of the consultation on the Parking Code of Practice; and what the timetable is for publishing that code of practice.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
We are working to improve standards in the private parking industry. Last year we launched public consultations on our proposals for the new Parking Code of Practice and Enforcement Framework, designed to crack down on rogue car parking firms. The consultations closed on 12 October and we will publish our response to the Enforcement Framework consultation in due course. The Code itself is being written by British Standards Institution (BSI) in consultation with key stakeholders. The BSI stakeholder group has reconvened and is now considering the consultation feedback before finalising the Code.