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Written Question
Homelessness: Cambridgeshire
Tuesday 4th July 2023

Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to decrease the number of homeless people in Cambridgeshire.

Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

This Government remains committed to ending rough sleeping and tackling homelessness.

In September 2022, we published a bold, new strategy available here: Ending Rough Sleeping For Good. The strategy sets out cross government action to end homelessness and rough sleeping, including over £2 billion of investment over three years.

Cambridgeshire County and Cambridge City councils have been allocated over £10 million funding from April 2023- March 2025 through the Rough Sleeping Initiative, Homelessness Prevention Grant and Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme.


Written Question
Right to Buy Scheme: Housing Associations
Thursday 9th March 2023

Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2022 to Question 79324 on Right to Buy Scheme: Housing Associations, what recent steps he has taken to extend the right to buy to housing association tenants.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The Government remains committed to the Right to Buy, which since 1980 has enabled over two million social housing tenants to become homeowners.


Written Question
Roma: Public Appointments
Monday 20th June 2022

Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps he has taken to increase Romani representation in public life.

Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade

It is important that all members of a local community are able to able to access opportunities to participate in public life. Our Levelling Up White Paper outlined plans to remove barriers to community organisation and neighbourhood governance, supporting community leadership to take root and thrive. This includes launching a review of neighbourhood governance in England, looking at how to make it easier for local people and community groups to come together, set local priorities and shape the future of their neighbourhoods. The review will consider how people of all backgrounds can participate in neighbourhood governance.


Written Question
Roma: Discrimination
Monday 20th June 2022

Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps he has taken to help tackle discrimination against Romani people.

Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade

The Equality Act 2010 provides protection against discrimination for people because of various characteristics, including race, which covers colour, nationality, and ethnic and national origins. The Roma community is considered to be an ethnic group for the purposes of legislation.

The Government sponsors the Equality Advisory & Support Service (EASS), which is a free helpline offering advice and support to anyone in England, Scotland, and Wales who feels that they have suffered discrimination or had their human rights infringed. One of the stakeholder organisations that the EASS regularly deals with is Friends, Families and Travellers which works on behalf of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.


Written Question
Councillors: Political Parties
Friday 19th November 2021

Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance or advice his Department has provided to local authorities on whether councillors who have been suspended by a national political party should be considered to remain members of that party’s political group on a local authority for the purposes of allocating seats on committees.

Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade

The allocation of committee seats should be reviewed by a local authority annually, or upon request following a by-election or where a councillor joins a new political group. It is for the political groups on a local authority to determine their own membership as they see fit.


Written Question
Social Rented Housing: Health Hazards
Thursday 18th November 2021

Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that social housing providers tackle cases of damp and mould.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

The Charter for Social Housing Residents: Social Housing White Paper set out commitments on how we will improve the lives of social housing residents including on housing quality.

We are working with the Regulator of Social Housing to create a strong, proactive consumer regulatory regime, strengthening the formal standards against which landlords are regulated, requiring them to be transparent about their performance so they can be held to account, to put things right when they go wrong and to listen to tenants through effective engagement. The Housing Ombudsman Service has been expanded and its powers increased so it will make decisions more quickly and can take stronger action against landlords where needed. These new powers enabled the publication of the Housing Ombudsman's recent important report on damp and mould which made 26 recommendations for landlords including greater use of intelligence and data to prevent issues; reviewing communications with tenants to improve tone and making better use of previous complaints and disrepair claims so landlords can learn from them.

Social homes must be safe and decent. A key commitment of the Social Housing White Paper was to review the Decent Homes Standard. Part 1 of this review is underway and has considered how any revised Standard can help tackle damp and mould.


Written Question
Local Government: Carbon Emissions
Tuesday 22nd September 2020

Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) financial and (b) other resources he is making available to help local authorities become carbon neutral.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

Local authorities have a vital role in meeting our net zero commitment. Support is available from departments across Government for councils seeking to undertake local action on climate change. Recent examples include the Green Homes Grant (BEIS) and Active Travel Fund (DfT).

On 8 July, the Chancellor announced a £2 billion Green Homes Grant scheme to upgrade homes across England. £500 million funding will be delivered through local authorities, to improve the energy efficiency of low-income households. This will help reduce fuel poverty and support the installation of low carbon heating.

The £250 million emergency active travel fund announced on 9 May is designed to help local authorities create an environment that is safe for both walking and cycling in their regions. The money will help create pop-up bike lanes, wider pavements, safer junctions, and cycle and bus-only corridors. We want to support all communities across England who want to change the way they use their streets and new guidance has already been published to tell councils how they can give more road space to cyclists and pedestrians.

To encourage drivers to make the switch to electric vehicles as part of a greener future, the Government has also announced an extra £10 million to incentivise local authorities to install up to 7,200 additional on-street electric vehicle chargepoints, doubling the current funding amount for the second time this year.

It is for authorities to decide what measures are best aligned with local opportunities and needs.


Written Question
Local Government: Coronavirus
Tuesday 5th May 2020

Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government has taken to help ensure that local resilience forums and local authorities engage with the local voluntary and community sector to ensure effective support is available to people affected by the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Simon Clarke

MHCLG continues to work with local agencies, including the local voluntary and community sector (VCS), to manage the Covid-19 pandemic.

The local voluntary and community sector, and volunteers, are essential partners for many local support services – both in ‘normal’ times and even more so in the Covid-19 response.

Local resilience forums and local authorities have well established structures in place to work with the voluntary and community sector and, in response to Covid-19, are working alongside VCS partners and are coordinating volunteer support. This includes volunteer hubs or centres in some areas.

To support local engagement of the VCS, the Government has provided support and guidance on partnership working, as well as announcing a £750 million support package to assist voluntary and community sector organisations. The NHS Volunteer Responders are also open to referrals from local authorities and local resilience forums.


Written Question
Housing: Multiple Occupation
Tuesday 18th February 2020

Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what powers are available to local authorities to prevent family homes being turned into houses of multiple occupation.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

Change of use to a larger House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) housing more than six people always requires an application for planning permission. Such larger HMOs also require a license in order to operate.

For houses up to six people who share facilities, nationally set permitted development rights allow a dwellinghouse (C3) to change use to a House in Multiple Occupation (C4) without the need for a planning application. This enables the change of use without placing unnecessary burdens on landlords and local planning authorities.

Where there is sufficient evidence that it is necessary to protect local amenity or the well-being of the area, a local planning authority may withdraw a permitted development right in a specific area using an Article 4 direction, after consultation with the local community.