Asked by: Paulette Hamilton (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to ensure that Birmingham City Council receives prompt notification of the outcome of their application for funding for Erdington High Street through the second round of the Levelling Up Fund.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The outcome of the second round of the Levelling Up Fund has been announced.
I am pleased to say that there will be another round of the Fund, and we will provide more details on this shortly.
Asked by: Paulette Hamilton (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to encourage greater standardisation in the operation of landlord licensing schemes across the country.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is bringing forward a series of actions in this direction as set out in the White Paper 'Fairer Private Rented Sector', published in June. This includes proposals to introduce a national framework for setting fines, based on clear culpability and harm considerations, which will ensure a more consistent approach to fine setting across the country. We are keen to bolster national oversight of local councils' enforcement, and our intention is to look at the ways councils can share their successes and challenges from their licensing schemes. We are currently conducting user research with landlords, tenants, agents and local authorities to explore the potential merits of a Privately Rented Property Portal.
Asked by: Paulette Hamilton (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing councils to introduce stronger financial penalties for rogue landlords.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is bringing forward a series of actions in this direction as set out in the White Paper 'Fairer Private Rented Sector', published in June. This includes proposals to introduce a national framework for setting fines, based on clear culpability and harm considerations, which will ensure a more consistent approach to fine setting across the country. We are keen to bolster national oversight of local councils' enforcement, and our intention is to look at the ways councils can share their successes and challenges from their licensing schemes. We are currently conducting user research with landlords, tenants, agents and local authorities to explore the potential merits of a Privately Rented Property Portal.
Asked by: Paulette Hamilton (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a national landlord registration scheme.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is bringing forward a series of actions in this direction as set out in the White Paper 'Fairer Private Rented Sector', published in June. This includes proposals to introduce a national framework for setting fines, based on clear culpability and harm considerations, which will ensure a more consistent approach to fine setting across the country. We are keen to bolster national oversight of local councils' enforcement, and our intention is to look at the ways councils can share their successes and challenges from their licensing schemes. We are currently conducting user research with landlords, tenants, agents and local authorities to explore the potential merits of a Privately Rented Property Portal.
Asked by: Paulette Hamilton (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to protect local government finances from the cost of living crisis in (a) deprived and (b) all other areas with high demand for services from local authorities.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is making available an additional £3.7 billion to councils in England in 2022/23, with the most relatively deprived areas having access to 14% more per dwelling in core spending power.
How inflation interacts with local government's finances is not straightforward and we are working with the sector to understand any impacts.
Asked by: Paulette Hamilton (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to open the online portal for local authorities submitting bids to the second round of the Levelling Up Fund which was originally scheduled to close on 6 July 2022.
Answered by Lia Nici
I refer the Hon Member to the written statement made by my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State (HCWS 207) on 15 July 2022.
Asked by: Paulette Hamilton (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a robust mandatory licensing scheme for Exempt Accommodation.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
On 17 March, I announced the Government’s intention to address quality concerns in supported exempt accommodation, and introduce measures to put an end to unscrupulous landlords exploiting some of the most vulnerable in our society.
The package of measures announced include:
The measures are intended to mandate providers to deliver quality services and hold landlords to account where they are not doing this. We will bring these forward when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Paulette Hamilton (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many entries have been made on the Database of Rogue Landlords and Property Agents in (a) England, (b) Birmingham and (c) Birmingham Erdington constituency since that database was established.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
There are currently 57 entries on the Database of Rogue Landlords and Property Agents.
There are currently no entries listed on the Database in the Birmingham and Birmingham Erdington Constituency.
Local authorities are responsible for uploading and maintaining records on the Database. Where records have expired, local authorities are required to remove the entry from the Database.