Asked by: Peter Lamb (Labour - Crawley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what role the Office of Local Government will play in examining council spending.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We are currently reviewing the role of Office for Local Government and we will announce the outcome shortly. Scrutiny of council spending is clearly important, and that is why we are committed to overhauling the broken local audit system we inherited.
We have already taken decisive action to help clear the significant backlog of unaudited accounts and will shortly set out longer-term plans to fix local audit.
Asked by: Peter Lamb (Labour - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of levels of Housing Benefit subsidy on the capacity of local authorities to meet their statutory homelessness duties.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We recognise the financial pressures which local authorities are experiencing. MHCLG are increasing funding for homelessness services from next year by £233 million compared to this year (2024/25). Levels of Housing Benefit subsidy for temporary accommodation are kept under review and future decisions will be taken in the context of the government’s missions, goals on housing and the current fiscal context.
Asked by: Peter Lamb (Labour - Crawley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans he has for engagement with the Chagossian community during the transfer of sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Ministers and officials will continue to regularly engage with members of the Chagossian community on a range of issues, including on the implementation of the agreement reached between the United Kingdom and Mauritius. We recognise the importance of the islands to Chagossians and have worked to ensure this agreement reflects their interests.