To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Housing: Insulation
Thursday 25th February 2021

Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his oral contribution on Building Safety on 10 February 2021, Official report, column 329, whether cladding on residential buildings of less than 11 metres in height by default does not require remedial work; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

Longstanding safety advice from the independent expert advisory panel established by Government following the Grenfell tragedy is that height is a central factor in assessing risk, and it is right we prioritise action on higher rise buildings where risk to multiple households is greater when fire spreads. For lower and medium-rise blocks of flats, the risks are significantly lower and the remediation of cladding is less likely to be needed - in many cases, it will not be needed at all. Government funding does not absolve building owners of their responsibility to ensure their buildings are safe. They should consider all routes to meet costs, protecting leaseholders where they can – for example through warranties and recovering costs from contractors for incorrect or poor work.


Written Question
Local Government: Northamptonshire
Monday 5th November 2018

Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)

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

If his Department will take steps with the Department of Health and Social Care to use the reorganisation of local government in Northamptonshire to better integrate the local delivery of health and social care.

Answered by James Brokenshire

We are already taking such steps. On 18 October we convened a meeting between Leaders and chief executives of the Northamptonshire councils, representatives of local health service providers and officials from the departments responsible, to start discussions on how, in future, adult social care might best be provided and integrated with health.


Written Question
County Councils: Debts
Tuesday 3rd July 2018

Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information he holds on the (a) total debt of, (b) population served by and (c) amount of debt per head of population of each county council by order of size of debt per head of population.

Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union

The Department collects financial data from local authorities, including on their debt. The latest on this is the Prudential System data table in the Capital Estimates Returns for 2018-19. This is available at - www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-capital-expenditure-and-financing-in-england-2018-to-2019-individual-local-authority-data-forecast.

The latest population data for local authorities including county councils can be found in the table ‘MYE2 - All‘ of the data set for mid-2017. This is available at - www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationestimatesforukenglandandwalesscotlandandnorthernireland


Written Question
Public Libraries: Northamptonshire
Monday 22nd January 2018

Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will take joint steps with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Northamptonshire County Council to facilitate active engagement between Northamptonshire County Council and the Government Libraries Task Force on developing a plan to keep open all Northamptonshire publicly-funded libraries.

Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union

The Libraries Taskforce, which reports to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Local Government Association, plays an important role in promoting good practice and leadership across the public libraries sector in England.

The Department encourages all councils, including Northamptonshire County Council, to make use of the information and guidance made available by the Taskforce. This includes toolkits published by the Taskforce on alternative delivery models and longer term evidence based sustainable planning, to support councils as they plan their future library provision to make sure that it is sustainable, and meets the needs of local residents.


Written Question
Local Government Finance: Northamptonshire
Monday 30th October 2017

Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his Department's policies of the Local Government Association's financial peer review of Northamptonshire County Council.

Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)

The recent Local Government Association financial peer review, conducted at the request of Northamptonshire County Council, made a number of observations regarding the Council’s budget planning and delivery, and included a series of recommendations. These recommendations were bespoke to the particular circumstances in Northamptonshire, and decisions on how to respond are properly the business of the Council itself.


Written Question
Community Relations: Pakistan
Thursday 12th October 2017

Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he plans to take to promote the integration into UK society of Pakistani women who are not able to speak English and who do not go out to work.

Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)

Since 2013, my department has invested £12 million to support 54,000 isolated adults to learn English in community settings, with a specific focus on women with the lowest levels of English who are economically inactive. The forthcoming integration strategy will set out how we will support people in more isolated communities to engage with the wider world, help women in particular into the workplace, and teach more people to speak English.


Written Question
Disabled Facilities Grants
Monday 24th April 2017

Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 March 2017 to Question 69298, what steps his Department is taking to oblige upper tier authorities to pass in full Disabled Facilities Grants to local housing authorities where the upper tier authority refuses to so.

Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)

My Department has included a condition in the 2017-18 Disabled Facilities Grant Determination letter which stipulates that in two-tier areas, upper tier authorities must pass funding for adaptations down to their lower tier authorities promptly, and in full, unless the lower tier authorities have expressly agreed that a portion of the funding can be used for wider social care capital projects.


Written Question
Disabled Facilities Grants
Thursday 30th March 2017

Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, where there is no separate agreement between an upper tier authority and a lower tier authority to use part of any disabled facilities grant funding for social care capital projects, what proportion of disabled facilities grant funding paid to the upper tier authority should be passed from that authority to the lower tier authority.

Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)

The Government is committed to helping people with disabilities live safely and independently in their homes, and has invested over a billion pounds in the Disabled Facilities Grant since 2010.

Local housing authorities, which in two-tier areas are the lower tier authorities, are under a statutory duty to provide adaptations to the homes of those people who qualify for a Disabled Facilities Grant. Government wants to ensure that lower tier authorities have the resources they need to meet this duty. Our expectation is that the Disabled Facilities Grant funding is passed in full to lower tier authorities, unless there is local agreement between the upper and lower tiers to contribute a portion of the funding to other social care capital projects. Funding allocations for local housing authorities are set out in the grant determination letter sent to both upper and lower tier authorities when the Disabled Facilities Grant money is paid each year.

The Disabled Facilities Grant is part of the Better Care Fund, and the Better Care Fund Policy Framework for 2016 to 2017 makes this expectation clear: ‘As set out in Better Care Fund technical guidance, for 2016-17 authorities in two-tier areas will have to allocate Disabled Facilities Grant funding to their respective housing authorities from the pooled budget to enable them to continue to meet their statutory duty to provide adaptations to the homes of disabled people’.

This guidance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/better-care-fund-how-it-will-work-in-2016-to-2017


Written Question
Housing: Construction
Friday 5th February 2016

Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to ensure that local planning authorities maintain high homebuilding standards in large sustainable urban extensions.

Answered by Brandon Lewis

The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that good design is indivisible from good planning and should contribute to making places better for people. Our planning guidance reinforces this strong focus on design, and provides advice on tools for delivery – including design codes.

All new homes also have to meet building regulations’ requirements. The Government has introduced new optional building regulations which means that for some requirements such as on access, local planning authorities can apply a higher standard than the national minimum requirements, where justified by need and provided that the viability of development is not compromised. The Government has also introduced a national space standard which local authorities can apply where justified by need and provided that the viability of development is not compromised.


Written Question
Kettering Borough Council: Information Services
Monday 14th December 2015

Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will encourage the use of the customer services centre at Kettering Borough Council as an example of good practice for other local authorities to follow.

Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)

The Government is keen to encourage all local authorities to look at how they work more effectively and efficiently with services providers and partner organisations in their area to ensure that their residents receive high quality and cost effective services.

I am aware of the progress made by Kettering Borough Council in this area including the significant savings made and increased customer satisfaction and I am happy to encourage other authorities to look at its customer service centre as an example of good practice.