Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to accept the recommendations made in the Independent Review by Colin Bloom commissioned by his Department and published on 26 April 2023.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Colin Bloom's report into faith engagement was carried out in his capacity as the Government's Independent Faith Engagement Advisor, and the Government is carefully considering the findings. A response to the recommendations will be issued in due course.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much of the grant to local authorities under the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme will be reported as ODA; and how he plans to (a) itemise and (b) report to the OECD ODA-eligible spending.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Homes for Ukraine tariff is paid quarterly. ODA eligibility is calculated against projected spend.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the report by the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee on Exempt accommodation, HC21, published on 27 October 2022, when he plans to respond to that report.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government welcomes the publication of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee's report on the important issue of poor-quality supported housing. The Secretary of State has written to the chair of the Committee to acknowledge the report, and to advise that we are carefully considering its findings. We will respond fully to the recommendations as soon as possible.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether local authorities that were successful in the first round of the Levelling Up Fund will be eligible to receive further levelling up funding.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 129836 on 26 January 2023.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much funding has been allocated to (a) Birmingham City Council and (b) other councils in the West Midlands to help advertise new restrictions on voting without voter ID.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Electoral Commission is providing a comprehensive, targeted communications campaign and guidance, raising awareness throughout the electorate of the new voter identification requirements.
In addition to the Commission's campaign, the Government has allocated £4.75 million of additional funding to all local authorities with polls in May 2023 to support local communications. Of this, local authorities in the West Midlands received £480,694.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the affordability of rents in the private rental sector in Birmingham.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The most recent English Housing Survey (EHS) found that on average households in the private rented sector spent 33% of their income on rent in 2021-22. Due to sample size, the EHS cannot give robust information on Birmingham specifically.
The Department continues to monitor private rented sector market data, including for Birmingham.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the potential impact of a (a) three, (b) five and (c) seven per cent cap on social housing rents would have on housing associations in Birmingham.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Department does not hold information on service charges for all tenants in the social sector.
The Government strongly believes that service charges should be transparent and communicated effectively. The Government believes that there should be a clear route to challenge or redress if things go wrong.
As announced at the Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022, an increase in the cap on social housing rents has been set at 7% for 2023-24. This followed the consultation we carried out last year, which is available here. We published an Impact Assessment alongside the consultation and will publish a final Impact Assessment in due course.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the demand for inclusion of electric vehicle charging points in council-owned homes with garages (a) now and (b) in the future.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities does not collect this data. The Department for Transport regularly publishes monthly and quarterly electric vehicle charging infrastructure statistics. These are available here.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of council-owned homes with garages that have electric vehicle charging points.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities does not collect this data. The Department for Transport regularly publishes monthly and quarterly electric vehicle charging infrastructure statistics. These are available here.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment has he made of the adequacy of the audit policies governing registered providers of social housing; and whether he is taking steps to ensure that registered providers who are found to have (a) overcharged, (b) double-charged, (c) charged for phantom services and (d) made other errors award compensation to tenants and residents.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Department does not hold information on service charges for all tenants in the social sector.
The Government strongly believes that service charges should be transparent and communicated effectively. The Government believes that there should be a clear route to challenge or redress if things go wrong.
As announced at the Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022, an increase in the cap on social housing rents has been set at 7% for 2023-24. This followed the consultation we carried out last year, which is available here. We published an Impact Assessment alongside the consultation and will publish a final Impact Assessment in due course.