Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many properties were sold through Right to Buy in each of the core cities in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Official statistics on the number of Right to Buy sales are published annually. The official statistics can be found on Gov.uk in Live Table 691b available at the following link.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many (a) site visits by (i) an inspector and (ii) an inspector's representative and (b) written exercises were conducted following appeals to the Planning Inspectorate on planning applications in (A) Birmingham, Edgbaston constituency and (B) the Birmingham City Council area in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The table below gives information on site visits by Inspectors and others for the last five years, as well as those where we do not have statistics on who carried out the site visit.
Oct 18 - Sep 19 | Site visit by Inspector | Site visit by APO/ RTPI App | No Name/ Grade recorded |
All PINS | 19162 | 133 | 660 |
Birmingham LPA | 194 | 0 | 2 |
Edgbaston | 14 | 0 | 0 |
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Oct 19 - Sep 20 | Site visit by inspector | Site visit by APO/ RTPI App | No Name/ Grade recorded |
All PINS | 15694 | 667 | 655 |
Birmingham LPA | 134 | 1 | 4 |
Edgbaston | 20 | 0 | 0 |
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Oct 20 - Sep 21 | Site visit by inspector | Site visit by APO/ RTPI App | No Name/ Grade recorded |
All PINS | 15901 | 429 | 693 |
Birmingham LPA | 158 | 3 | 3 |
Edgbaston | 12 | 1 | 0 |
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Oct 21 - Sep 22 | Site visit by inspector | Site visit by APO/ RTPI App | No Name/ Grade recorded |
All PINS | 15047 | 530 | 534 |
Birmingham LPA | 154 | 7 | 5 |
Edgbaston | 13 | 0 | 2 |
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Oct 22 - Sep 23 | Site visit by inspector | Site visit by APO/ RTPI App | No Name/ Grade recorded |
All PINS | 15920 | 213 | 680 |
Birmingham LPA | 147 | 3 | 5 |
Edgbaston | 0 | 0 | 10 |
Note: APO = Appeals Planning Officer;
RTPI App = Royal Town Planning Institute Apprentices
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many (a) site visits by (i) an inspector or (ii) an inspector's representative and (b) paper exercises were undertaken in response to appeals to the Planning Inspectorate in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The table below gives information on site visits by Inspectors and others for the last five years, as well as those where we do not have statistics on who carried out the site visit.
Oct 18 - Sep 19 | Site visit by Inspector | Site visit by APO/ RTPI App | No Name/ Grade recorded |
All PINS | 19162 | 133 | 660 |
Birmingham LPA | 194 | 0 | 2 |
Edgbaston | 14 | 0 | 0 |
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|
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Oct 19 - Sep 20 | Site visit by inspector | Site visit by APO/ RTPI App | No Name/ Grade recorded |
All PINS | 15694 | 667 | 655 |
Birmingham LPA | 134 | 1 | 4 |
Edgbaston | 20 | 0 | 0 |
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Oct 20 - Sep 21 | Site visit by inspector | Site visit by APO/ RTPI App | No Name/ Grade recorded |
All PINS | 15901 | 429 | 693 |
Birmingham LPA | 158 | 3 | 3 |
Edgbaston | 12 | 1 | 0 |
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Oct 21 - Sep 22 | Site visit by inspector | Site visit by APO/ RTPI App | No Name/ Grade recorded |
All PINS | 15047 | 530 | 534 |
Birmingham LPA | 154 | 7 | 5 |
Edgbaston | 13 | 0 | 2 |
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Oct 22 - Sep 23 | Site visit by inspector | Site visit by APO/ RTPI App | No Name/ Grade recorded |
All PINS | 15920 | 213 | 680 |
Birmingham LPA | 147 | 3 | 5 |
Edgbaston | 0 | 0 | 10 |
Note: APO = Appeals Planning Officer;
RTPI App = Royal Town Planning Institute Apprentices
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of planning regulations on the accessibility of pavements for public use.
Answered by Jacob Young
I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 763 on 13 November 2023.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of (a) trends in the number of professionals who are qualified to audit local authority accounts in England and (b) the potential impact of those trends on the sustainability of local government finances.
Answered by Simon Hoare
The Chartered Institute of Public Accountancy has been contracted to develop a qualification designed to bridge the gap between corporate and local audit qualifications, widening the pool of auditors. The first cohort for the course is expected to be enrolled in early 2024.
The Financial Reporting Council is making progress on work on a local audit Workforce Strategy. Initial recommendations for short to medium term measures will be presented to the Local Audit Liaison Committee in December; after that the Financial Reporting Council will update the Public Accounts Committee directly.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to reduce backlogs of audit opinions for local government bodies.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government is continuing to engage across the local audit sector, including local authorities on the proposals set out in the system wide statement published in July. Further details will be issued in due course.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has held discussions with (a) local authorities, (b) retailers, (c) Keep Britain Tidy and (d) other stakeholders on banning the sale of disposable barbecues.
Answered by Lee Rowley
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what support he is offering Birmingham City Council to help maximise business rate retention.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Through the Trailblazer devolution deal with the West Midlands Combined Authority, the Government has agreed to 10 years of 100 per cent business rates retention arrangements in Birmingham from 2024-25, offering certainty in funding over the longer term to support economic growth.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent (a) discussions and (b) consultations he has held on the proposal to bring Warwickshire into the West Midlands Combined Authority area.
Answered by Jacob Young
On 20 July the Leader of Warwickshire County Council advised that they had decided not to pursue at this time their plans to explore joining the WMCA. This is a matter for the Council.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps he has taken with local authorities to improve the take-up of (a) Universal Credit, (b) Council Tax Support and (c) social tariffs.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government is in regular contact with councils about the range of support to households.
The Department for Work and Pensions has worked with key organisations and charities on the transition to Universal Credit from other benefits and regularly promotes Universal Credit at relevant events.
Council tax support is the responsibility of local authorities who must consult upon and publish their schemes.
To raise awareness of social tariffs amongst eligible households, the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology has worked with consumer groups, charities and broadband and mobile companies to launch a 'Help for Households' awareness campaign.