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 assessment he has made of the potential merits of lowering the threshold at which the Regulator for Social Housing can make statutory appointments to the boards of non-compliant registered providers.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Regulator uses statutory appointments to strengthen the boards of non-compliant providers, where the board lacks the skills and capacity to provide effective governance. This allows the Regulator to appoint people with relevant expertise and experience, depending on the weaknesses of the existing board that need to be addressed. Ultimately, this supports the provider to return to compliance, to the benefit of its tenants.
It is crucial that the Regulator is able to use this power effectively when needed. We are making a minor amendment to the Bill which will allow the Regulator to use the power where there are no board members but an officer remains, addressing a potential gap that exists currently. We are also clarifying that the Regulator can appoint officers where a provider is in breach of a regulatory standard. Co-regulation only works if providers have effective boards. These changes are vital in ensuring that the Regulator can act decisively and effectively to address the weaknesses on a board.
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 he has made of the potential impact of inflation on the viability of funding agreements made through the Building Safety Fund.
Answered by Paul Scully
Applicants can only submit a full costs application to the Building Safety Fund once they have gone out to tender and have a preferred contractor to carry out the remediation works. At that point they must provide the required cost breakdown and their application will be assessed by the Department. If costs are assessed as acceptable an award of funding and grant funding agreement is issued. Applicants will also enter into a works contract with the main contractor, based on the costs agreed at tender from the contractor. We expect the works to start on site as soon as practically possible once contracts are signed.
Applicants to the Building Safety Fund are then required to manage the total eligible costs of remediation project within the grant awarded. We appreciate that circumstances can change and costs may increase because of unforeseen overruns or variations to contract scope. Where this happens applicants can submit an application for variations which will be considered by the Department. However, where construction contracts vary in the placement of liability in relation to variations and cost variation applications to the Building Safety Fund will only be permitted if the liability for the variation is the applicant's and not the contractor's. Guidance on variations under the Building Safety Fund can be found in the Building Safety Fund Application Guidance on gov.uk [at www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings and www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-safety-fund-guidance-for-new-applications-2022 ].
The Department appoints cost consultants for the Building Safety Fund. They undertake additional monitoring of tenders and variation requests including to identify where costs are rising as a result of inflation. The Department is actively seeking to better monitor the overall impact of inflation, including on the Building Safety Fund.
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 whether construction costs for projects funded through the Building Safety Fund have changed since those applications were (a) submitted and (b) agreed; and whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that rising costs do not delay the progress of remediation works.
Answered by Paul Scully
Applicants can only submit a full costs application to the Building Safety Fund once they have gone out to tender and have a preferred contractor to carry out the remediation works. At that point they must provide the required cost breakdown and their application will be assessed by the Department. If costs are assessed as acceptable an award of funding and grant funding agreement is issued. Applicants will also enter into a works contract with the main contractor, based on the costs agreed at tender from the contractor. We expect the works to start on site as soon as practically possible once contracts are signed.
Applicants to the Building Safety Fund are then required to manage the total eligible costs of remediation project within the grant awarded. We appreciate that circumstances can change and costs may increase because of unforeseen overruns or variations to contract scope. Where this happens applicants can submit an application for variations which will be considered by the Department. However, where construction contracts vary in the placement of liability in relation to variations and cost variation applications to the Building Safety Fund will only be permitted if the liability for the variation is the applicant's and not the contractor's. Guidance on variations under the Building Safety Fund can be found in the Building Safety Fund Application Guidance on gov.uk [at www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings and www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-safety-fund-guidance-for-new-applications-2022 ].
The Department appoints cost consultants for the Building Safety Fund. They undertake additional monitoring of tenders and variation requests including to identify where costs are rising as a result of inflation. The Department is actively seeking to better monitor the overall impact of inflation, including on the Building Safety Fund.
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 assessment he has made of the number of approved Building Safety Fund applications whose construction costs have risen since the initial tender was completed, and if he will take steps to approve the cost variation.
Answered by Paul Scully
Applicants can only submit a full costs application to the Building Safety Fund once they have gone out to tender and have a preferred contractor to carry out the remediation works. At that point they must provide the required cost breakdown and their application will be assessed by the Department. If costs are assessed as acceptable an award of funding and grant funding agreement is issued. Applicants will also enter into a works contract with the main contractor, based on the costs agreed at tender from the contractor. We expect the works to start on site as soon as practically possible once contracts are signed.
Applicants to the Building Safety Fund are then required to manage the total eligible costs of remediation project within the grant awarded. We appreciate that circumstances can change and costs may increase because of unforeseen overruns or variations to contract scope. Where this happens applicants can submit an application for variations which will be considered by the Department. However, where construction contracts vary in the placement of liability in relation to variations and cost variation applications to the Building Safety Fund will only be permitted if the liability for the variation is the applicant's and not the contractor's. Guidance on variations under the Building Safety Fund can be found in the Building Safety Fund Application Guidance on gov.uk [at www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings and www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-safety-fund-guidance-for-new-applications-2022 ].
The Department appoints cost consultants for the Building Safety Fund. They undertake additional monitoring of tenders and variation requests including to identify where costs are rising as a result of inflation. The Department is actively seeking to better monitor the overall impact of inflation, including on the Building Safety Fund.
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 many buildings that have successfully applied to the Building Safety Fund have (a) received funding and (b) started cladding remediation work in (i) Birmingham Edgbaston constituency, (ii) Birmingham and (iii) the West Midlands.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
In Birmingham (using the boundary of Upper Tier Local Authority) 26 buildings have been assessed as eligible for the Building Safety Fund. Of these, 19 buildings have received funding and 6 have started cladding remediation work.
In the West Midlands (using Local Fire Authority boundaries) 32 buildings have been assessed as eligible for the Building Safety Fund. Of these, 22 buildings have received funding and 6 have started cladding remediation work.
In the constituency of Edgbaston, the number of eligible applications to the Building Safety Fund is below the threshold at which we can publish data without the risk of identifying individual buildings.
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 steps he has taken to improve standards in the exempt supported accommodation sector.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
On 17 March we announced our intention to bring forward a package of measures to put an end to a minority of unscrupulous supported housing landlords exploiting some of the most vulnerable in our society. This includes the intention to introduce standards for support.
We are actively engaging with stakeholders to develop the detail of the measures and will introduce any measures requiring legislation when parliamentary time allows.
We have also announced that we will provide £20 million for a Supported Housing Improvement Programme to drive up quality in the sector in some of the worst affected areas. The funding call for the programme opened on 2 July.
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 he has made of the potential merits of introducing a statutory definition of support for residents of exempt supported accommodation.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
On 17 March we announced our intention to bring forward a package of measures to put an end to a minority of unscrupulous supported housing landlords exploiting some of the most vulnerable in our society. This includes the intention to introduce standards for support.
We are actively engaging with stakeholders to develop the detail of the measures and will introduce any measures requiring legislation when parliamentary time allows.
We have also announced that we will provide £20 million for a Supported Housing Improvement Programme to drive up quality in the sector in some of the worst affected areas. The funding call for the programme opened on 2 July.
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 many applications have been received for the position of West Midlands Levelling Up Director.
Answered by Lia Nici
We are in the process of recruitment and more details will be available 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, what plans he has to provide (a) mental health, (b) language and (c) other support for local schools and communities that host child refugees.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Government is providing local authorities with funding to provide the wrap around services Ukrainians arriving under Homes for Ukraine need to access, with additional funding for school placements. Details of the funding provided to local authorities has been published online at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils .
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 plans he has to provide (a) mental health, (b) language and (c) other support for local schools and communities for child refugees.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.