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Written Question
Floods: Rotherham
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2024 to Question 9220 on Floods: Rotherham, how much funding has been allocated to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council via the Flood Recovery Framework since Storm Babet.

Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

The Flood Recovery Framework does not work on pre – determined allocations. Eligible local authorities are responsible for distributing flood recovery funding to affected households and businesses and the Government re-imburses those local authorities retrospectively, based on the certified costs of the eligible grants that they have provided.


Written Question
Floods: Rotherham
Thursday 18th January 2024

Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what funding has been made available to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council for clean-up operations following recent flooding.

Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 9235 on 16 January 2024.


Written Question
Floods: Grants
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to increase the value available of the (a) Community Recovery Grant and (b) Business Recovery Grant for those who are eligible to receive it under the flood recovery framework.

Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

We work closely with local authorities to ensure recovery support is provided when appropriate. The current guidance is regularly reviewed and updated as required.


Written Question
Help to Buy Scheme: Rotherham
Tuesday 12th September 2023

Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many homeowners in Rotherham constituency bought their homes using the Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

Between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2023 1,675 homes were purchased in Rotherham using the Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme. Further data on the number of households in England which have benefitted from the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme in each local authority area can be found in the latest HtB Equity Loan scheme statistics at the following link.


Written Question
Private Rented Housing: Pets
Thursday 27th April 2023

Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to his Department's White Paper entitled A Fairer Private Rented Sector, published on 16 June 2022, what support his Department plans to provide to landlords to help facilitate pet tenancies in the private rental sector.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 176692 on 21 April 2023.


Written Question
Private Rented Housing: Pets
Tuesday 25th April 2023

Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to abolish blanket bans on pets in the private rented sector.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 176692 on 21 April 2023.


Written Question
Delivery Services: Sheffield
Tuesday 13th April 2021

Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent progress has been made on Sheffield City Region’s bid to the Delivery Vehicles Competition.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

In October 2019 the Government launched the New Development Corporation Competition which invites ambitious proposals from local authorities to support transformational housing and economic growth opportunities, focusing on regeneration. Funding will help places explore delivery models that have been less commonly used in a contemporary context, such as development corporations. We have received a number of bids into the competition and will be making further announcements.


Written Question
Families: Disadvantaged
Monday 16th November 2020

Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)

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

What his policy is on the future of the Troubled Families programme.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

A strong society needs strong families. The Troubled Families Programme has been successful in improving outcomes for vulnerable families and driving progress towards intensive, integrated support services.

That is why this government made a commitment in the Manifesto to continuing and improving the Troubled Families Programme.

We are currently considering options for the design of a future programme from April 2021 onwards. As you know, however, we cannot confirm any funding beyond the current spending review period.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Local Press
Monday 21st September 2020

Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has carried out an impact assessment on the removal of the statutory requirement to publicise planning applications in local newspapers on the (a) number of people who would be excluded from seeing such notices and (b) revenue reduction to local newspapers as a result of the removal of that requirement.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

Local planning authorities are required to publicise certain types of planning applications in local newspapers as set out in Article 15 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015. In the response to coronavirus restrictions, temporary regulations have been introduced to supplement the existing statutory publicity arrangements for planning applications. Local planning authorities now have the flexibility to take other reasonable steps to publicise applications if they cannot discharge the specific requirement for newspaper publicity – for instance, if the local newspaper is not now in circulation. These steps can include the use of social media and other electronic communications, such as local online news portals, and must be proportionate to the scale and nature of the proposed development. However, if a local planning authority is required to publicise a planning application in a local newspaper, and that paper is still in circulation, then they must continue to do so.


Written Question
Food Supply: Coronavirus
Monday 18th May 2020

Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of dedicated local authority phone lines that have been set up to provide support for vulnerable people with getting access to food during the covid-19 oubreak.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

The Government is working closely with local authorities in the response to Covid-19. This includes supporting people who are clinically extremely vulnerable to Covid-19 and have been advised by the Government to shield, as well as people who are vulnerable for other reasons. Local authorities are supporting with a wide range of functions including supplementing nationally provided food boxes where shielding individuals have additional support needs and providing social contact for those who are isolated.

As at 17 April, 98 per cent of local authorities had dedicated phone lines in place to provide support for the vulnerable in getting access to basic food supplies.

Local government and their Voluntary Community Sector partners are well-placed to understand and meet the needs of vulnerable people in their communities.