Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what account her strategy to tackle homelessness takes of the findings of the report published by Centrepoint entitled Human costs and lost potential: the real cost of youth homelessness.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected, including young people.
We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. This includes chairing a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, bringing together ministers from across government to develop a long-term strategy.
The Minister for Homelessness and Democracy has also established an Expert Group to bring together representatives from across the homelessness and rough sleeping sector, local and combined authorities and wider experts. The role of this expert group is to provide knowledge, analysis and challenge to help Government understand what is working well nationally and locally and where improvements are needed. We will continue to meet with a range of stakeholders, including mayors and MPs, to make sure the strategy is informed by a range of expertise.
As well as work on the Inter-Ministerial Group and Expert Group we are also working closely with the sector to deliver a number of lived experience forums to ensure that the voices of those with lived experience are reflected in the homelessness strategy.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how she plans to prioritise young people in the new cross-departmental strategy to end homelessness.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected, including young people.
We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. This includes chairing a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, bringing together ministers from across government to develop a long-term strategy.
The Minister for Homelessness and Democracy has also established an Expert Group to bring together representatives from across the homelessness and rough sleeping sector, local and combined authorities and wider experts. The role of this expert group is to provide knowledge, analysis and challenge to help Government understand what is working well nationally and locally and where improvements are needed. We will continue to meet with a range of stakeholders, including mayors and MPs, to make sure the strategy is informed by a range of expertise.
As well as work on the Inter-Ministerial Group and Expert Group we are also working closely with the sector to deliver a number of lived experience forums to ensure that the voices of those with lived experience are reflected in the homelessness strategy.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the government strategy to end homelessness will include a section on youth homelessness.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected, including young people.
We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. This includes chairing a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, bringing together ministers from across government to develop a long-term strategy.
The Minister for Homelessness and Democracy has also established an Expert Group to bring together representatives from across the homelessness and rough sleeping sector, local and combined authorities and wider experts. The role of this expert group is to provide knowledge, analysis and challenge to help Government understand what is working well nationally and locally and where improvements are needed. We will continue to meet with a range of stakeholders, including mayors and MPs, to make sure the strategy is informed by a range of expertise.
As well as work on the Inter-Ministerial Group and Expert Group we are also working closely with the sector to deliver a number of lived experience forums to ensure that the voices of those with lived experience are reflected in the homelessness strategy.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to prioritise ending youth homelessness.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected, including young people.
We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. This includes chairing a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, bringing together ministers from across government to develop a long-term strategy.
The Minister for Homelessness and Democracy has also established an Expert Group to bring together representatives from across the homelessness and rough sleeping sector, local and combined authorities and wider experts. The role of this expert group is to provide knowledge, analysis and challenge to help Government understand what is working well nationally and locally and where improvements are needed. We will continue to meet with a range of stakeholders, including mayors and MPs, to make sure the strategy is informed by a range of expertise.
As well as work on the Inter-Ministerial Group and Expert Group we are also working closely with the sector to deliver a number of lived experience forums to ensure that the voices of those with lived experience are reflected in the homelessness strategy.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a national standard for local authorities on the disposal of the belongings of deceased council tenants.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has no current plans to implement a national standard for the disposal of deceased council tenants’ belongings. The repossession of a property is a matter for the landlord concerned. They are best placed to manage what happens to deceased council tenants’ belongings, carefully considering the family’s circumstances. In doing so, we would expect local authorities to deal sensitively with cases before taking action to dispose of any belongings.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what data her Department holds per local authority of the number of times local authorities have had to conduct repairs of private rented sector properties when private sector landlords have failed to do so in each year since 2015; and what the potential cost to the public purse was for each local authority.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The department does not collect data centrally on local authorities conducting repairs of private rented sector properties.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on the number of Assets of Community Value (a) listed by each local authority and (b) rejected by each local authority in the last three years.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Information about Assets of Community Value listed by local authorities is held locally, and is not collected by central Government. The Government has committed to introducing a stronger Community Right to Buy through the English Devolution Bill, as part of which we are considering any changes to the Assets of Community Value process that are required to ensure the policy functions as effectively as possible.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on the number of assets that were bought by community groups through the Community Right to Bid process since its introduction.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Information about Assets of Community Value listed by local authorities is held locally, and is not collected by central Government. The Government has committed to introducing a stronger Community Right to Buy through the English Devolution Bill, as part of which we are considering any changes to the Assets of Community Value process that are required to ensure the policy functions as effectively as possible.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of setting national (a) standards and (b) timescales for repairs to social housing.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
All social homes should be decent, safe and warm. The government have committed to bringing forward the regulations necessary to introduce Awaab’s Law in the Social Rented Sector, and to consulting on a new Decent Homes Standard and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards early next year. We will set out an assessment of the costs and impacts of the relevant requirements alongside each consultation and subsequent consultation response.