Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to provide additional support to councils that receive less funding after the fair funding formula is implemented.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
By the end of the multi-year Settlement, we will have made available a 15.1% increase in Core Spending Power for councils in England, worth over £11 billion, compared to 2025-26. The vast majority of social care authorities will see a real terms increase across over the multi-year Settlement.
The government agrees with respondents to the December consultation and Fair Funding Review 2.0 that implementing funding reform in full in 2026-27 without transitional arrangements would be the wrong approach. We will support local authorities to manage their updated funding positions by introducing changes over the multi-year Settlement and protecting councils’ income, including locally retained business rates growth.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to mandate higher accessibility standards for new build homes.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Housing is one of this Government’s top priorities. Everyone deserves to live in a decent home that is suitable for them and meets their needs. The revised National Planning Policy Framework, published on 12 December 2024, requires local planning authorities to assess the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community, including those of older and disabled people, and to reflect this in planning policies. Where an identified need exists, plans are expected to help bring forward an adequate supply of accessible housing. The Government will shortly set out its policies on accessible new build housing, reinforcing our commitment to ensuring everyone has access to a safe, suitable home.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what are the delivery rates of M4(2) accessible and adaptable homes.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The data requested is not held centrally although the English Housing Survey does collect data on accessibility and adaptations within the home.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, in what way compliance with accessibility regulations for new build homes is monitored.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
In the initial stages, a building control application is required for new build homes. This is reviewed by building control bodies to ensure compliance with building regulations, including Part M – Access to and use of buildings.
During the build process, progress on site may be checked and monitored, using a number of methods, including on site visits, where the inspector may ask the builders on site to open up parts of the build in order to check compliance, and give advice if needed.
At the end of the build process, if a building complies with relevant regulations, a completion certificate will be issued.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
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 help ensure the provision of accessible housing for disabled Ukrainian refugees.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We provide a tariff of £5,900 per Ukrainian arrival to councils. Councils can use this funding flexibly to support households as best suits the local area, including using the funding for measures to support guests to access secure and appropriate accommodation in the private rental sector.
All Ukrainian guests have access to public services, including benefits to support the costs of private rented housing. The Citizens Advice Bureau can advise on which benefits individuals may be eligible for and how to apply for those.
Council housing teams can also offer advice to Ukrainians about the range of housing options available locally.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she is taking steps to ensure that a proportion of shared ownership homes are adapted to be accessible to those with physical disabilities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 53184 on 27 May 2025.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that a proportion of new build homes are adapted to be accessible to people with physical disabilities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 53184 on 27 May 2025.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of (a) the duplication of scanned signatures and (b) technical problems with the Electoral Registration Officer Portal since its introduction in 2023; how many (i) local authorities and (ii) postal vote applications have been affected; if she will list which local authorities have been affected; and whether there were periods when duplicate signatures could not be checked.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
On 13 May 2025, MHCLG identified a software bug with the batch application upload functionality on the Electoral Registration Officer Portal (ERO Portal), which had existed since 21 March 2024.
The bug could lead to misallocated signature images for certain elector records stored in local authority Electoral Management Systems (EMS). The issue would only present where an elector had applied for a postal vote via a paper form, where an ERO had included their application in the batch paper upload feature of the ERO Portal, and where there was a large volume of processing of batched application uploads. Our investigation also concluded that the issue was more likely to present where there were network performance issues. The issue was fixed on 14 May 2025, and further cases have since been prevented from occurring
An analysis conducted on the data held in the ERO Portal was used to identify duplicated signature images in the data. This analysis identified a potential 112 cases of exact duplicate images caused by this issue across the ERO Portal data, out of a total of 2,257,946 postal vote applications. In total, we identified 64 Electoral Registration Offices, across 67 local authorities, where we had identified a duplicated signature
Due to the data retention periods of the ERO Portal, the data analysis was only able to check for duplicates between 14 May 2024 and 14 May 2025. EMS suppliers have been able to provide support for ERO teams to check for duplicated signatures between 21 March 2024 and 14 May 2024
ERO Portal users across local authorities were updated throughout the investigation. MHCLG engaged directly with local authorities believed to be impacted by this bug to inform them of potential cases so they could be investigated and rectified by individual ERO teams. We continue to work closely with EMS suppliers to support impacted ERO teams.
Technical issues on the ERO Portal are routinely documented and communicated through digital service governance processes. As part of this, any lessons that can be taken from technical issues are discussed and analysed, whilst preventative mitigations are then adopted in software development practises. We also work closely with the LA elections sector to collate and evaluate user feedback, which feeds directly into our roadmap for continuous product improvements.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the licensing criteria for Houses in Multiple Occupation.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is important that private rented properties are safe, well-maintained, and properly managed. Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licensing schemes play a crucial role in achieving this.
The Renters’ Rights Bill introduces reforms to drive-up standards within the private rented sector properties, including HMOs. This includes a Decent Homes Standard and new enforcement powers for local authorities.
We will keep the regulation of HMOs under review.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Renters' Rights Bill will place penalties on landlords who have been unable to sell their properties and want to re-rent.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Renters’ Rights Bill will introduce a new ground for possession for landlords who wish to sell their property. To prevent abuse of this ground, landlords will not be able to market or re-let their property for twelve months after using the selling ground. This will remove the financial incentive to landlords from misusing the grounds and evicting a tenant with the intention to re-let at a higher rent.
Once the legislation is in place, landlords could be given a fine of up to £40,000 by local councils if they market or re-let their properties within twelve months of using the moving and selling grounds. Tenants will also be able to seek Rent Repayment Orders for this offence. Tenants will be able toc challenge evictions in court if they believe the landlord is misusing the grounds. If this happens, the landlord will need demonstrate that their intention to sell or move in is genuine.