Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
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 it his policy that foreign nationals who have lived in the UK for more than five years should be able to (a) stand and (b) vote in all (i) local elections, (ii) general elections and (iii) referendums.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
No. The Representation of People Act 1983 and subsequent legislation set out which non-UK nationals' resident in the UK can participate in our Parliamentary and Local elections. This is rightly restricted to British citizens and those with the closest historic links to our country.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
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 the potential impact of introducing (a) a rent freeze in London and (b) other rent controls on (i) levels of homelessness, (ii) the availability of housing stock in the private rented sector and (iii) levels of affordability for tenants.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government does not support freezing rents as a form of rent control. Evidence suggests that rent controls discourage investment in the sector and lead to declining property standards as a result. This would help neither landlords nor tenants. International examples also suggest that rent controls can have a negative impact on the supply of housing and may encourage illegal subletting.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to bring forward secondary legislation to implement the provisions of the Elections Act 2022 on Extension of franchise for parliamentary elections: British citizens overseas.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Announcements will be set out in the usual way.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which consultations published by their Department are awaiting a response; and when each of those responses (a) were initially planned to and (b) will be published.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Information is available on gov.uk on all open and closed consultations published by the Department, including the closing date for open consultations and, where available, the Government's response.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to take steps to help tackle large increases in service charges for (a) leaseholders and (b) social housing tenants.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We are committed to protecting leaseholders, ensuring service charges are transparent and removing barriers to challenge when things go wrong.
I refer the Hon. Member to the Autumn Statement’s announcement on the cap on social rents.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many and what proportion of people who used the Help to Buy scheme (a) defaulted on their loan and (b) have had their home repossessed.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many social housing tenants in each region are in rent arrears as of 13 March 2023.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 147125 on 27 February 2023.
Local Authority Housing Statistics provide data on the number of households on social housing waiting lists at the following link.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many people were on a waiting list for social housing in each of the last five years.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 147125 on 27 February 2023.
Local Authority Housing Statistics provide data on the number of households on social housing waiting lists at the following link.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will publish the (a) number and (b) destinations of all domestic flights taken by officials in his Department in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Further to the answer to Question UIN 61752 on 21 November 2022, as part of the transparency agenda, DLUHC publishes quarterly data on senior officials travel. Details can be found here.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much his Department has spent on the promotion of new voter ID regulations.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 124038 on the 19 January 2023.