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 his Department has plans to publish an estimated turnaround time for applications to the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Home office are working to ensure as many visas are processed as possible.
I refer the Hon Member to the data published at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukraine-family-scheme-application-data. Further data will be published in due course.
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, what the average number of days is between an application being submitted to the Homes for Ukraine scheme and the outcome of that application being reached.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Home office are working to ensure as many visas are processed as possible.
I refer the Hon Member to the data published at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukraine-family-scheme-application-data. Further data will be published in due course.
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, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recent report from the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation on car-dependency and new housing developments; and what steps he is taking to help ensure that new housing developments have easy access to public transport provision.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government has taken, and is taking a number of steps to make sure that developments are easily accessible by public transport. We have set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) that transport issues should be considered from the earliest stages of plan-making and development proposals, so that opportunities to promote walking, cycling and public transport use are identified and pursued. The NPPF is clear that significant development of new homes should be focused on locations which are or can be made sustainable, through limiting the need to travel and offering a genuine choice of transport modes.
Last year, the Government published the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, which highlighted the principles of low carbon transport that should apply in spatial planning. We are also supporting the delivery of an update to Manual for Streets, the Government’s guidance on street design which ensures that when considering the design of streets in housing and other development, pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users should be at the top of the hierarchy.
As we set out in the Net Zero Strategy, through our programme of changes to the planning system we intend to review the NPPF to make sure it contributes to climate change mitigation and adaptation as fully as possible. One of our Levelling Up missions is also that local public transport connectivity across the country will be significantly closer to the standards of London on service levels, fares and ticketing.
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 a sole occupier of a home who takes in a Ukrainian refugee will lose their Council Tax discount.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is clear that the entitlement to the council tax single person discount should not be impacted by an individual's participation in the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
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, what plans his Department has in place to help accommodate Ukrainian refugees in the UK who are unable to leave within (a) 6 months and (b) 3 years.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Further to the oral statement by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up on 14 March, guidance for local authorities has been published on Gov.uk at www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils. There are also published FAQs available online at www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-scheme-frequently-asked-questions as well as information for sponsors. Information is available on safeguarding checks at these links, as well as on eligibility for the scheme. Phase One of the Homes for Ukraine scheme opened for applications on 18 March and is accessible via links from homesforukraine.campaign.gov.uk . Those who had recorded their interest in the scheme were also contacted on that date. Details on future phases of the scheme will be announced in due course.
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, what steps his Department is taking to financially support British nationals hosting Ukrainian refugees outside of the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Further to the oral statement by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up on 14 March, guidance for local authorities has been published on Gov.uk at www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils. There are also published FAQs available online at www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-scheme-frequently-asked-questions as well as information for sponsors. Information is available on safeguarding checks at these links, as well as on eligibility for the scheme. Phase One of the Homes for Ukraine scheme opened for applications on 18 March and is accessible via links from homesforukraine.campaign.gov.uk . Those who had recorded their interest in the scheme were also contacted on that date. Details on future phases of the scheme will be announced in due course.
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, what financial support the Government plans to make available to pension-age Ukrainian refugees.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
I refer the Hon Member to the guidance for local authorities available online at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils.
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 has any plans to review Part 14 of the Town and Country (General Permitted Development) Order 2015.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
To support the generation of renewable energy, national permitted development rights in Part 14 of the General Permitted Development Order enable the installation of microgeneration renewable energy equipment. While we keep all permitted development rights under review, we have no immediate plans to amend the Part 14 rights.
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 commit to publishing a regular update on the allocation of levelling up funding.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Since October 2021 the Government has allocated around £1.9 billion throughout the UK through the Levelling Up Fund, Community Renewal Fund and Community Ownership Fund.
All funding offers and allocations for these funds and others can be found on gov.uk. We will continue to do this for all future funding programmes. In the Levelling Up White Paper, we also set out our ambitious plans for using data and spatial mapping to give everyone the chance to see how this government is levelling up the 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, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of provision of public toilets in England; and what plans his Department has to help ensure there is an adequate provision of public toilets across the country.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Local authorities are best placed to make decisions about public toilet provision in their localities. The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022-23 makes available an additional £3.5 billion to councils, including funding for adult social care reform. This is an increase in local authority funding for 2022-23 of over 4% in real terms, which will ensure councils across the country have the resources they need to deliver local services.