Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment has been made of the adequacy of costs incurred by local authorities when applying for competitive Local Authority funding pots.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
It is ultimately for individual local authorities to determine when and which funding pots to apply for but we also recognise that the process of applying for competitive funding does incur costs and have provided support to places accordingly; this includes as an example, the Levelling Up Fund which provided £125,000 of capacity funding to all eligible English local authorities.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent discussions he has had with Muslim faith leaders on Islamophobia in the UK.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
This Government takes tackling Anti-Muslim hatred very seriously and working to stop it. Earlier this year the Secretary of State chaired a roundtable with experts on Anti-Muslim hatred where we discussed the drivers of discrimination against Muslim communities.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he last met with each directly-elected Mayor or Metro-Mayor in England.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Since being reinstated to my post as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Levelling Up, I have met with the Mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. The Secretary of State has also met with the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Tees Valley and the North of Tyne. We look forward to engaging with the rest of the English metro mayors and local authority mayors and leaders as we continue our mission to level up every part of the country
Ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of ways to improve the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We continue to review and develop plans to support guests to access economic opportunities, informed by engagement with other government departments, local councils, VCS organisations, sponsors, and guests.
The Homes for Ukraine scheme relies on cooperation between Government, local government, the voluntary sector, faith organisations, and Ukrainian representative organisations. We have engaged with local government and other partners through several different conversations and working groups to date. This has included Ministerial roundtables attended by local government representatives, official-led working group meetings, and ongoing bilateral engagement with local authority Chief Executives and senior representatives.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Rt. hon Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland accepted the full severance payment to which he was entitled on leaving his post on 25 October 2022.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 77560 on 8 November 2022.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Rt. hon Member for Tunbridge Wells accepted the full severance payment to which he was entitled on leaving his post on 7 September 2022.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 77560 on 8 November 2022.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he accepted the full severance payment to which he was entitled on leaving his post on 6 July 2022.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 77560 on 8 November 2022.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the administrative costs to his Department have been from the appointment of new Secretaries of State since July 2022.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
This is a core task for the Civil Service and administrative costs are contained and managed within the Department's existing budgets.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 estimate of the average monthly cost to a local authority of supporting a homeless Ukrainian refugee whose sponsorship arrangement has broken down.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
For arrivals under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, the Government is providing funding to councils to enable them to provide support to individuals and families, including in the minority of cases where someone is left without accommodation.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on the number of warm banks and warm spaces opened by local authorities for use during winter 2022-23; and if he will make an estimate of the average cost of running those spaces by local authority.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Local Government Finance Settlement makes available substantial funding in 2022/23 for local government in England. In addition, the Energy Bill Relief Scheme is providing a discount on energy prices this winter for local authorities whose bills have been significantly inflated by the global energy crisis.
We know that inflation forecasts are higher than they were at the Spending Review. We are working closely with councils and their representatives, as we always do, to monitor the impact on service delivery and budgets.
Local authorities in Wales are in the first instance a matter for the Welsh Government.
The department does not hold the information requested on warm banks and warm spaces.