Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 (a) paid in apprenticeship levy fees and (b) spent from its apprenticeship levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The department has contributed £1,502,612.00 in Levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.
During the same period the department has spent £534,528.80.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 10 January 2024 in the Adjournment debate on Inter Faith Network for the UK, Official Report, column 418, when he plans to make a further announcement on the Inter Faith Network.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Announcements will be set out in the usual way.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what (a) schemes and (b) grants their Department administers that are open for (i) individuals, (ii) organisations and (iii) other groups in Feltham and Heston constituency to apply for as of 10 January 2024.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The department advertises all open grant schemes on the gov.uk ‘Find a Grant’ website: https://www.find-government-grants.service.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of providers offering leasehold building insurance to local authorities in London.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The department has begun to engage with local authorities (LAs) in London and beyond, and the Local Government Association (LGA) to assess the challenges they may be facing when accessing the buildings insurance market.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when his Department plans to respond to local authorities on their proposals to use unspent money that was distributed through the 2022-23 UK Shared Prosperity Fund in the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The department will respond to local authorities shortly on their credible plans for unspent money from 2022-23.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the report entitled UK housing: Fit for the future?, published by the Climate Change Committee on 21 February 2019.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government carefully considers all Climate Change Committee reports, including their 2019 report UK housing: Fit for the Future? when developing policy designed to contribute towards the Government's commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 potential impact of houses of multiple occupancy on community cohesion and anti-social behaviour.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government recently launched a plan to crack down on antisocial behaviour, restoring people’s confidence that these crimes will be quickly and visibly punished. This plan includes a commitment to produce comprehensive guidance for landlords to ensure they understand the tools available to tackle and evidence anti-social behaviour.
Houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) play an important role in the private rented sector and can provide relatively low-cost accommodation. Where there are problems with HMOs and anti-social behaviour, local authorities have powers to introduce HMO licence conditions which require landlords of licensable HMOs to take steps to prevent or reduce anti-social behaviour caused by tenants or visitors.
The department gathers data from local authorities on the estimated number of HMOs annually. The latest returns can be found here.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of rooms in houses of multiple occupancy available in (a) London and (b) England.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government recently launched a plan to crack down on antisocial behaviour, restoring people’s confidence that these crimes will be quickly and visibly punished. This plan includes a commitment to produce comprehensive guidance for landlords to ensure they understand the tools available to tackle and evidence anti-social behaviour.
Houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) play an important role in the private rented sector and can provide relatively low-cost accommodation. Where there are problems with HMOs and anti-social behaviour, local authorities have powers to introduce HMO licence conditions which require landlords of licensable HMOs to take steps to prevent or reduce anti-social behaviour caused by tenants or visitors.
The department gathers data from local authorities on the estimated number of HMOs annually. The latest returns can be found here.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 the effectiveness of his Department's communications on explaining the availability of support for Afghan refugees to landlords in the private sector.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Home Office is the department responsible for the ACRS and ARAP schemes, including for providing tariff funding for local authorities. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is supporting cross-Government work to help Afghans into private rental sector accommodation where possible, and Government is providing £35 million of additional funding to local authorities for this purpose.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the ability of Afghan refugees living in hotels to secure properties in the private rental market.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Home Office is the department responsible for the ACRS and ARAP schemes, including for providing tariff funding for local authorities. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is supporting cross-Government work to help Afghans into private rental sector accommodation where possible, and Government is providing £35 million of additional funding to local authorities for this purpose.