Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many veterans have been allocated social housing in each year since 2010.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Between April 2012 and March 2020, there were 70,378 new social lettings to households containing someone who has served in the UK Armed Forces. From April 2016 this includes reservists. We do not have data on Armed Forces service for lettings before April 2012. The proportion of new social lets to households containing someone who has served in the UK Armed Forces has remained between 2-3% throughout this period.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan 2022-24 stated goal to end veteran rough sleeping within this Parliament, what steps his Department are taking to improve pathways of support.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The government is committed to ending rough sleeping, including veteran rough sleeping, and we are spending £2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the next three years. Our veterans play a vital role in keeping our country safe and we are committed to ensuring that they are provided with all the support they need to successfully adjust back into civilian life.
We are providing local areas with the support and funding they need to provide tailored support to respond to the needs of those sleeping rough in their areas, including where some may have served in the Armed Forces. Through the Rough Sleeping Initiative, we have provided over £200 million this year to local authorities to make sure they can continue to provide tailored local interventions for rough sleepers in their area.
The key objective of the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme (RSAP), backed by £433 million, is to provide 6,000 move-on homes and accompanying support services to those who are rough sleeping, or who have a history of sleeping rough, including veterans.
Through the Homelessness Case Level Information Collection (H-CLIC), the Department collects data on the support needs of households owed a prevention or relief duty, including if they have served in Her Majesty’s Forces. H-CLIC also collects the number of people homeless on departure from Armed Forces Accommodation.
HCLIC Data shows that for the year 2020-21, 1,730 veterans were owed a homelessness duty out of the 268,560 total households who were homeless or at risk of homelessness. This is down from 1,920 households in 2019-20. We will continue to monitor this data carefully.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan 2022-24 to end veteran rough sleeping within this Parliament, what data his Department plans to us to measure the success of the Government's ambition to end veteran rough sleeping within this Parliament.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The government is committed to ending rough sleeping, including veteran rough sleeping, and we are spending £2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the next three years. Our veterans play a vital role in keeping our country safe and we are committed to ensuring that they are provided with all the support they need to successfully adjust back into civilian life.
We are providing local areas with the support and funding they need to provide tailored support to respond to the needs of those sleeping rough in their areas, including where some may have served in the Armed Forces. Through the Rough Sleeping Initiative, we have provided over £200 million this year to local authorities to make sure they can continue to provide tailored local interventions for rough sleepers in their area.
The key objective of the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme (RSAP), backed by £433 million, is to provide 6,000 move-on homes and accompanying support services to those who are rough sleeping, or who have a history of sleeping rough, including veterans.
Through the Homelessness Case Level Information Collection (H-CLIC), the Department collects data on the support needs of households owed a prevention or relief duty, including if they have served in Her Majesty’s Forces. H-CLIC also collects the number of people homeless on departure from Armed Forces Accommodation.
HCLIC Data shows that for the year 2020-21, 1,730 veterans were owed a homelessness duty out of the 268,560 total households who were homeless or at risk of homelessness. This is down from 1,920 households in 2019-20. We will continue to monitor this data carefully.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan 2022-24, what funding will be allocated to end veteran rough sleeping within this Parliament.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The government is committed to ending rough sleeping, including veteran rough sleeping, and we are spending £2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the next three years. Our veterans play a vital role in keeping our country safe and we are committed to ensuring that they are provided with all the support they need to successfully adjust back into civilian life.
We are providing local areas with the support and funding they need to provide tailored support to respond to the needs of those sleeping rough in their areas, including where some may have served in the Armed Forces. Through the Rough Sleeping Initiative, we have provided over £200 million this year to local authorities to make sure they can continue to provide tailored local interventions for rough sleepers in their area.
The key objective of the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme (RSAP), backed by £433 million, is to provide 6,000 move-on homes and accompanying support services to those who are rough sleeping, or who have a history of sleeping rough, including veterans.
Through the Homelessness Case Level Information Collection (H-CLIC), the Department collects data on the support needs of households owed a prevention or relief duty, including if they have served in Her Majesty’s Forces. H-CLIC also collects the number of people homeless on departure from Armed Forces Accommodation.
HCLIC Data shows that for the year 2020-21, 1,730 veterans were owed a homelessness duty out of the 268,560 total households who were homeless or at risk of homelessness. This is down from 1,920 households in 2019-20. We will continue to monitor this data carefully.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of veterans in the UK who are homeless in each year since 2019.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to tackling all forms of homelessness and levels of veteran homelessness are low. Data shows that for the year 2020-21, 1,730 veterans were owed a homelessness duty out of the 268,560 total households who were homeless or at risk of homelessness. This is down from 1,920 households in 2019-20
The data is not yet available for 2021-22.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 monitor the prevalence of veteran rough sleeping throughout the UK.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
We are committed to tackling homelessness in all its forms, and this Government has committed to ending rough sleeping. The Department uses rough sleeping and homelessness data collections to drive progress and to monitor trends of the homelessness and rough sleeping population, including veterans. Our veterans play a vital role in keeping our country safe and we are committed to supporting this cohort.
Through the Homelessness Case Level Information Collection (H-CLIC), the Department collects data on the support needs of households owed a prevention or relief duty, including if they have served in Her Majesty’s Forces. H-CLIC also collects the number of people homeless on departure from institution, one of which is Armed Forces Accommodation.
Levels of Veteran homelessness are low, the most recent H-CLIC statistics, for the period June to September 2021, are published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness. The latest homelessness statistics in England show that in this period, of the 67,820 households owed a homelessness duty, 450 (0.66%) households had a support need as a result of serving in the Armed Forces.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 gather evidence on the prevalence of incidents of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by gas cookers.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government takes the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning very seriously. We have announced that we will be legislating to extend requirements for carbon monoxide alarms, so that they are required in all private and socially rented homes in rooms with fixed combustion appliances and where new appliances are installed in any home.
Consideration was given to including gas cookers. The evidence available at the time showed that gas cookers are responsible for fewer incidents of carbon monoxide poisoning than gas boilers and that inclusion would be disproportionate.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reason his Department has excluded gas cookers from the extended regulations on domestic smoke and carbon monoxide alarms announced in November 2021.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government takes the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning very seriously. We have announced that we will be legislating to extend requirements for carbon monoxide alarms, so that they are required in all private and socially rented homes in rooms with fixed combustion appliances and where new appliances are installed in any home.
Consideration was given to including gas cookers. The evidence available at the time showed that gas cookers are responsible for fewer incidents of carbon monoxide poisoning than gas boilers and that inclusion would be disproportionate.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what proportion of new developments built after 2019 are resilient to flooding.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We do not collect this data. The National Planning Policy and guidance on managing flood risk is clear that inappropriate development in areas at current or future risk of flooding should be avoided by directing development away from areas at highest risk, towards areas at least risk. Where development is necessary in a flood risk area, and where there are no suitable sites available in areas with a lower risk of flooding, it should be made safe without increasing flood risk elsewhere and be appropriately flood resistant and resilient.
The Environment Agency must be consulted on planning applications in areas at risk of flooding from rivers and the sea, and is a statutory consultee on all planning applications (other than for minor development) which is to be carried out on land in an area within Flood Zones 2 and 3; or in Flood Zone 1 which has critical drainage issues.
My Department publishes figures on the proportion of new residential addresses created in areas of high or medium risk of flooding within National Flood Zone 3, available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/900933/1718_Residential_Address_Change_Statistics_Live_Tables_-_Update.xlsx with the figures are currently available for 2013-14 to 2017-18, in Live Tables P320 and P321.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment the Government has made of the response rate of members of the public to planning consultations at Local Plan stages rather than site-specific planning applications.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Comprehensive data on the response rate to local authority public consultations on local plans is not available, so no formal assessment has been made. However, our engagement with the sector suggests that consultations can be dominated by the few willing and able to navigate the process, whilst previous studies suggest that only a small proportion of the public tend to engage in local plan consultations.
The Government believes that the best time to consider the strategic use of land is at the local plan stage, and settling these questions at the outset will bring more certainty that development will come forward in areas best identified for growth.
Our proposals in Planning for the Future will lead to better community engagement when local plans are being prepared, allowing members of the public to exert real influence over developments. New citizen engagement tools will make it easier to understand proposals and to express views