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 recent discussions he has had with local authority leaders in England on the funding that local authorities require to respond to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Local Government Secretary has been working with local authorities and their leaders to understand the challenges and pressures experienced by councils from the Covid-19 outbreak. Local government is an essential part of our response to Covid-19 and the funding package of a further £1.6 billion, announced on 18 April, recognises the additional costs and pressures on finances that councils are facing as a result of the current crisis. It is in addition to the £1.6 billion of additional funding announced for councils in March.
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 steps his Department is taking to ensure that local authorities are adequately prepared to deal with a Covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Simon Clarke
My Department continues to work with local partners, including local authorities and local resilience forums, to assist preparedness to manage the potential impacts of a Covid-19 outbreak. As part of business continuity and local risk assessment processes, local partners already have well developed pandemic-flu plans in place. Local partners are reviewing these plans to reflect the relevant scientific advice on Covid-19.
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, how many objections to proposed developments on flood risk land from the Environment Agency have been overturned by the Government since 2009.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
This information is not held in an accessible form, and answering this question would incur disproportionate cost.
This answer is given on the assumption that the phrase "overturned by Government" relates to (i) decisions made by independent Inspectors under the jurisdiction of the Planning Inspectorate, and (ii) to decisions made by the Secretary of State in relation to recovered appeals or "called in" planning applications.
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, how much additional funding was allocated to flood-hit areas in the UK in the six months following the 2015 Boxing Day floods.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Following Storms Desmond and Eva, the Government quickly identified that the immediate priority was to respond to the urgent needs of those affected and government paid out almost £300 million to help householders, communities and businesses to get back on their feet. Furthermore, government supported repairs to vital transport links, including getting the A591 in Cumbria open ahead of schedule, as well as improving flood defences and providing match funding for charity appeals.
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, how much additional funding has been allocated to flood-hit areas in the UK since November 2019.
Answered by Simon Clarke
As result of the November 2019 flooding, the Government announced the activation of the flood recovery framework to support those communities most significantly impacted in England. My Department is still assessing the full extent of the flooding and will be releasing funding to eligible local authorities shortly.
Claims under the Bellwin Scheme in respect of the November flooding incidents in England are also being assessed for payment – the deadline for local authority claims was 17 February 2020.
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, how many people that served in the armed forces were identified as statutorily homeless by local authority housing services throughout England in each year since 2010.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Our veterans have played a vital role in keeping our country safe and we owe them a duty to ensure they are provided with all the support they need to successfully adjust back into civilian life.
A person who is vulnerable as a result of having been a member of Her Majesty’s regular armed forces has a priority need for accommodation and we have put in place an additional £1 million fund to boost support on offer to vulnerable?veterans?who are, or at risk of becoming homeless.
The Department introduced a new data collection tool in 2018 to improve the information we collect from local authorities on homelessness: the Homelessness Case Level Information Collection (H-CLIC).
The figures for people that served in the armed forces identified as statutory homeless from 2018 onwards can be found in table A3 of the homeless tables:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness
Prior to 2018, the figures for levels of statutory homelessness in those who served in the armed forces can be found in the individual LA level tables (listed under discontinued tables):
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness#discontinued-tables
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, how many people are members of the Local Government Pension Scheme in (a) Barnsley, (b) South Yorkshire and (c) Yorkshire and Humber.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
In the Yorkshire and Humber area, the Local Government Pension Scheme is split into four funds - the North Yorkshire Pension Fund (administered by North Yorkshire County Council), the West Yorkshire Pension Fund (administered by the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council), the East Riding Pension Fund (administered by East Riding of Yorkshire Council) and the South Yorkshire Pension Fund (administered by the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority). According to data submitted to the Department for the 2017/18 scheme year, membership records for each are as follows:
North Yorkshire Pension fund
Active members (those in employment actively contributing to the scheme) – 31,194
Pensioner members (those members receiving a pension from the scheme) – 20,476
Deferred members (those members who are no longer active but are not yet receiving a pension) – 35,813
Total membership – 87,483
West Yorkshire Pension Fund
Active members – 101,794
Pensioner members – 84,833
Deferred members – 97,583
Total membership – 284,210
East Riding Pension Fund
Active members – 40,051
Pensioner members – 29,650
Deferred members – 43,228
Total membership – 112,929
South Yorkshire Pension Fund
Active members - 52,412
Pensioner members - 51,041
Deferred members - 53, 428
Total membership – 156,881
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (MBC) is a participating employer in the South Yorkshire Pension Fund and its membership numbers will be included in the above figures. However, pension fund data submitted to the Department is not broken down by individual participating employers and we therefore do not hold membership data for Barnsley MBC itself.
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 his Department has made of the potential effect on members of the local government pension scheme of changing local fund valuations from a triennial to a quadrennial cycle by (a) region and (b) local authority.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Members’ benefits are set out separately in the Local Government Pension Scheme regulations and will not be affected by the change in the frequency of local fund valuations.
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, when he plans to publish the results of his Department's consultation on changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Department's consultation "Fair Deal – Strengthening pension protection" proposed strengthening the pensions protections that apply when workers are contracted out from their Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) employer. With some exceptions, we proposed that members should have a continued right to membership of the LGPS, in line with central Government Fair Deal policy. We also proposed the introduction of a new way for outsourced staff to participate in the scheme – ‘deemed employer’ status. The consultation closed on 4 April and elicited detailed comments from a variety of stakeholders, which my officials are considering carefully. A formal response will be published in due course.
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, whether his Department has conducted a risk assessment of the proposed move from a triennial to a quadrennial cycle for local fund valuations of the Local Government Pension Scheme.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Government is determined that lengthening the period between valuation cycle should not materially increase the risks that pension funds and their employers face. That is why alongside the proposal in lengthen the valuation cycle we are also consulting on additional tools for administering authorities to be able to manage risk, and particularly employer risk, between valuations.