Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to publish guidance on (a) indoor and (b) outdoor wedding receptions from August 2020.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Any receptions that typically follow or accompany marriages or civil partnerships are strongly advised not to take place at this time.
We recently published guidance preparing for small marriage ceremonies and civil partnership formations to take place from 4 July, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships.
The Government is working with the wedding and civil partnership celebration industry on how receptions that typically follow or accompany marriages and civil partnerships could take place safely in the future.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the amount of public sector land not in use that could be used for housing.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Public Land for Housing programme (2015-2020) aims to identify and release surplus central government land with capacity for at least 160,000 homes in England by end March 2020. Since the start of the programme to end June 2019, departments had sold 508 sites with capacity for c48,000 homes. We confirmed to the Public Accounts Committee in 2019 that land for 160,000 homes will be released to a longer time frame due to the complexities of disposal and the evolving demands placed on departments’ estates.
We are currently considering options for a next programme, reflecting on lessons learnt. Decisions on a future programme, including estimating the amount of centrally owned public sector land that could be used for housing, will be made at Spending Review.
In addition, at Budget 2016, an announcement was made that councils would collaborate with central government on a local authority land ambition, working with their partners to release surplus local authority-owned land with the capacity for at least 160,000 homes by the end of March 2020. As of August 2019, two-thirds of local authorities in England were forecasting the release of land for approximately 128,000 homes by the end of March 2020. We will report on the final local authority land ambition numbers in Summer 2020 once the final set of data has been collected. We are considering options for the future of the local authority land ambition after March 2020, including estimating the amount of surplus local authority land that could be used for housing.
Information on land held by individual sectors is continually refined.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the size of the land bank that could be used for housing held by the (a) the public sector as a whole, (b) the NHS, (c) Network Rail, (d) local authorities and (e) the armed forces.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Public Land for Housing programme (2015-2020) aims to identify and release surplus central government land with capacity for at least 160,000 homes in England by end March 2020. Since the start of the programme to end June 2019, departments had sold 508 sites with capacity for c48,000 homes. We confirmed to the Public Accounts Committee in 2019 that land for 160,000 homes will be released to a longer time frame due to the complexities of disposal and the evolving demands placed on departments’ estates.
We are currently considering options for a next programme, reflecting on lessons learnt. Decisions on a future programme, including estimating the amount of centrally owned public sector land that could be used for housing, will be made at Spending Review.
In addition, at Budget 2016, an announcement was made that councils would collaborate with central government on a local authority land ambition, working with their partners to release surplus local authority-owned land with the capacity for at least 160,000 homes by the end of March 2020. As of August 2019, two-thirds of local authorities in England were forecasting the release of land for approximately 128,000 homes by the end of March 2020. We will report on the final local authority land ambition numbers in Summer 2020 once the final set of data has been collected. We are considering options for the future of the local authority land ambition after March 2020, including estimating the amount of surplus local authority land that could be used for housing.
Information on land held by individual sectors is continually refined.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the contribution of Local Economic Partnerships (LEPs) to increasing levels of (a) economic growth, (b) new local infrastructure and (c) skills among the workforce in each LEP area.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Local Economic Partnerships (LEPs) play a vital role in providing a business voice to inform investment decisions and drive economic growth across the country. LEP performance is monitored through an annual assurance process and regular reporting, such as quarterly data returns.
There are over 1,200 Growth Deal projects in progress with almost 700 projects having been completed by September 2019, covering themes including transport, skills, digital infrastructure, housing and business support.
LEPs are also required to publish Delivery Plans and End of Year Reports, which set out details of the contributions they are making to promote economic growth in their areas.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of first time buyers that have purchased a property through a shared ownership scheme in each year since 2015.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Department does not collect this information.
The total number of new shared ownership properties completed since 2015-16 can be found in Live Table 1007bC here https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of first time buyers that have purchased a property through the Help to Buy scheme in each year since its inception.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The number of first time buyers that have purchased a property through the Help to Buy : Equity Loan scheme in each year since its inception in 2013 can be seen in the table below. Data for 2019 is not included as it is not complete:
YEAR | TOTAL |
2013 | 12,467 |
2014 | 22,618 |
2015 | 25,069 |
2016 | 30,672 |
2017 | 37,476 |
2018 | 42,785 |
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of homes delivered through the Homes England strategic partnership model with Housing Associations.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government is committed to increasing the supply of social housing and has made £9 billion available through the Affordable Homes Programme to March 2022 to deliver approximately 250,000 new affordable homes.
We have secured 23 strategic partnerships between Homes England and housing associations, to deliver an additional 39,431 affordable housing starts by March 2022. To date, allocations for over 40,000 new homes have been made through these partnerships. Further information may be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/shared-ownership-and-affordable-homes-programme-2016-to-2021-guidance.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many homes he estimates will be sold under shared ownership schemes in (a) 2020, (b) 2021, (c) 2022 and (d) 2023.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government is committed to increasing the supply of affordable homes in a wide range of tenures, including shared ownership, and has made £9bn available through the Affordable Homes Programme to March 2022 to deliver approximately 250,000 new affordable homes. We have committed to renewing the Affordable Homes Programme and to reforming shared ownership to make it fairer and more transparent.
We do not hold estimates for the number of shared ownership homes that will be sold in future years.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has plans to provide a government guarantee for the debt funding of housing associations.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
On 4 November 2019 the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government published an Invitation to Tender asking for bids to operate a new £3 billion Affordable Homes Guarantee Scheme. The Invitation to Tender closed on 3 February and the Department is currently reviewing bids. The scheme would be open to Private Registered Providers of affordable housing and provide guaranteed debt finance to support the delivery of new, additional affordable homes, including for rent and ownership.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many businesses in Wimbledon constituency will be eligible for the £1,000 business rate discount for public houses announced in paragraph 4.5 of the Spring Budget 2017.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
At the Budget on 8 March the Chancellor announced a new relief scheme for pubs with a rateable value below £100,000. Under the scheme, eligible pubs will receive a £1000 discount on rate bills. My Department will shortly consult on guidance which will include proposals on the eligibility criteria and other aspects of the scheme.