Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to introduce a cap on service charges.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer my Rt Hon Friend to the answer given to Question UIN 24536 on 8 May 2024.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to help leaseholders in properties which are of no value due to remediation costs on service charges.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Qualifying leaseholders in relevant buildings are protected in law from all costs associated with the remediation of unsafe cladding. For non-cladding building safety defects there are protections for leaseholders in relevant buildings with a qualifying lease.
This means that for the majority of qualifying leaseholders, their maximum cap for non-cladding remediation and interim measures is £15,000 in Greater London (or £10,000 elsewhere in England). In addition, all leaseholders in relevant buildings benefit from qualifying lease status for their principal residence.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what support is available for tenants in dispute with local authorities on damp and mould issues.
Answered by Jacob Young
It is unacceptable for anyone to have to live in damp and mouldy conditions. Damp and mould can have a serious impact on the health of tenants. That is why the Secretary of State wrote to all providers of social housing, including local authorities, setting out his expectations that they go further than the letter of the Decent Homes Standard and have particular regard to damp and mould. He also wrote to local authority chief executives and council leaders making it clear they must take action to resolve poor housing conditions in their area.
Social housing tenants of local authorities who are unsatisfied with their landlord’s response to their complaint on damp and mould can raise their issue with the Housing Ombudsman. Our new guidance on damp and mould can also be accessed by tenants at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/damp-and-mould-understanding-and-addressing-the-health-risks-for-rented-housing-providers.
We have committed to introducing ‘Awaab’s Law’, which will set requirements for social landlords to investigate and fix hazards such as damp and mould in social housing. Our consultation on Awaab’s Law closed on 5 March and we will bring forward secondary legislation to bring this into force as soon as practicable.
We have also given local authorities strong legal powers to use where privately rented or housing association houses or flats are in a seriously dangerous condition, including through damp and mould.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to help support (a) children with (i) a vision impairment and (ii) dyslexia and (b) other children to access the (A) RNIB bookshare service and (B) other book sharing services.
Answered by David Johnston
The department aims for all children and young people, to receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life, including those with visual impairments, dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions. The department is creating a new single national Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) system which will focus on how needs are identified and met across Education, Health and Care. This new single national system will set standards on what support should be made available in mainstream settings, including for children with visual impairments, and when specialist provision, including AP, is most appropriate for meeting a child or young person’s needs.
Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. The department already has numerous measures to help teachers do this, including the Phonics Screening Check and statutory assessments at the ends of key stage 1 and 2. The department has also introduced a package of measures to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the launch of the English Hubs programme; the publication of the Reading Framework; and an updated list of high-quality phonics programmes for schools.
The department is committed to ensure a steady supply of teachers of children with visual impairments in both specialist and mainstream settings. To teach a class of pupils with visual impairments, a teacher is required to hold the relevant mandatory qualification in sensory impairment (MQSI). There are currently six providers of the MQSI, with a seventh from September 2024. In addition, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) is developing a new occupational standard for teachers of sensory impairment, expected to launch in 2025.
On 11 July 2023, the department published an updated version of the Reading Framework. The Reading Framework includes guidance on teaching reading to pupils with moderate to severe SEND and complex needs. It is primarily aimed at mainstream schools where, with the right support, the vast majority of pupils will be able to make expected progress.
It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils, including whether to employ a qualified librarian. Many head teachers recognise the important role school libraries play in improving literacy and encouraging pupils to read for pleasure and ensure that suitable library facilities are provided.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of the jobs advertised on his Department's Find a job website are listed as being fully remote as of 1 December 2023.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We do not hold data on the number of vacancies which offer home or hybrid working. We are exploring how to improve the service to help jobseekers identify vacancies by this criterion.
We are working to ensure that individuals have tailored personal support in order to make the most of their talents, for some this will mean remote working for some hybrid and for others face to face.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to strengthen economic relations with Morocco.
Answered by Bim Afolami
During the IMF Annual Meetings, the Chancellor met with Ms Nadia Fettah Alaoui, the Moroccan Minister of Finance.
The UK works closely with Morocco to maximise cooperation in a number of areas, including in bilateral trade and investment. The UK Morocco Association Agreement, which entered into force in January 2021, facilitates this trading relationship. Under this agreement, bilateral trade between the United Kingdom and Morocco was worth £3.4 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q2 2023, up £661 million on the same period the previous year. The Government frequently engages with Morocco to promote and support green investment into Morocco, while the UK and Morocco are co-leads on the Power Breakthrough, which aims to make clean power the most affordable and reliable option for all countries by 2030.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what was the outcome of his meeting with his Moroccan counterpart at the Annual Meeting of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund 2023.
Answered by Bim Afolami
During the IMF Annual Meetings, the Chancellor met with Ms Nadia Fettah Alaoui, the Moroccan Minister of Finance.
The UK works closely with Morocco to maximise cooperation in a number of areas, including in bilateral trade and investment. The UK Morocco Association Agreement, which entered into force in January 2021, facilitates this trading relationship. Under this agreement, bilateral trade between the United Kingdom and Morocco was worth £3.4 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q2 2023, up £661 million on the same period the previous year. The Government frequently engages with Morocco to promote and support green investment into Morocco, while the UK and Morocco are co-leads on the Power Breakthrough, which aims to make clean power the most affordable and reliable option for all countries by 2030.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the potential (a) environmental and (b) economic impact of the use by Government departments of data storage contracts signed since 2015.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Central Digital and Data Office, in the Cabinet Office, does not hold a specific estimate of the environmental and economic impact of data storage contracts.
Improving sustainability is a commitment within the Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, and a requirement within the Technology Code of Practice, which is a set of criteria to help government design, build and buy technology.
Data storage requirements across departments will not solely be met through specific contracts for these services; they will be met through capital purchase of hardware and through agreements for broader services, such as the provision of cloud platforms, or of software-as-a-service solutions.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of cross-departmental implementation of the Government Cloud First policy.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO), in the Cabinet Office, is responsible for the Government’s Cloud strategy and for advising government departments on Cloud.
CDDO has a quarterly data commissioning process that collects metrics across a number of strategic areas including cloud adoption. Central government organisations report their estimated percentage of technology assets hosted on cloud. Further to this, CDDO operates the Quarterly Business Review, a joint Cabinet Office-HM Treasury assurance review of departmental delivery that allows CDDO to query departmental progress on implementing cloud first adoption.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the impact of the establishment of Crown Hosting Data Centres on the cost of data centre services for the Government in the last 12 months.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Commercial benefit, as assessed by the Crown Commercial Service using third party market intelligence, shows that existing Government organisations save 51% by using Crown Hosting Data Centres.
On relocation of their back-office IT infrastructure to Crown Hosting, Government organisations typically save 75% of their costs, when comparing before and after relocation. Savings are made through a combination of energy efficiency and economy of scale of Crown Hosting.
Using data reported by the EU Resource Efficiency Coordination Action (EURECA) 2018 study, Crown Hosting reduces electricity consumption by approximately 300% compared to the average public sector data centre.