Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the oral contribution of 2 September 2024 by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Official Report, Column 3, if she will publish a timetable for implementing high street rental auctions.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Government is committed to supporting high streets and town centres, empowering communities and tackling the problem of persistent vacancy. Owing to the complex and technical nature of the policy, secondary legislation is required to implement High Street Rental Auctions. We are working through the legislative process and will confirm the commencement date in due course.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to change the local government funding formula in the upcoming Local Government Finance Settlement; and whether she plans to consult on (a) technical changes and (b) data sources before publication.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement in which we are engaged. The department will work with local government leaders to ensure they are better able to fulfil their statutory duties.
We want to hear from councils about the financial challenges they are facing and we are committed to stabilising the local government finance landscape in this Parliament.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to redistribute assets and wealth between different (a) local authorities, (b) communities and (c) local government through the Local Government Finance Settlement.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement in which we are engaged. The department will work with local government leaders to ensure they are better able to fulfil their statutory duties.
We want to hear from councils about the financial challenges they are facing and we are committed to stabilising the local government finance landscape in this Parliament.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Local Government Finance Settlement will contain measures to reform adult social care funding.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We recognise the financial pressures that local authorities face and remain committed to supporting local government to deliver improved outcomes for local people through the adult social care system. We are committed to delivering a multiyear settlement in this Parliament giving certainty on allocations going forward to create a more sustainable, simplified adult social care funding system. Our Government’s manifesto set out our intention for a programme of reform to create a National Care Service. The National Care Service will deliver consistent and high quality care across the country, which will be locally delivered, supporting people to live independently for as long as possible. We will engage with local government as we develop this programme of reform.
Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement in which we are engaged. The department will work with local government leaders to ensure they are better able to fulfil their statutory duties.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department has taken to facilitate (a) restaurants and (b) pubs to offer outdoor smoking facilities since 2010.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The provision of outdoor smoking facilities on the premises of an individual business is currently a matter for the business itself. However, where a business has a pavement license allowing it to have seating on the public highway, the national 'smoke free seating condition' must be followed. This requires the licence holder to make reasonable provision for seating where smoking is not permitted, so that where space is provided for smokers, customers will also have the option of sitting in a non-smoking area.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps a local authority must take to revise a housing target provisionally set out in its local plan.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Local Plans must be based on robust and up-to-date evidence and consistent with the National Planning Policy Framework. To revise a housing target an authority will need to take account of policy requirements in the Framework, planning guidance, and bring forward proposed changes in line with existing legal and procedural requirements. Planning policy is clear that Local Plans should be regularly reviewed to ensure that they are up to date, and planning guidance that wherever possible housing needs assessments should be informed by the latest available information.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that the statutory maximum grant available for a Disabled Facilities Grant increases in line with inflation.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Government has invested just over £1 billion in the Disabled Facilities Grant since 2010. When the cost of the adaptation exceeds the maximum limit, local authorities have the discretion to provide additional funding. The future funding of the Grant is a matter for the Spending Review.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of accessible homes for people with (a) muscular dystrophy, (b) neuromuscular conditions and (c) other progressive conditions.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund will provide up to £315 million over 5 years for specialised housing for older and disabled people. Phase 1 of the fund will deliver over 4,000 new affordable homes and the bids for phase 2 are currently being assessed.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government has taken to ensure that local councils provide adequate support and assistance to single homeless people when they approach their council for help.
Answered by Marcus Jones
By law local authorities have a duty to provide advice and information to anyone asking for help.
To help them discharge that important duty, we have, among other sources of support, provided £10 million funding to the National Homelessness Advice service to support frontline staff, and introduced the £8 million Help for Single Homeless Fund which will help 22,000 people in 168 areas across England by April 2016.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will carry out a review of the adequacy of statutory assistance given to single homeless people.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
We have no current plans to change or review the homelessness legislation. England has one of the strongest safety nets in the world and local authorities are required to secure accommodation for any eligible person who finds themselves homeless through no fault of their own and who is in priority need. In 2013-14 23% of all those accepted by local authorities as owed the main homelessness duty were single homeless people. Local authorities are also under a duty to provide free advice and information about homelessness and preventing homelessness to anyone in their district seeking help.
This Government has increased investment in homelessness services over the lifetime of this Parliament. We have invested over £500 million to support local authorities and voluntary sector agencies to help the most vulnerable in our society. We have launched an £8 million Help for Single Homeless Fund for local authorities which will improve council services for single people facing the prospect of homelessness. 34 projects, working across 168 local authorities will provide support for up 22,000 single homeless people. We are helping single homeless people find and sustain accommodation in the private rented sector through our £13 million funding to Crisis. By 2016 we expect the Crisis scheme to have helped 10,000 single homeless people since it started in 2010. Local authorities also work hard to prevent homelessness from happening in the first place. They have helped 700,000 households at risk of homelessness find new accommodation or stay in their own home since July 2010.