Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has taken steps to implement the recommendations of the Regulation of Property Agents: working group report, published 18 July 2019.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
As part of a fair and just housing system, the Government is committed to making sure that homeowners and tenants are protected from abuse and poor service. This commitment includes raising professionalism and standards amongst property agents (letting, estate and managing agents), protecting consumers while defending the reputation of good agents from the actions of rogue operatives. We therefore welcome the ongoing work being undertaken by the industry itself to raise professionalism and standards across the sector, including on codes of practice for property agents.
The Government is considering the recommendations in the final report on the regulation of property agents from Lord Best’s working group. We will continue to work with industry on improving best practice.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential economic benefits of the Suffolk devolution deal for (a) Suffolk and (b) Ipswich.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Suffolk devolution deal will put Suffolk County Council, in partnership with Suffolk's district and borough councils, including Ipswich, in control of setting economic strategy locally. The deal will grant Suffolk County Council control of a 30-year investment fund worth £480 million, over £5.8 million to support the building of new homes on Brownfield land, and powers to improve local skills. This will help drive growth and take forward local priorities over the longer term, giving the directly elected leader and local constituent councils more flexibility to decide how best to spend money on key local priorities. Ipswich will be able to take advantage of the overarching benefits of the deal to the whole region and the new relationship between Suffolk and central government.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of existing licensing frameworks for letting and managing agents in England.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Letting or property agents in England for the private rented sector, who hold client money are required by law to sign up to one of six Government approved Client Money Protection schemes. These give tenants and landlords confidence that they can recover any money held by the agent on their behalf that the agent fails to repay - for example because of misappropriation or insolvency.
It is also a legal requirement for letting and managing agents in England to belong to one of the two Government approved redress schemes.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential economic benefits to Ipswich of the Freeport East project.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Freeport East is fully operational with both tax and custom sites designated. The Department is now working with the Freeport to secure final approval of the Freeport's Full Business Case, which is expected shortly. As part of this process, the Department has considered the potential economic benefits to the Freeport East outer boundary area.
The Freeports programme monitoring and evaluation strategy sets out the approach the Department will take to measure the economic benefit in the wider Freeport area.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
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 help ensure completion of the Freeport East project.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Freeport East is fully operational with both tax and custom sites designated. The Department is now working with the Freeport to secure final approval of the Freeport's Full Business Case, which is expected shortly. As part of this process, the Department has considered the potential economic benefits to the Freeport East outer boundary area.
The Freeports programme monitoring and evaluation strategy sets out the approach the Department will take to measure the economic benefit in the wider Freeport area.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of progress of the Freeport East project.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Freeport East is fully operational with both tax and custom sites designated. The Department is now working with the Freeport to secure final approval of the Freeport's Full Business Case, which is expected shortly. As part of this process, the Department has considered the potential economic benefits to the Freeport East outer boundary area.
The Freeports programme monitoring and evaluation strategy sets out the approach the Department will take to measure the economic benefit in the wider Freeport area.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
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 ensure an adequate supply of replacement cladding for building remediation projects.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
From the outset of the Building Safety Fund, the Department has engaged industry to ensure sufficient capacity exists to meet demand and to have arrangements in place to address any blockages in the supply chain. We therefore provide direct expert support to Government funded projects, in the form of client side remediation advisors, and run a series of market engagements to highlight options and solutions to address challenges.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the average length of delay in receiving replacement cladding material for building remediation projects in England in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We publish data which shows when building remediation projects are starting on site and when they are complete. As these buildings vary in size, complexity and cladding type this means that the corresponding time to complete the projects also varies. We therefore monitor Government funded projects against the forecast start and completion dates submitted by building owners, taking action whenever these dates are at risk of slipping by involving expert support to help remove any blockages and maintain the pace of remediation.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure cladding replacements on residential buildings are (a) completed in a timely manner and (b) carried out with consideration for the living standards of residents who remain in the building while those works are underway.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Building owners must make their buildings safe without delay. It is unacceptable that some are deliberately holding up remediation works by refusing to sign legal agreements that allow Government funding to be released.
Regulatory bodies, the Secretary of State, and leaseholders have legal powers to compel building owners to fix their buildings. We are working with regulators to ensure that rogue building owners are held to account. The Department is already pursuing legal action against Grey GR, the owner of Vista Tower in Stevenage.
Building owners need to minimise the impact of remediation works on residents, and contractors undertaking work should consider carefully how to make work less disruptive and intrusive where possible, listening to residents of the buildings undergoing remediation. Secondary legislation under the Building Safety Act 2022 will include new legal requirements to share information with residents, and new rights for residents to request further information from building owners, including about remediation works.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of regulatory frameworks for ensuring that management companies communicate with residents of buildings (a) before and (b) whilst undertaking remedial cladding works.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Building owners must make their buildings safe without delay. It is unacceptable that some are deliberately holding up remediation works by refusing to sign legal agreements that allow Government funding to be released.
Regulatory bodies, the Secretary of State, and leaseholders have legal powers to compel building owners to fix their buildings. We are working with regulators to ensure that rogue building owners are held to account. The Department is already pursuing legal action against Grey GR, the owner of Vista Tower in Stevenage.
Building owners need to minimise the impact of remediation works on residents, and contractors undertaking work should consider carefully how to make work less disruptive and intrusive where possible, listening to residents of the buildings undergoing remediation. Secondary legislation under the Building Safety Act 2022 will include new legal requirements to share information with residents, and new rights for residents to request further information from building owners, including about remediation works.