Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to extend mandatory licencing schemes for landlords in the private rented sector.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Government proposes to extend the scope of mandatory houses in multiple occupation (HMO) licensing, so that a licence is required for HMOs with five or more occupiers. We published our response to our HMO reforms consultation in December 2017, and we plan to lay the necessary regulations before Parliament shortly with a view to bringing them into force (subject to approval) in October 2018.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many civil penalties have been used by local authorities since their introduction in April 2017.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Housing and Planning Act 2016 provides new powers for local authorities to impose a civil penalty of up to £30,000 as an alternative to prosecution for a range of offences under the Housing Act 2004. These powers came into force on 6 April 2017. The Government does not collect data on the number of civil penalties issued
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2018 to Question 121612, what the cost to the public purse is of renaming of his Department.
Answered by Jake Berry
As set out in response to 121612, any necessary changes will be done in a cost-efficient way with expenditure being kept to a minimum.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential cost to the public purse of the renaming of his Department; and which new policy responsibilities his Department will discharge after it is renamed.
Answered by Jake Berry
Building the homes our country needs is an absolute priority for this government. The name change for the department reflects this government’s renewed focus to deliver more homes and build stronger communities across England.
Any necessary will be done in a cost-efficient way with expenditure being kept to a minimum.
This would be a fraction of the cost of splitting up the Ministry as proposed by the opposition.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps are being taken to prevent housing developers using loopholes in the Government's planning policy to reduce the number of affordable houses.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Stakeholders report that the use of viability assessments can add complexity and uncertainty to the planning process. This can lead to delays and diminished contributions towards infrastructure and affordable housing.
The Government consulted on proposals to reform the viability assessment process within the Planning for the right homes in the right places consultation. This will create more certainty about the contributions developers are expected to make to affordable housing and reduce the use of viability assessments at the planning application stage. The viability of the expected contributions should be tested at the plan-making stage. Where tested in plan-making, the issue should not usually need to be tested again at the planning application stage.
The consultation has now closed and we are currently analysing the responses. A further announcement will be made in due course.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Government has made an assessment of the extent to which the use of viability assessments could reduce affordable housing contributions.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Stakeholders report that the use of viability assessments can add complexity and uncertainty to the planning process. This can lead to delays and diminished contributions towards infrastructure and affordable housing.
The Government consulted on proposals to reform the viability assessment process within the Planning for the right homes in the right places consultation. This will create more certainty about the contributions developers are expected to make to affordable housing and reduce the use of viability assessments at the planning application stage. The viability of the expected contributions should be tested at the plan-making stage. Where tested in plan-making, the issue should not usually need to be tested again at the planning application stage.
The consultation has now closed and we are currently analysing the responses. A further announcement will be made in due course.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the responsibility for responding to the recommendations of his Department's Electrical Safety Working Group has been transferred to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
An enabling power was included in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 allowing requirements for electrical safety standards in the private rented sector (PRS), and their enforcement, to be set through secondary legislation (affirmative) at a later date. Following Royal Assent, a Working Group of relevant experts was established to provide recommendations to ministers on what, if any, legislative requirements should be introduced. The Working Group’s report has been published online at:
We will engage further with the sector to test the recommendations of the Working Group to ensure that any regulation introduced is balanced and works for landlords and tenants.
There are no plans to transfer responsibility for this policy area.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment has been made of potential changes to the number of people sleeping rough during winter 2017-18.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
This Government is committed to prevent and reduce homelessness in England. That is why we are aiming to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminate it altogether by 2027. No one should have to sleep rough, especially in winter.
DCLG publishes regular statistics on rough sleeping, statutory homelessness, temporary accommodation and homelessness prevention and relief. These are published at national and local authority level. The latest statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics
We are taking action by implementing the most ambitious legislative reform in decades, the Homelessness Reduction Act, in April 2018, which will ensure that more people get the help they need earlier, to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.
One person without a home is one too many, and we are determined that we provide earlier and more effective support and advice to those at risk of homelessness. We have allocated over £950 million until 2020 to reduce homelessness and rough sleeping in England.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether social rents will revert to the previously agreed settlement of Consumer Price Index plus one per cent from 1 April 2020.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Government has announced plans to set a long term rent deal for councils and housing associations. Under the proposal announced on 4 October, increases to social housing rents will be limited to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 1 per cent for 5 years from 2020. This announcement recognises the need for a stable financial environment to support the delivery of new homes.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will introduce mandatory electrical safety checks in the social rented sector in response to the Grenfell Tower disaster.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Social landlords are already obliged, by law, to maintain the structure and exterior of their properties, and to keep in repair and proper working order the sanitation, water, gas and electricity installations.
The Homes and Communities Agency’s national standards also require social landlords to ensure (subject to an agreed extension in some instances, which must be explained to tenants) that all their homes meet the Decent Homes Standard and to meet all applicable statutory requirements that provide for the health and safety of the occupants in their homes.