Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the classification of (a) non-statutory and (b) statutory services provided by councils, in the context of the closure of (i) public toilets and (ii) other non-statutory services following council bankruptcies.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Good provision of non-statutory services, such as public toilets, is an important issue which local leaders are best placed to make decisions on based on the needs of their communities. The English Devolution White Paper, as well as the recently published Local Government finance settlement, set our plans to give councils more autonomy and financial stability to plan and make these decisions.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
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 is taking to ensure the effectiveness of (a) compliance by contractors with and (b) enforcement measures by the new Building Safety Regulator with the Building Safety Act 2022; and if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of compliance by (i) clients and (ii) contractors with the provisions of that Act.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) takes action to ensure that applications that do not meet the regulatory standards of building safety are rejected. We understand that the introduction of the new regulatory regime initially resulted in a lot of poor quality and incomplete applications from industry. BSR continue to support applicants to meet the functional requirements of the building regulations. It is worth noting that the requirements in the regulations are not new and rejected applications contribute to the processing time of compliant applications.
BSR officials are also working with MHCLG officials on setting up a dedicated Remediation Enforcement Unit within the Building Safety Regulator. The Remediation Enforcement Unit is designed to hold owners of ACM clad buildings to account, enforcing remediation where necessary, and will be essential to meet the government’s priority for remediation of unsafe Higher-Risk-Buildings (HRBs). We are considering further options to ensure compliance with the building safety regulations as part of the ongoing spending review.
The Building Safety Act 2022 also requires that within five years of the Act coming into force, the Secretary of State appoint an independent person to carry out a review. This includes reviewing the effectiveness of the regulator, and provisions made by or under the Building Act 1984 such as the dutyholder duties and enforcement measures.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
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 is taking to (a) tackle fraudulent EWS1 forms and (b) support affected homeowners.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
EWS1s (External Wall System Fire Review) are not a legal or regulatory requirement. Their use is a commercial decision by mortgage lenders and subject to their individual lending criteria. EWS1 forms are completed by competent members of relevant professional bodies. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) provides guidance on competence for professionals carrying out EWS1. The Department takes seriously any claims of fraud and would advise evidence of any such concerns should be notified to the relevant professional body and RICS, for investigation, and to take any appropriate action.
The absence of a correctly completed EWS1 should not be a blocker to mortgage lending, where a leaseholder can provide alternative evidence of the safety of their building, or that the building is in a remediation scheme or that the leaseholder qualifies for the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act.
We are working closely with the RICS, UK Finance and the lending industry to ensure the market continues to function for leaseholders in properties with building safety issues.
Leaseholders should contact the building owner or person responsible for fire safety if they have concerns about the fire safety of their building.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
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 introduce a moratorium on Right to Buy sales before proposed changes come into effect.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government does not intend to introduce a moratorium on Right to Buy sales before any further changes come into effect.