Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an estimate of the of the proportion of projected profits earned by Freeports to be received by (a) offshore investors, (b) UK companies and (c) Scottish companies.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government has evaluated the public benefit and value for money each Freeport will deliver through the competitive process for selecting Freeport locations and subsequently through a robust business case process. Once approved, these business cases, including details of the benefits the Freeport will deliver, are published online. To ensure Freeports are delivering these returns to the UK and Scottish economies, the Government is also monitoring and evaluating their delivery; our approach is published here.
This allows us to identify the impacts Freeports are already having: for example, we announced in November 2023 that Freeports have already generated £2.9 billion in investment in under two years, which will in turn create 6,000 jobs. It also enables us to monitor the suitability of the Freeports package and identify opportunities to enhance and double down on it. For example, we have recently extended the tax reliefs in Freeports from five to ten years and launched a £150 million flexible Investment Opportunity Fund to secure specific business investment opportunities.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
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 return of investment from Freeports for (a) the UK economy, (b) the Scottish economy and (c) shareholders and private investors.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government has evaluated the public benefit and value for money each Freeport will deliver through the competitive process for selecting Freeport locations and subsequently through a robust business case process. Once approved, these business cases, including details of the benefits the Freeport will deliver, are published online. To ensure Freeports are delivering these returns to the UK and Scottish economies, the Government is also monitoring and evaluating their delivery; our approach is published here.
This allows us to identify the impacts Freeports are already having: for example, we announced in November 2023 that Freeports have already generated £2.9 billion in investment in under two years, which will in turn create 6,000 jobs. It also enables us to monitor the suitability of the Freeports package and identify opportunities to enhance and double down on it. For example, we have recently extended the tax reliefs in Freeports from five to ten years and launched a £150 million flexible Investment Opportunity Fund to secure specific business investment opportunities.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the adequacy of funding arrangements for Freeports.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government has evaluated the public benefit and value for money each Freeport will deliver through the competitive process for selecting Freeport locations and subsequently through a robust business case process. Once approved, these business cases, including details of the benefits the Freeport will deliver, are published online. To ensure Freeports are delivering these returns to the UK and Scottish economies, the Government is also monitoring and evaluating their delivery; our approach is published here.
This allows us to identify the impacts Freeports are already having: for example, we announced in November 2023 that Freeports have already generated £2.9 billion in investment in under two years, which will in turn create 6,000 jobs. It also enables us to monitor the suitability of the Freeports package and identify opportunities to enhance and double down on it. For example, we have recently extended the tax reliefs in Freeports from five to ten years and launched a £150 million flexible Investment Opportunity Fund to secure specific business investment opportunities.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to restrict outdoor advertising.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Advertising has a valuable role to play in a free market society. Local councils already have the choice, through powers in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, to refuse applications on amenity or public safety grounds.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
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 design quality guidance for new build developments in the planning system.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government is committed to ensuring the planning system creates more beautiful and sustainable buildings and places. Our national planning policy makes clear that local authorities should engage communities during the preparation of local design codes in line with the principles set out in the National Design Guide and National Model Design Code. Local councils can use this guidance to inform local policy and local guidance to define expectations for well-designed new development for their local area.
Furthermore, the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 introduces a requirement for local planning authorities to produce a design code for the whole of their area as part of the development plan, which will give design codes significant weight when planning applications are determined.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what powers local authorities have to prevent the building of poorly designed housing developments.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government is committed to ensuring the planning system creates more beautiful and sustainable buildings and places. Our national planning policy makes clear that local authorities should engage communities during the preparation of local design codes in line with the principles set out in the National Design Guide and National Model Design Code. Local councils can use this guidance to inform local policy and local guidance to define expectations for well-designed new development for their local area.
Furthermore, the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 introduces a requirement for local planning authorities to produce a design code for the whole of their area as part of the development plan, which will give design codes significant weight when planning applications are determined.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
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 implications for his policies of the research by Adfree cities which found that outdoor advertising is disproportionately placed in areas of existing deprivation, published in March 2024.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Advertising has a valuable role to play in a free market society. Local councils already have the choice, through powers in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, to refuse applications on amenity or public safety grounds.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
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 assessment of the potential merits of including provisions within the High Streets (Designation, Review and Improvement Plan) Bill on outdoor advertising.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Advertising has a valuable role to play in a free market society. Local councils already have the choice, through powers in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, to refuse applications on amenity or public safety grounds.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many applications were (a) made and (b) rejected to access funding under schemes within the flood recovery framework in the last two years; what total amount was that has been paid out through the flood recovery framework; and how many and what proportion of applicants received the maximum pay out of £25,000 under the flood recovery framework.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In the last two years the Flood Recovery Framework has been activated twice – following Storm Babet in October 2023 and Storm Henk in January 2024. The decision to accept or reject applications for flood recovery funding is made by local authorities who are responsible for administrating all schemes, apart from the Farming Recovery Fund. To date, eligible local authorities have made payments of over £7.8 million to 8,510 impacted households and businesses. We expect this figure to rise substantially as further payments are made over the next 18 months.
With regards to the specific question on the £25,000 available under the Farming Recovery Fund scheme. DEFRA have only opened this once within the last two years on 9 April 2024 to provide farmers support to recover from uninsurable damage. The scheme provides grants of between £500 and £25,000 to return land to the condition it was before exceptional flooding of Storm Henk. The fund was initially opened in nine English local authority areas, however, DEFRA committed actively to review the areas to be included in the fund. Those farmers who were initially identified as eligible farmers have been contacted directly by Rural Payments Agency. DEFRA will be contacting all eligible farmers following completion of our review.
Asked by: Duncan Baker (Conservative - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will provide guidance to home owners with rotten loft timbers caused by spray foam insulation on taking steps to find appropriate insurance.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We are aware of issues that some homeowners are finding after having sprayed foam installed in their loft space and have worked with the industry and stakeholders to find a resolution.
The insulation, lending, and surveying communities published new protocols in March 2023 to allow an assessment of these spray foam installations. These describe a structured route to assessing risks from this type of insulation and are intended to provide reassurance to lenders and insurance providers. These can be found here: https://www.property-care.org/resources/spray-foam-insulation-inspections and Guides & Documents - IMA (insulationmanufacturers.org.uk). These include advice that building professionals surveying spray foam insulation should be familiar with the requirements of BS 5250:2021 where this relates to hygrothermal evaluation or suitable condensation risk assessment.
We will continue to work with regulators and industry to ensure that insurers and lenders take a fair and proportionate approach when considering building-related risks. Correspondence between departmental officials and the regulator has been published on the gov.uk website.